Giving out social security numbers to recruiters

[tgrman1]

I am a job seeker that is being asked by certain recruiters to give out my SS# over the phone or by email. The company being represented in this case in AT&T, EVEN BEFORE I GET INTERVIEWD. When I tell the recruiter I don't give out my SS# unitl I get hired, they insist that the client wants the number before we can go any further. Do they have a right to do this?

 

[Zigner]

I am a job seeker that is being asked by certain recruiters to give out my SS# over the phone or by email. The company being represented in this case in AT&T, EVEN BEFORE I GET INTERVIEWD. When I tell the recruiter I don't give out my SS# unitl I get hired, they insist that the client wants the number before we can go any further. Do they have a right to do this?

Yes, they have the right to ask
You also have the right to refuse


What is the name of your state?

 

[tgrman1]

they are interfering with my right to seek employment

If I refuse they cancel the hiring process. In this situation I feel it is my right to seek employment without fear of IDENTITY THIEF. Not all companies want this info, in fact just a few ask for SS#. I think there must be a law somewhere that addresses this issue.

 

[Zigner]

If I refuse they cancel the hiring process. In this situation I feel it is my right to seek employment without fear of IDENTITY THIEF. Not all companies want this info, in fact just a few ask for SS#. I think there must be a law somewhere that addresses this issue.

What state are you in?

 

[tgrman1]

Illinois

MY state is Illinois

 

[Hot Topic]

Are you sure the company involved is really AT&T? Why don't you call them and ask their HR department if it's company policy to ask for a Social Security number over the telephone?

 

[tgrman1]

AT&T is a vast company

Call AT&T HR? I wouldn't know where to begin. It's like calling the Pentegon for information on troop deployment or something. AT&T IS A GIGANTIC COMPANY.

 

[>Charlotte<]

Call AT&T HR? I wouldn't know where to begin. It's like calling the Pentegon for information on troop deployment or something. AT&T IS A GIGANTIC COMPANY.

Which is exactly why there are so many "AT&T" scams. The scammers know their victims will have a hard time finding the right person for confirmation, or they're too gullible to do a little basic research, or they're so desperate for a job they'll believe anything.

The Employee information on AT&T's site describes their hiring process and states that background checks, drug screens, etc, happen after the formal interview. If you're not already on the short list, they're not going to spend money checking you out.

Have you already had an in-person interview? If not, it's a scam. (ETA: I just saw where you said this is before an interview. So, yeah. Scam.)

By the way--I don't know what kind of employment sites you're using, but the "product manager" position where they send you a money order so you can deposit it into your bank account and send some of it back to them is a scam, too.

 

[Yertle8]

I wouldn't be so quick to write it off as a scam. That may be AT&T's hiring policy, but the OP isn't talking to AT&T, the OP is talking to a recuiter who likely works for a recruiting company trying to fill a contract for AT&T, and that company will have thier own screening process.

Ask the recruiter for their name and the name of their firm. Then look the phone number for the firm up, call them, and ask for that recruiter.

 

[tgrman1]

not a scam

It's not a scam. The recruiter is taking great pains to find out about my job skills for the position. When I asked her why exactly they , AT&T, need my SS# she said that's the only way they can verify that I hadn't worked for AT&T before. In any event it's too late now, I just gave her my SS over the phone because I NEED A JOB. Case closed. Thanks to all for your viewpoints.

 

[commentator]

The voice of sanity here. All employer records are kept by social security number. I sort of feel like the risk of identity theft has been greatly over emphasized by people who seek to profit from your fear of having your identity stolen. (such as "free credit report dot com" with the catchy little jingles) But all employee records are kept by social security number. Almost all companies require the disclosure of this number so that they can check their data bases to verify former or non former employment. I really don't think you have much to worry about as far as identity theft. Hope you get the job!

 

[mlane58]

The voice of sanity here. All employer records are kept by social security number. I sort of feel like the risk of identity theft has been greatly over emphasized by people who seek to profit from your fear of having your identity stolen. (such as "free credit report dot com" with the catchy little jingles) But all employee records are kept by social security number. Almost all companies require the disclosure of this number so that they can check their data bases to verify former or non former employment. I really don't think you have much to worry about as far as identity theft. Hope you get the job!

That is not true. Granted you can look up an employee by their SSN, but not all companies are kept by SSN, every employer I have worked for has kept them by employee ID. I can access or search an employee by their social, but they are maintained based on the employee ID.

 

[>Charlotte<]

It also depends on the circumstances of the application process. There are a lot of thieves taking advantage of a lot of desperate people right now. If someone responds to a "do you want a job" email (or a dodgy web site, etc.) with an AT&T logo pasted into it, and the next question is "what's your SSN?", any sane person would recognize it as a probable scam. If you think that's ridiculously obvious, go check out how much the Nigerian 419'ers are still making.

When I was looking for the AT&T Employment link this morning, I found a message board complaining about fake "recruiters", and AT&T was one of them. Along with harvesting personal info, some of them are charging application fees. I hope there's a special place in Hell.

Anyway, OP, from your last post it sounds like a legitimate lead, so good luck!

 

[commentator]

So when attempting to determine if a person has worked for your company before, you ask them what? What was their employee ID number when they worked at your company? Or do you just go by name? There are a great many records in this country that are kept by social security number. There are, if you think about it, a large number of people who have some access to your social security number. Such as the IRS, state employment services, social security administration...

Agreed, there are lots of on line scams regarding employment which attempt to obtain your private information. But it sounds as though this person is going through a recruiter, has had some verification that this is an up and up job application and seems to have a legitimate reason to provide his ssn in this situation.

 

[>Charlotte<]

So when attempting to determine if a person has worked for your company before, you ask them what?

I'd ask for all that and then some--after I had culled the initial pile of applications and resumes into a manageable list of those we were actually willing to consider. I can't even guess how many people apply at AT&T on a daily basis. For all I know, AT&T does run a check on every single applicant, but my concern for the OP was based on the possibility that this "recruiter" does not actually represent AT&T.

Agreed, there are lots of on line scams regarding employment which attempt to obtain your private information. But it sounds as though this person is going through a recruiter, has had some verification that this is an up and up job application and seems to have a legitimate reason to provide his ssn in this situation.

Hot Topic asked if he was sure it really was AT&T, to which tgrman1 responded that he had no idea how to confirm that. That set my radar off. In fact, it's still pinging because the only assurance tgrman1 chose to post in this thread is that they're asking him a lot of questions about his qualifications. I don't know what kind of "recruiter" this is, or how contact between them and the OP was established, but if OP has reason to believe he can trust them that's fine and, again, good luck to him.