How to Verify a Recruiter Email Before Sharing Your Resume

To verify a recruiter email, find the employer's official website independently and contact its recruiting team through a channel listed there. Ask whether the named recruiter and opportunity are genuine before sharing your resume or opening files. If the sender claims to work for a staffing agency, verify that agency and the person's connection to it separately.

A familiar company name, a detailed message, or a real job posting gives you something to check. None confirms who sent the email. Pause the conversation while you verify it; an invitation to interview does not require an immediate reply.

Start with a contact you found yourself

Keep the original message for reference, but leave its links and attachments unopened. Navigate to the company website through a source you already trust, or research the official site independently. Use the careers page, published recruiting contact, or main switchboard to find the appropriate team.

The FTC recommends contacting the company through a phone number or website you know is legitimate, rather than contact details supplied by the person claiming to recruit for it.

If the website lists an external application system, follow the link from that official careers page. Avoid treating an unfamiliar application link in the email as verified just because it contains the employer's name.

When no recruiting address is published, ask the main company contact where to direct a recruitment-verification question. You do not need to send your resume to make that inquiry.

Inspect the address without treating it as proof

Expand the sender details so you can read the full address. Compare the domain after the @ sign with the company's independently located website. Check the reply-to address too, if your email app displays one.

The FBI's spoofing and phishing guidance explains that criminals can disguise sender names and addresses, including by making small spelling changes. It advises checking contact details independently and avoiding unexpected attachments.

For a fictional employer using northstar.example, an address ending in northstar-careers.example would be a different domain. You would need to verify that relationship. A display name reading "Northstar Recruiting" would not settle it either. These are illustrative addresses, not real employers or contacts.

A personal email address is a reason to investigate further. A matching company address also needs context: confirm the person and the process through the independent channel. Searching an address and finding no complaints does not establish that it is safe.

Ask the company to confirm the person and role

Give the recruiting team enough information to identify the message:

• The sender's name and complete email address
• The role title and any requisition number
• When the message arrived and what it asks you to do

Send this to the address you found independently. The following example is fictional; replace its details with your own.

Subject: Verification of recruiting contact for Data Analyst role

Hello Recruiting Team,

I received an email on October 16 from Jordan Lee at [sender's full email address] about the Data Analyst role, reference DA-204. The message asks me to upload my resume through a link before an interview.

Could you confirm whether this person is authorized to contact candidates for this opening and which application channel I should use?

I found your contact details through your company website and have not submitted documents through the message.

Thank you,
Alex Morgan

A response saying the vacancy exists answers only part of the question. If it does not address the sender, ask whether that specific email address belongs to an authorized recruiting contact. A copied public vacancy can appear in an unverified message.

If you call instead, use the same details. Record the date, who answered, and the application route they confirmed.

Handle an agency or confidential search

When someone says they represent an agency, start with the agency's own independently located contact details. Ask whether the named person works there and whether the message came from them. Then ask the verified recruiter to explain the role and application process.

If they cannot name the client yet, you may still be unable to verify the particular opening. Keep that uncertainty explicit. You can decline to share documents until you have enough information to decide.

An absent public job listing also leaves a question unresolved; it does not by itself prove a scam. Ask for confirmation through the verified recruiting contact instead of trying to infer legitimacy from the listing alone.

Stop if the conversation asks for money or sensitive information

Do not pay to secure a job or act on a request to deposit a check and send money onward. The FTC's job-scam guide identifies these as scam patterns. It also cautions that a lack of online complaints is no guarantee that a company is honest.

Keep Social Security numbers, bank information, identification documents, passwords, and login codes out of an exploratory recruiter exchange. If a later hiring step requires sensitive information, first verify the employer and confirm the official process independently.

If the company denies sending the message, stop engaging with the sender and use your email provider's phishing-report option. For a suspected U.S. job scam, the FTC provides ReportFraud.ftc.gov. If you already shared information or paid, follow the FTC's guidance on what to do after a scam for your circumstances.

You do not need to send a final explanation to a suspected impersonator. If verification remains inconclusive, leave the outreach paused and pursue opportunities through contacts you can establish independently.

Resume the job conversation after verification

Once the recruiting team confirms the contact and application route, continue through that channel. Ask about the role and offer suitable call times using these recruiter-response examples. Share a current resume when it fits the confirmed process; the resume attachment guide covers when an attachment helps in other outreach situations.

Keep your verification notes alongside your job-search outreach tracker, so an unresolved message does not become a routine follow-up later. Record "contact confirmed" or "verification pending" accurately.

For outreach to employers you have researched, Personal Reach helps you prepare personalized job-search email drafts to review and edit. Create an account when you are ready to write to your chosen contacts. Complete the identity check separately before sharing documents.