Did you recently come across a job opening for Google CEO on LinkedIn?
No, Sundar Pichai has not left the company. Apparently, it was a bug reported on LinkedIn. The global job hunting hub reportedly had a bug that gave permission to millions of LinkedIn users to post any job listing on the page without taking prior authorization from the platform.
According to The Next Web, Michel Rijniders, a Netherland-based recruiter, was the first one to identify the bug. He immediately reported the bug to the job hunting platform along with a tweet!
The technical glitch made it possible for users to post job listings unofficially on any Company’s page. One of these fake job posts was seen on Google’s page for the CEO of Google. Anyone will require a premium subscription to post a job on any Company’s LinkedIn business page.
Even though Rijnders is a premium LinkedIn subscriber, he said that he has been able to list each job openings for free. He created a job post for a new CEO for LinkedIn and Google, which he is not allowed to do. He also posted a job opening of an assistant for Mashable!
Surprisingly both the job openings appeared on the LinkedIn business pages with other openings in the company. The process didn’t ask for any approval or permission.
Rjinders was even able to redirect the users offsite! He linked his own business’ website at the ‘apply’ button on the listed jobs. This makes it very clear how the fake but official-looking job listing could have easily been used or manipulated by a scammer for any exploitation reasons.
A lot of personal stuff is passed on while applying for a job, which can be exploited in many ways.
Rijnders wrote in an email to Mashable, “For a while I noticed scrapers, like Jooble, posting massive amounts of jobs at companies on LinkedIn without consent of those companies. A lot of companies complained without any result. The bad thing is [the scrapers] collect the application details of applicants who think they actually apply at the company. These companies also seem to only pick smaller companies to do this with less risk of getting into trouble.”
LinkedIn has been portrayed and looked up to as a reliable job-hunting platform by everyone. People sign up and engage at the platform in a less sceptical way when compared to applying through an e-mail or online link. The latest loophole, has been quickly closed and covered however, still leaves a tinge of inhibition in users’ mind!
