Since shutting down in November due to fraudulent activity, the Student Government Jobs Board was officially re-launched online on Feb. 15 with new security precautions in place.
The Jobs Board was originally taken down after students encountered multiple postings from fake accounts or postings where employers asked them for money, according to SG Secretary Martin Valderruten. This culminated in one student losing approximately $2,000, at which point the university decided to reevaluate the security measures behind the site.
“The Jobs Board was established five and a half years ago, and there’s been a couple issues with fraudulent posts,” Valderruten said. “Somebody will post asking for money, and then they’ll be like ‘You’ll get this amount in return.’ That’s one case. Another instance would be people not posting enough information.”
While the Jobs Board was down, Valderruten said that he and his cabinet met with other organizations such as the Career Center, Public Safety and other existing job websites to determine the best approach to improve the site.
Throughout this period of suspension, the Jobs Board has been completely redesigned by Valderruten’s cabinet and IT Director Austin Morgan. The site now incorporates tighter security measures to ensure student safety, according to Valderruten.
“We redesigned the website entirely,” Valderruten said. “The way you post a job is different now. We’ve added more security questions, and currently we’re working with Student Activities to see if there’s a way for us to ask for ID or proof of residency from employers and for the posters to send us either a document or a scan of their address to verify that they’re within the D.C. area and to verify that they’re real.”
SG also reset all login information for preexisting members, forcing users to create new accounts and therefore eliminating former fake profiles.
In addition to the Jobs Board, SG also created a Facebook group for the AU community to post job and internship opportunities in a more informal manner. The Facebook group is named “AUSG Jobs Board Forum” and already has upwards of 400 members.
“A lot of people are aware of the Jobs Board, but [currently], I think social media is really an important part of everyday life,” Valderruten said. “I think this was another way that we can step it up and increase the community-based jobs relations as well.”
While the new process of posting a job does require additional steps for posters to further ensure security, Valderruten said he thinks these measures will pay off for students in the end.
“Because it’s a free service that we offer and because it’s something that has been working for a lot of people, I don’t really think that people will be turned off,” Valderruten said. “It’s like yes, it may be a pain in the butt at times to fill all of that information out, but I think in the long run it’s going to save a lot of people [from having] issues.”
