Important Notice – 04/22/26
Onward Education (previously known as Onward Search Education) is committed to maintaining a safe and trustworthy experience for our candidates. Unfortunately, fraudulent recruiting scams have become a widespread global issue across the staffing industry. We are aware of individuals / organizations impersonating legitimate staffing firms, including Onward Education, to target job seekers with false opportunities. These communications are not connected to our organization, and we encourage all candidates to verify the legitimacy of any recruiting outreach.
PLEASE BE ADVISED: There has been a recent influx of fraudulent outreach to our job seekers using @gmail.com addresses. Our team will never contact our candidates using a public email domain such as gmail, yahoo, icloud, etc.
What You Need to Know
Scammers are reaching out to individuals across the web – via email, social media, job boards, and messaging apps – posing as Onward Education recruiters. These messages falsely claim to offer employment opportunities and may include:
- Fake job offer details
- Phony onboarding instructions
- Requests for personal information (such as banking details or your full Social Security number; note: in some cases your recruiter will need the last 4 digits of your SSN to verify your identity)
- Instructions to deposit a check for “office supplies” or other job-related expenses
These communications are NOT from Onward Education.
How to Identify a Scam
To help you spot fraudulent outreach, the listed below show what you can expect from our recruiters.
Our recruiters will never:
- Request sensitive personal or financial information before an official job placement
- Send checks for job-related expenses before you begin work
- Ask you for any form of payment for our services
- Communicate through WhatsApp, Gmail, or other 3rd party email services
- Communicate through international phone numbers (Ex: +63)
- Tell you that “No experience is needed”
Our recruiters will always:
- Communicate with official Onward Education email addresses (e.g., @onwardedu.com, @onward-edu.com, or our affiliate sites: @onwardsearch.com, @onward-search.com, @onwardsearchstaffing.com)
- Direct you to legitimate job openings on our website: jobs.onwardsearchedu.com
- Be willing to speak to you on the phone or on a video conference
- Treat you with professionalism and respect
- Provide you with detailed information regarding our onboarding processes
Our Official Hiring Process
The typical process when applying, interviewing and receiving a job from Onward Education should follow these steps:
- Job Seeker applies for a job on onwardeducation.com or through recognized job sites such as Indeed or LinkedIn
- Job Seeker will immediately receive a confirmation email from apply@onwardedu.com
- Majority of applicants will then receive a request to perform a virtual AI interview* from alex@onwardedu.com
- Qualified applicants will then be contacted by an actual Onward Education recruiter so we can confirm your identity
- Their emaill address will end with @onwardedu.com
- The job seeker may be asked to conduct a video interview with the recruiter so we can confirm your identity
- Information such as the last 4 digits of your social security number may be needed to submit you to certain jobs
- As you move through the interview process and eventually accept a job, additional personal information will be needed by our team for payrolling and benefits purposes.
*Virtual AI Interview
After applying for a job, we ask the majority of our candidates to take part in an AI Interview conducted by our virtual assistant “Alex.” Due to the large volume of applications we receive for each job posting, the AI Interview gives candidates the chance to showcase their commitment to the role and qualifications beyond their resume. We review every submission and move the qualified ones to the next stage in the process. You can learn more about the technology at Alex.com.
What to Do If You’re Contacted by a Scammer
If you receive a suspicious message claiming to be from Onward Education:
- Do not engage – Avoid responsding or clicking on any links.
- Verify the source – Cross-check with our official website or contact us directly at info@onwardedu.com.
- Report the scam – You can report fraudulent activity to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at reportfraud.ftc.gov and alert us at scamalert@onwardedu.com.
Stay Vigilant
We take these matters seriously and are actively working to combat fraudulent activity. If you are ever unsure about an opportunity claiming to be from Onward Education, reach out to us directly.
For official job listings and updates, always visit onwardedu.com.
