With all that’s out there on the World Wide Web, it’s hard to distinguish good companies from bad. The waters become even murkier when it comes to looking for a summer job. Before you embark on fixing up that resume of yours, you might want to check if the company you’re interested is legitimate. Below, we’ve provided you with a checklist of characteristics to be wary of. We know College Pro Painters has gotten a lot of flack lately, so we’ve put them to the test as well. 
Ladies and gentlemen, we present six ways to identify if an “employer” is a scam artist:

1. No history
If a company doesn’t give a run down of when it was established and why, that’s pretty suspicious. A company with some history tells you that it’s legitimate enough to have survived that number of years with a clear mandate. Otherwise, a lawsuit would’ve taken it down by now. If it existed before the Internet, that only adds to its credibility. 
College Pro has been around since 1971, has employed thousands of students and treats 25,000 homes annually. 

2. You’re being solicited by “royalty”
Almost everyone has received an email about some foreign prince with riches beyond belief. Yeah. This is not a happily-ever-after tale. It’s an unhappily-robbed, kind of tale. If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.
College Pro doesn’t try to get your attention by spamming you. They place many paid ads—for both summer jobs and manager jobs— in newspapers and on online job boards, like, uh, this one.

3. Too good to be true
Going off of the above point, a real place of employment will make their expectations clear. While highlighting the benefits of working there, they’ll also let you know about some of the challenges.

The College Pro site explains all the perks of working with them, but you’ll have to work long and hard to make your franchise successful. No hidden truths here. You know what you’re heading into, and if you’re an entrepreneur, all the better. 

4. Testimonials
Companies that either provide no testimonials or provide vague one-liners that say nothing about the company itself aren’t to be trusted i.e. “They got me where I needed to go.” 
The alumni section of the College Pro site has blurbs about past students’ summer job experiences. There’s one by Laura Haburn, for example, who says, “For me College Pro has been a life changing, emotional, roller coaster. It transformed my interest and excitement for business into skills that lead me to an experienced business woman.” There’s more to her testimonial and several others’ as well—take a look for yourself.

5. Sketchy website
All it has is the name of the company and a phone number. Or the site is forever “Under Repair.”  Suspicious.
http://collegepro.com/ has all the information you need about their company as well as several ways to contact them. This also means that the company can be held accountable should anything go wrong. Accountability is key.

6. Partners
They don’t have any. A legitimate company has one or more partners that are also legitimate and in line with that company’s mandate.
College Pro is partnered with several student-based and student-focused organizations making it clear that they create an environment that is open to students and their goals, allowing them to maximize their potential. If a company trusts another enough to partner with them, that too indicates legitimacy. 

If the employer you were planning to apply to has at least three of these characteristics, look elsewhere. And College Pro, it seems, has passed the test.