I've worked at corporate jobs and smaller companies, and frankly if a large company said "here's a list of our authorised resellers, and a signing bonus paid by cheque, please use it to buy equipment as it's faster than going through procurement" I would 100% believe them as at every job I've ever had (before I got a company card) it was faster and easier to just buy and expense. I genuinely wouldn't bat an eyelid until it was too late.

>if a large company said "here's a list of our authorised resellers, and a signing bonus paid by cheque, please use it to buy equipment as it's faster than going through procurement

That's not how I've seen things work at larger companies. It's more like "please go in that room that's full of abandoned computer junk and scrounge a monitor that still works as it's easier and faster than requesting a new one".

I would certainly expect it to be faster than procurement, but not living in the US the concept of receiving a Cheque in the 21st century would raise all forms of red flags. If they deposited the cash directly into my account via a BACS payment, same as my salary, that would be far more believable.

That said, $10k in office expenses for someone starting on $40k a year ($20/hr training) would also raise a flag.

Edit: Do people really get paid by checks in the US?

We do. Small companies don’t want to deal with setting direct deposits through an ACH and it’s much easier to write a check. The latest number from the Federal Reserve was that in 2018 they processed 18 billion checks issued by companies and individuals.

A personal check in this case I guess would be... odd. And there are certainly other red flags. But I receive checks from various organizations I don't have direct deposit set up with on a semi-regular basis, e.g. from my healthcare flexible spending account. Checks are definitely still used in the US even if much less frequently than they used to be. (If you count the ones my bank sends out on my behalf I write a few checks a month myself.)

>Do people really get paid by checks in the US?

If they don't have a bank account or refuse direct deposit or direct deposit isn't set up yet.

Or if the employer is treating them as an independent contractor, maybe.

I had a scummy employer that was always “overpaying” me. So I switched to paper checks that I cashed at his bank and wired to mine. If there was a real overpayment, sure, he’d get his money back…eventually.

For me, it's not the check, it's the emails. I would expect to have emails and calls from at least 3 people at the company - HR, Hiring Manager, and Team Manager. Also, companies are terrified of being sued, that's why they require all recruiting and hiring emails to be done on the corporate accounts. If they don't require HR and managers to use corporate email, that's a big red flag too

If the authorized resellers were companies I'd never heard of, I would hope that would raise flags. But, yeah, especially at a smaller company, getting an official-looking company check and told to use it to get myself set up and expense it when I started would seem pretty normal.

Though it's been many years since I've traveled to interview, I was always paid by check for anything out of pocket. (Except for a 3 letter government agency who paid me in cash.)