HOW TO IDENTIFY JOB SCAM (II)
with
Moruf Kolawole Nasir
(Experienced HR professional)
nmkolawole@gmail.com; info@jarushub.com
In continuation of our last week’s article on ways of identifying job scams, below is the concluding part of the ways. Meanwhile, our subsequent article will be on how to identify fake recruitment outfits.
THE RECRUITER’S EMAIL ADDRESS: I have read few writers who are of the view that using free email account such as yahoo, Gmail is a sign of scam. This may not always be true as many start ups companies and many small and unstructured companies who have little or no need for a website to do their business, go about their businesses without a website and thus leaving their staff at the mercies of free email accounts like yahoo, Gmail etc. However, when a supposedly recruitment company has no website or a well established/structured company requires you to send application to a yahoo mail or a Gmail account, then take cover. I see lots of this where job adverts are placed for companies as organized as MTN and applicants are required to send in their applications to one Mr. mrlagbaja@yahoo.com, or mrtamedo@gmail.com in any such situation, something ‘scammish’ is in the offing, so take cover.
CHARGES FOR APPLICATION: Irrespective of the nomenclature given to collecting money from you, extortion is extortion; either at the application stage, middle of the recruitment process or at the end of it. Care must be taken here as lots of recruitments outfits are daily springing up and use all manner of tricks to collect money from unsuspecting jobseekers. REAL recruitments companies don’t make a dime from job seekers; they make their monies from their clients-employer. So whenever you are asked to purchase one scratch card or pay for one useless process either by any of our irresponsible government parastatals (for only irresponsible government will extort her unemployed youth- using sweet words to describe the extortion), or you are required to pay to register with any ‘recruitment’ outfit to get you job, take to your heels. I must quick to say here that some ‘consulting’ firms render other services to job seekers e.g. CV review etc; they demand for and are entitled to payment for such services. If that is your case, then no cause for alarm, but if the payment is connected to getting you a job, please run!
NO INFORMATION ABOUT THE RECRUITER OR RECRUITING COMPANY: For many reasons, employers sometimes prefer to remain anonymous in their job advert. This is what these fraudsters capitalize on to swindle job seekers; hence statements like “our client…”, “an Oil & Gas firm …” etc are justifiably thrown around by both genuine and fake recruiters. Since the company’s identity is hidden in this kind of advert, it is expected that the identities of the recruiting firms be known and traceable to their callings. If the recruiting firms’ have no traceable track record of their recruiting business, then you should observe some caution.
INVITATION WITHOUT APPLICATION: I need not do long explanation here. We all know what happens when you are been offered $1000 through you email without you playing any lottery. Same thing is applicable here. If you cannot remember applying for the job, don’t bother attending to the invite. If you are however in doubt, you may just subject the invite to some of the above test and see if it passes, only then should you go for such interview, with your eyes wide open though. Most times such ‘unremembered’ applications are always scams. What we (HR practitioners) do in cases of old applications from our data base, is to give the person a call first to find out if he/she is still available for the position after which detailed invite is sent to such person. We do not just send invite to someone after six month of applying to a job. (that is in genuine cases).
THE VACANCY COMES FROM AN UNKNOWN SOURCE: If you belong to some BB group, you will frequently get job advert; same thing is applicable to subscribing for jobs in some job boards. These platforms have identities so there is no much ado. But when openings/vacancies start coming from an unknown face to you through whichever platform, please tread with care.
THE VACANCY FAILS SOME OR MOST OF THE ABOVE TESTS: With all these afore listed points, any reasonable graduate should be able to identify job scams whenever they rear their ugly head. Whenever you subject any job advert to all the above tests/points and the vacancy/job fails some or most of the them, trust me, it is a no-go area.
Always remember “In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn”.
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