What is a job scam?
A job scam is when a person poses as a recruitment consultant or employer by placing attractive job advertisement in which a job seekers is either required to pay a certain sum of money or required to fax documentation to the said person or fax number.
Once your payment or fax has been made to them the scammer disappears no where to be found. You are then out of your money and still with no job.
How do we determine if a job offer or job advertisement is legitimate or not?
- Firstly the law in South Africa states that no agency or employer must charge a job seeker to apply for a position. Steer clear of any advertisement that states this, this being said that if a "scammer" should be smart enough to call you to a fake address and state that you should bring along a certain amount of money. Alarm bells should start ringing! Stay far far away. Never pay money to anyone for a job application.No legitimate agency or employer will ever ask you to pay to apply for a position. Please note that some agencies do charge for other services as reconstructing your CV ( this is completely legal), however charging a candidate to find a job or to apply for a job is not legal.
- Check out the email address that is placed with the advert, 90% of the time ( Not all the time, Some companies do use gmail accounts) these would be fake advertisements. Most recruiters and employers will have legitimate corporate email addresses.
- Do your research, when spotting a particular post that you may be interested in, research the company advertising the post - do they have a legitimate website , do they have a contact number, when you phone the contact number - who answers? what do they say? Compare the email address and telephone number provided on the advert to those on the website. Always check the source and ensure that the company is legally registered company.
- Google is your best friend - Google, google, google - google the company , what information can you find.
- Work from home jobs ( BIG SCAM WARNING) - a lot of scammers are using this approach at the moment. Should this be in an advert this is most likely a scam. Adverts like this would go something to the effect of - " fast growing company seeking individuals who would like to earn in the luxury of their own home, make up to R5000 per work working part time". Take note these are not good and will more often than not expect you to part with your money to sign up.
- Fax to email scam -When applying for a position there is only a fax number - Why? Call them to find out why. Which company uses fax to email for applications these days. Call them to find out if you are able to send the application via email rather. Chances are the number you call does not exist. Check that Fax is not the only form of communication. The fact is here that modern recruiters would prefer you to email your CV in word format. They will accept a fax if this is the job seekers only resort to getting their CV through to the recruiter or employer.
- look out for poorly written adverts stating no experience required
- Be aware of where the job advertisement is being placed - most recruiters and employers will use Pnet, Careers 24, Career Junction etc however also use Gumtree and a bunch of others in conjunction.
- facebook posts about very reputable companies offering jobs and higher than market related salaries. Rather research and verify with the company that they have in fact placed the advert.
Despite the large number of scams, there are many legitimate, reputable organisations that genuinely help jobseekers to find work. A legitimate recruitment agency or employer will NEVER ask a job seeker to pay any amount of money to apply for a job.
Try and use sites they are specifically designed for Job advertisements.
Herewith a link to to 5 most common job scam in South Africa via Careers24 . https://goo.gl/qtR7Fb
The bottom line here is that you need to be aware and do your research. Research my be time consuming however at the end of the day you will not be out of pocket and your will not fall prey to identity theft.
Be safe! Be Aware and do your research! And the job search continues...
