In recent years, there have been millions of fresh graduates “graduating” every year into the labor market. With the pressure of getting well-paying jobs on time and not wasting their youthful lives away. With this comes some lawbreakers taking advantage of fresh University students’ eagerness to find a job to defraud them with various recruitment frauds.
Here. I will share with you some common recruitment scams. I hope that after reading this, you can be vigilant, pay attention to precautions, and avoid being deceived.
Sadly, there are a lot of fraudulent job offers on the Internet – alas, not all “employers” have good intentions and honestly look for performers for understandable tasks. What forms of deception exist and how to protect yourself from losses and disappointments from such employment – I analyze in this article.
In most cases, the goals of such fraudulent “employers” are as follows:
- extort money from you;
- make you work for free;
- receive your personal data;
- drag you into questionable and sometimes illegal activities.
Let’s analyze each of the options.
Collection of personal data
What it might look like?
The “employer” at one of the first stages of interaction asks you to send a scan of your passport and/or other documents (Driver’s License, NIN, Pension, etc.). Behind this may be scammers who collect personal data for personal use (for example, a loan can be issued in your name, clear your bank account, or a SIM card, or your data can be sold).
How not to be deceived
First, trace their online presence and make sure they are reliable. In any case, it is important to try to understand which employer you are dealing with before submitting any documents. If you are officially employed in a real company, then everything is fine. However, if you do not know anything about the company, you have not had any interaction yet, or something confuses you about the behavior of the “employer”, it is better not to provide any documents and data. You register with a recruitment agency like ArtisanOga. outsourcing
Asked for money
What it might look like
Schemes might be different, but they are united by the need for some kind of payment, a fee for something. For example, you are offered to pay for some training necessary for the performance of a future job, or to contribute some amount for a guarantee, medical and/or employment record, conclusion of an agreement, subscription, registration, courier delivery, etc. Most likely, after the transfer of such payment, you will not see either your money or the promised work.
How not to be deceived
Remember the golden rule “No decent employer will ask you for money before getting you a job.” An employment relationship means that you get paid, and not for you to pay before getting a job. Therefore, if you see suspicious information in a vacancy or learn it during an interview, immediately stop interacting with such an employer.
Free work under the guise of a test task
What it might look like
There is a separate type of unscrupulous “employers” who are trying to get a free product at the expense of applicants. The bottom line is this: you are offered to do a test task – for example, write an article, draw up a content plan for a social network, create a design for something, and develop a business plan.
You spend time and effort completing the task, sending it to the “employer”, after which he disappears from communication or refuses you because you are not suitable or the company has already chosen another candidate. And after some time, you can meet the result of your work on their website or on social networks.
Another option: as soon as you pass the first test task, the employer gives you a new one – ostensibly to make sure of your qualifications. So you are already working for this company for free.
How not to be deceived
Of course, this does not mean that you should always refuse to complete test tasks. Most companies use them to actually evaluate candidates, and by refusing to do them, you may miss out on interesting job opportunities. But be on the lookout!
First, study the information about the company to the peak: the field of activity, positioning in the market, reviews of former and current employees, reviews of candidates who have already been interviewed, etc. The more understandable and transparent information about the company, the more likely it is not to use dubious schemes.
Secondly, try to soberly evaluate the task itself. If you understand that it can take several days or even weeks to complete and it is more like a job or a full-fledged project, there is reason to think. It makes sense to agree to such options only if you understand that you are dealing with a serious company and/or for some reason you really want to work for them.
Concealment of the true nature of the work and mediation of illegal activities
What it might look like
This is a very dangerous type of scam, but if you carefully read the job description, it is easy to spot.
For example, the position description contains the minimum requirements for candidates, but at the same time – a high salary, flexible hours, and extremely loyal working conditions. Or the job description is too vague, there is no clarity in the description of the functionality. As a rule, the authors of such ads are trying to attract as many people as possible for some dubious or even illegal activity.
Examples of dangerous jobs:
Payment acceptance operators, whose duties include accepting some payments and then sending them to other people (you can be used as an intermediary when withdrawing money from some accounts for any purpose).
Couriers with high salaries: It is very important to make sure that the employer is a serious company and knows exactly what needs to be delivered. It is unsafe to work for individuals and for shady companies, delivering sealed packages (there is a high probability that they may contain prohibited substances).
Stream host, chat clerk, etc: often looking for women of all ages with basic English skills and who offer a high salary (webcams can be behind such vacancies).
How not to be deceived
The rule “free cheese is only in a mousetrap” works great in the case of fraudulent vacancies. Typically, the salary level corresponds to the professional qualifications of the candidate, a high salary implies a serious list of requirements. If you see a job offer that offers a high salary with low requirements (or no requirements at all), vague functionality, and a dubious and questionable company, the best solution is to pass by.
In almost all of the above cases and in a number of others, you can protect yourself by following the basic rules:
To search for a job, use only reliable portals, sites, or a verified recruitment agency like ArtisanOga. A recruitment agency where each vacancy is moderated. Of course, unscrupulous “employers” can also seep there, but the risk is still significantly reduced.
Don’t apply for vacancies that arouse suspicion or offer golden mountains with a minimum of requirements for the candidate’s competencies.
Make sure that the employing company exists at all (it has a name, address, website, social networks, and reviews).
When looking for a job, be vigilant and careful. Then it will be more difficult to deceive you.
If you nevertheless fell for the tricks of scammers or suspect some employer of dishonest schemes, be sure to report this information to the support of the site or the administrators of the groups where this vacancy was posted.
The best way to get a good paying job these days is usually through recruitment agents or Job portals or authorized recruitment companies. Because even LinkedIn is not safe anymore.
Knowing a good recruitment company confirms that they have a solid online presence: Active website, and social media pages.
Get more from life with Jobs from ArtisanOga today! Read more on how we can save you from the stress of job hunting here.