Landing that ideal job that aligns with the qualifications, skill set, and experience of candidates and perfectly meets their financial and growth needs is often quite challenging. And with the availability of so many job search tools, the task has gotten even more challenging. As there are so many opportunities to look through for candidates, it is often difficult to figure out whether a job opportunity or job offer is legitimate or not. The instances of candidates coming across fraudulent job offers are on the rise. And this rise can be majorly attributed to the obscurity associated with the internet. Some people can hide behind the identity of reputable recruiters and offer fraud employment opportunities to job-seeking candidates in their name. Many of these spurious people offering fraudulent job offers also ask for money from these candidates.
Here are a few job scams that candidates need to be aware of:
Fake job listings: Candidates come across many of these on the internet. Scammers acting as recruiters build websites to post fake jobs and lure candidates. These listings ask for a recruitment fee from candidates with the promise that they will have a better chance of getting hired if they associate with them.
Email: This is one of the most common ways scammers use to dupe candidates looking for jobs. Scammers send candidates emails requesting bank account details or other financial information. Candidates are promised rewards in employment in return for sharing this information.
Online messaging: These scams are conducted using online messaging apps. Scammers ask candidates to share information using one of these apps. This could lead to scammers stealing credit/debit card details or even money from a candidate’s account.
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Imposter: Scammers act as associates or partners of a recruitment agency and ask candidates for a screening fee to be transferred online. It is likely a scam if a job poster or recruiter is outrightly asking for money.
Consulting: In this case, a scammer reaches out to candidates acting as career experts. Though they will start by appreciating the candidate’s resume, somewhere near the end of the discussion, they will point out flaws that they can help rectify. And for this job, they will ask for money in advance.
And candidates who are in dire need of an opportunity or those who are new to the business world may fall into this trap and pay those fake recruiters for a job opportunity that doesn’t exist. These are all big red flags that should make candidates realize that these are phoney job offers as soon as they come across them. These scams and fraudulent activities are rarely found with legitimate job portals that run multiple checks to ensure those job posters and job opportunities are genuine. However, candidates should make it a practice to verify job offers before sharing confidential information or paying money, for that matter.
There are several things that candidates can look for to differentiate between genuine and fraudulent job offers:
- If candidates find anything suspicious in job offers, it should raise the alarm in their minds. In usual circumstances, employers or hiring managers don’t contact candidates first. A discussion between a candidate and a hiring manager usually happens after the former applies for a job. However, it may not be a scam if an employer reaches a candidate saying they found their profile on a job portal. Still, candidates should exercise care when such an opportunity arrives. But, if they are offered a job during the first conversation, then there are high chances that this approach could be a false one, directed at collecting information.
- Who doesn’t want to get a job without going through several rounds of interviews? Well, as it turns out, it isn’t always a genuine job offer. When a candidate hasn’t even applied for a job and hasn’t been involved in a formal interview process, then it could be a fake job offer. When someone approaches a candidate first with an opportunity and selects them without examining their skills and experience, it raises many questions about the legitimacy of the job offer.
- Candidates who know their industry and the compensation usually offered to those with similar experience wouldn’t fall prey to fraudulent job offers with extremely high salaries. A candidate who has just entered the job market needs to put in some effort to understand the standard pay for their role and skills. This will help them negotiate better with a possibly fake recruiter who comes with a fraudulent job offer, promising to pay them an absurd amount of money for an entry-level position. If candidates come across such job offers, they should refrain from sending their applications for those.
- A flexible work schedule is the foremost requirement of most individuals looking out for a job. And many organizations are ensuring that they provide a relaxed work environment to help them maintain a balance between their personal and professional lives. However, if the work schedule is too flexible to be accurate, candidates should carefully evaluate the opportunity before moving ahead with it. For instance, if a high-paying job opportunity only requires an individual to work a few hours for two or three days a week, it needs to be investigated.
- Another red flag that can be usually found in fraud job offers is a vague and unclear job description. Genuine job opportunities come with specific details about the job. Responsibilities and requirements are listed quite clearly in the job description. However, that’s not the case with fraudulent job opportunities. It is challenging for candidates to understand their job roles and responsibilities because the job description appears to have come from a recruiter who knows very little about it. Job offers that come with minimum age, qualifications, and experience are usually fake.
- If a candidate is required to pay a company to get a job, it is not a real job. Candidates need to be very careful of such fraudulent job offers. A legitimate and genuine job opportunity will never have a candidate pay for landing that job. Candidates should get away from any such job offers as soon as they know about the involvement of money. In the same way, if a job comes with the claim of making a wealthy candidate faster, it is likely a scam. Candidates should understand that growth and success is a step-by-step process. A job that promises to make them rich within a few months by skipping that process entirely is ultimately fraud.
- Unprofessional communication is another warning sign that a job offer isn’t genuine. Candidates can easily find grammar and other mistakes in such emails. This is not how a real company communicates with candidates. Candidates should try and find more information about the company before going further. Also, fraudulent job offers won’t have the company’s contact details or the individual who is reaching out to candidates.
References:
- 10 Signs a Job Posting May Be a Scam | Indeed | July 20, 2021
- Don’t Be a Victim of Fake Job Offers – Run the SCAM Check | Vista Projects | June 3, 2021
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