How To Identify A Job Scam

Majority of Kenyans grew up under the doctrine that great education leads to great employment and ultimately guarantees a great life.

Unfortunately, reality has proven otherwise for thousands of graduates who are offloaded yearly to the already saturated job market.

While creative ones may adapt to the sudden transition by engaging in self employment, the less creative ones will settle for the all too familiar stage referred to as’ tarmacking’- a stage plagued by numerous job applications that either go rejected or worse-off unanswered by their recipients.

To the few ‘lucky’ ones who receive positive feedback, the end result may go either way i.e. land a job or get scammed in the process. Unfortunately, a great fraction of job seekers usually find themselves statistics of the latter.

Below, we highlight some of the red flags to look out for in the event you intend to respond to a job advert.

1. Mass Recruitment

This is whereby there is a ridiculous number of vacancies to be filled at a go. This should be a warning as recruitment processes usually bear considerable costs.
So it does not make any sense for a company to hire 42 drivers, 12 secretaries and 10 managers in a single exercise.

2. Unreasonable Salary/Remuneration

This is whereby the salary offered for a particular position differs greatly with the overall payment standards of similar positions in different companies in the same industry.

3. Job Advertisement Platform

It is also advisable to be keen on the platforms in which the job vacancies are posted. Vacancies posted on the recruiting companies’ website bear much more credibility than job adverts posted on social networks.

4. Facilitation Payments

This should be a no-brainer. Any potential employer that asks for money to facilitate any service or documentation prior to employment is a fraud.

While some job seekers may opt for employment agencies to assist in securing jobs, reputable agencies do NOT ask for upfront payment for their services. Instead, they ask for a certain percentage of one’s salary upon getting a job.

5. Email forwarding

Some savvy swindlers hoodwink job applicants by using non-functional email addresses of genuine companies while simultaneously ensuring that they also receive your application via their email addresses primarily set up for the scam.

They achieve this by quoting the seemingly genuine email address and ask you to forward to another email address.

6. Grammar & Writing Style

Grammar should be a dead giveaway in spotting fake job postings as well as irregular constructed sentences and unofficial writing styles.