While there are many job opportunities posted here and there in the UAE, you may also encounter fake jobs and scams. Be very careful as most of them are scouting on the internet. The technology has been a gateway to fake recruiters to entice applicants to apply with them and get hired in the country. If you are an applicant and you want to work in the UAE, you should be able to distinguish legit recruiters from fake ones. In the latter part of this article, we will help you identify scams on the internet.
READ: Why Keeping the Passport of Employee is Illegal
When looking for a job, you should always be vigilant. Online recruiters will do everything they can to entice you. They will not stop interviewing and asking you about the position you want and the experience you have. If they know that you are not that experienced when talking with a recruiter, they will try to get into you until they get enough information to scam you or ask for money from you. These people will rush things in order to fool you. The strategies they usually use should be enough to warn you that not everything you see on the internet is true. If you are not careful, you will end up giving your personal information that they can use against you.
How to determine if an online recruiter is a scam or not?
To help you out, we gathered the signs on how you can determine if an online recruiter is trying to scam you or not. If you experience one of these, that’s the time you need to hold yourself back from giving information to the person you are talking to. Remember these warning signs:
1. You did not send any job applications.
First of all, online recruiters will try to bait you with job offers on the internet. Even if you did not send an application, they know where to get your basic information like your email. If you get a job offer through an email and you did not send your resume to someone, beware. These people are trying to scam you. What you need to do to these emails is to move them into the Spam or Junk folder or delete them completely. Do not reply. The more you entertain them, the more they will penetrate into your email.
2. The recruiter cannot speak fluently in writing.
A legit recruiter has this ability to talk to applicants in a professional manner. They can write with correct grammar, vocabulary, and spelling. As opposed to online scams who have incorrect grammar and vocabulary, a legit company’s email is professional, straightforward, and includes the name of the company and its contact information. If the choice of words is very poor, don’t trust the email. Those are scams!
3. The message looks like a phishing email.
The email of online recruiters who are trying to scam you will look suspicious. Messages coming from emails ending in “google.com” or “yahoo.com” are likely to be scams unless there can provide enough legit information that you can check on the spot.
There are free email domains and scams will use them. Remember that companies are willing to pay for website hosting and they will create a legit business email to contact you. Make sure the emails you get from a recruiter don’t look suspicious in any angle.
4. The company attaches a fake head office address.
You can easily check the address attached to the email using the internet. Go to Google Maps and attach the link so you can check if the address is legit or not. Any person can use a physical address. The determination of whether it is correct or not will be done by you.
Using Google Maps, you can easily identify a fake location. Also, if a recruiter cannot provide an address or the company’s physical head office is nowhere to be found, trust us. It’s a scam!
5. The job offer is very generous.
You got an email with a job offer and it has a very generous monetary pay. Of course, you will get easily enticed by it. However, remember that if the job offer sounds too good to be true, it’s a scam. A real company will give you a reasonable salary that is not too high or too low for your experience.
Likewise, some of the allowances will be disclosed properly. If the job offer says that your salary is too high and it is bombarded with too many benefits, it is not true. You have to stay away from that email.
6. The supposed job will require you to pay.
No legit recruiters will ask you to pay upfront fees before you get hired. Even with offline companies, they will not require you to pay application fees for them to entertain your application. One of the major signs that an online recruiter is trying to scam you is when he/she demands payment before you can start working.
Those scams will persuade you to pay. They won’t stop talking to you until you finally decide to send them money. They usually ask for payments through remittance centers. If this is the case, you should not push through with the conversation.
7. The job interview may possibly be in dodgy areas (be careful especially for ladies!).
Be very careful especially if you get interviewed in dodgy places. While this applies to everyone, this is a great concern for women. Never go to a job interview that is in an ‘improper location’. There may be cases where women may become victims of sexual harassment so better think twice if the location is strange. You should have an interview location in a proper office setting.
As a final reminder, avoid talking to online recruiters as much as you can. If you can go to the agency of your government that is tasked to entertain applicants who want to go abroad, go to the agency. Talk to the recruiters personally. Get as much as details as you can from them and make sure that they are not requiring any payment for you.