11 questions to ask yourself when you’re trying to avoid job search scams

In Nigeria, unemployment is sky high, yet when you’re job searching, you see lots of job ads everywhere some of which might not be authentic.

Sometimes you receive messages on your mobile phone from multi-level marketers and unsolicited email accounts. It’s easy to fall for these messages if you’re not careful.

So, to identify and avoid job search scams, you’ll need to ask yourself these 11 questions.

Job-seekers lie on the pitch after a stampede in Abuja National Stadium during the Nigerian immigration recruitment in 2014. AFP

Does the job sound too good to be true?
Are you required to pay anything upfront to get the position.
Does the job listing ask for your debit card or bank information, or other personal data?
Is the employer identified in the job posting?
If the company is identified, does it have a website with contact information, including email addresses and phone numbers?
If there’s an employer website, does it contain broken links?
Is email from the company sent from a free account like Gmail or Yahoo?
Is the language in emails or on the company website (if it has one) oddly written, or full of grammatical and spelling errors?
Is the job description vague or undefined?
Does the listing claim to offer a large salary in exchange for little or no work?
Has the company offered you a job without interviewing you?

Job scam ece-auto-gen

If your responses to all of these questions come in negatives, you shouldn’t bother to pay attention to the message. The job offer might be coming from multi-level marketers or random job scammers.