Scam Jobs

Its graduation season again, thousands of students donning their cap and gowns and applying nervously for jobs. Unfortunately it’s also the season for scam jobs as some people try to capitalise on these nerves offering what would appear to be really good jobs to unsuspecting graduates.

We have already had students coming in which concerns over whether certain job are legitimate. One student who come into the Careers Resource Centre this week had uploaded their CV online and was offered a job they had not directly applied for or even been interviewed for. Digging a little deeper we found that the company was asking  for bank details which suggested to us this was a scam job. This is not just a problem for Manchester students and graduates, The Careers Group London recently blogged about another scam job they had come across.

How do you spot scam jobs?

As the Careers Group example shows it can be hard to spot scam jobs but here are a few tell-tale signs to watch out for:

• If they contact you out of the blue
• If they are asking for money/ bank details up front
• If you are asked to ring a premium rate number
• If the job is commission only
• If you will make money by signing up new members to sell for you

The main thing to remember is if it sounds too good to be true it probably is!

How to avoid scam jobs

Here at the Careers Service we don’t recommend that you upload your CV onto the internet not just because you should tailor your CV to each and every job you apply for but also because you leave yourself open to scam jobs. (See the above example!)

If you graduated from the University of Manchester within the last 3 years use Careerslink to find vacancies.  We screen vacancies before making them live to ensure they:

• Meet our vacancy advertising policy
• Comply with UK equality legislation
• Meet the national minimum wage

Find out more about our vacancy advertising policy here.

Do you have concerns about a vacancy?

If you have any concerns about whether a job is legitimate don’t apply for it in the first place.  If concerns are raised after you have applied or especially if you didn’t apply for the vacancy don’t agree to sign anything, pay for any services and cease contact with the company.  Contact the Careers Service if you have any questions or would like a second opinion. There is further information on where to get advice on scam jobs here.

If you want to read more about scam jobs have a look at this Guardian Careers article.