How to identify a fake recruitment outfit

                                               
                                                                         HR Talk
 
                                                                           With
                                                                Moruf Kolawole Nasir
                                                           
One of the many hurdles fresh graduates have to scale through in their quest to getting job is that of fake recruitment outfits. Unfortunately myriad of graduates fall victims of these fraudsters every day. This is, in no small means, affecting the job of Human Resources Professionals, as job seekers occasionally find it difficult to differentiate fake from real recruiters. To help exposed these dubious practitioners, below are some yardsticks.

1.      CHARGES: The first indicator of a fraudulent recruitment outfit is charges. Irrespective of the nomenclature given to collecting money from you, extortion is extortion, either at the beginning of the process, middle or end of the exercise. As soon as you notice any kind of charge in a bid to getting you job, make a U-turn. Some of them hide under the guise of being outsourcing firms and that they run their business with the ‘token’ charged their clients (job seekers). Far from it. REAL outsourcing firms don’t make a dime from job seekers; they make their monies from their clients-employer.


2.      LENIENT SCREENING PROCESS: Apart from the usual unprofessional ‘man-know-man’ screening for ‘special’ applicants, in any recruitment screening process where you have a walk over, where everything is waived, and at the end of it, the recruiter still offers you the job, be cautious as such recruiter is a likely suspect of fake agency.

3.       MEANS OF APPLICATION: The means of application for job says a lot about the recruiter. You can get to tell a serious recruiter from a fake one through how their adverts expect you to apply for the job. You shouldn’t expect anything serious from a recruiter who requires you to apply for an opening through SMS. Similarly requesting application through any other unconventional way is a sign of fake recruitment outfits. That is not to say all recruitment outfits that require you to apply through the conventional ways are genuine, some of them try as much as possible to imitate the normal recruitment process only to lead you to a point where your moral is at its peak and then demand for some money with pleasant description.


4.       CONTENT OF THE INVITE: There is a minimum requirements in the content of any interview invite: The name of the recruiting/employing firm, the position you are being considered for, the location of the interview, the time and date of the interview. Whenever any or some of the above is missing in any job interview invitation you get, please be double sure before you head to such destination. Many job seekers have fallen prey of kidnappers in a bid to earn a livelihood. But with these, you are at least 50% sure of not getting into the wrong hand. That is not to say some scammers won’t scale through this test and that some genuine companies won’t fall short of this minimum requirements due to the ignorance of the person in charge of their recruitment. But with this and other points being considered you are sure of not going wrong.

5.      UNPROFESSIONAL CORRESPONDENCE: For those who are used to receiving mail from the Internet scammers you will agree with me that one of the ways of identifying that scam mails is through their blunders. They are prone to bad grammar or careless typos. Same thing is applicable to fake recruitment outfits. Because they are not professionals, their correspondences are always fraught with blunders.


6.      YOU DID NOT CONTACT THEM THEY CONTACTED YOU: For recruiter to contact you, you must have some special skills, knowledge and experience that is next to none, this is headhunting, but in a situation where you are just the usual job seeker out there and some funny ‘firm’ come with the story “we found your resume online” they either offer you a job right away or invite you for their final interview stage right away; in such situations, shine your eyes.

7.      SHABBY ENVIRONMENT: Trust me environment says a lot about an organization. If a recruitment firm or company claims to be a going concern and legal in its operation, one will naturally expect some level of serenity in their location of operation, but in a situation where the office is not too different from village Head-Master’s office, there is cause for concern. It is likely such entity is not operating legally, or hiding under legality to extort unsuspecting innocent citizens.

8.      PRODUCT OR SERVICE MARKETTING: Any firm which tells you that marketing a product or service (in whatever guise) is a pre-requisite for offering you a job is likely enslaving you so think twice before embarking on such mission. Even if the job you are applying for is for the post of a marketer, ask if there is no probation period in their employment policy and why you have to start working before getting hired.


9.      FACELESS OR BAD IMAGE: This being the last is by no means the least; in fact it is one of the key determinants of fake recruitment firms. As soon as you gain access to ANY information about your prospective employer (be it the name of the company or the address of the company), Google it straight away and use the information to know about the company, trust me if they are scammers you will get hint about them on the internet and that should be an eye opener for you to tread with caution, and if throughout your search you still did not get any information about them, then the likelihood of such recruitment firm being fake is high, you can then apply the other yardsticks raised above.

Send  your questions and enquiries to shadedreflects@gmail.com or nmkolawole@gmail.com or comment in the comment box.

Fayose's death-wish advert on Buhari

Nigerians woke up this morning to a provocative advert placed in major print newspapers across Nigeria by Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti state practically wishing death on General Muhammad Buhari (rtd), the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The advert which were placed on the front pages of Punch, the Guardian and several other national newspapers, titled “Nigerians Be Warned” started with a quote from the book of Deuteronomy in the bible talking about life and death.
Fayose then listed three former Nigerian head of states from the Northwestern part of Nigeria, who have died tragically and the placed Buhari at the end with a question mark placed over his photograph.
The advert followed several desperate efforts by operatives of President Jonathan to hang a prostrate cancer diagnosis on Buhari over the last few days. The group went as far as concocting a laboratory report claiming Buhari had been diagnosed with prostate cancer at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital. The hospital later denied the existence of the laboratory report and its writer.
Also, Buhari personally addressed a press conference yesterday and denied visiting ABUTH in the last five years.
culled from Sahara Reporter

FG reduces pump fuel price to N87 per litre

The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, said at a press conference at the presidential villa, Abuja, on Sunday that the new price regime would take effect at midnight today.
Mrs. Alison-Madueke said the N10 reduction in fuel price was necessitated by the reduction in crude oil prices in the international market.
The Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency [PPPRA] and the Department of Petroleum Resources [DPR] have been asked to enforce strict compliance with the new pricing regime as soon as it becomes effective, the minister said.
The new measure is a reversal of government’s policy on the matter.
The Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had insisted on December 17 that Nigeria would  not reduce the pump price of fuel despite falling oil prices at the international market, until the revenue crisis occasioned by the dwindling oil rates is over.
Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala said at the time that the decision to review fuel price either upwards or downwards would only be taken after the current crisis in global oil prices had been settled.
But five days ago, on December 13, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Muhammadu Buhari, called on the government to implement immediate price reduction on fuel products to reflect the downscaling in global oil prices.
Speaking through his campaign organization, the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, Mr. Buhari asked the government to “stop stealing from Nigerians and allow them enjoy the relief that has come to consumers of petroleum products globally”.
The APC candidate had said, “The price of diesel which has been deregulated since 2009 still sells at the pump price of N150 and N170 per litre, the same pump price when the international benchmark per barrel of crude was over $100. Now that the international benchmark has dropped to $47.5 (USD) per barrel as at Monday, we ask: where is the deregulation and the relief which it ought to bring to local consumers of diesel?
“For the Nigerian consumers, unfortunately the collapse of crude oil price since October 2014 has not translated into any change in diesel, kerosene and PMS prices across the country.
“We challenge the federal government to reconcile the information on the website of the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency, indicating the maximum open market price of diesel per litre in December 2014 as being at N111.6 and the fact that the price has come down to less than $50 (USD) as at Monday.
“We want to posit that that the maximum indicative benchmark open consumers of diesel should pay is at a margin below N100 per litre. Therefore, Nigerians are being short-changed by about N50 to N70 on every litre of diesel sold by government.”
The Trade Union Congress [TUC] had earlier on January 5 asked the government  to take advantage of the falling oil prices to reduce retail prices of petroleum products.
The TUC had argued that the best time to review the retail pump price of petrol was now, in line with the argument put forward by government in 2012 when the price was adjusted from N70 per litre to N97.
culled from premium times

The truth about Jonathan's Visit to Maiduguri revealed

Following the refusal of the Presidency to visit the troubled regions in the North where Boko Haram insurgency has become the order of the the day, it has being revealed that the visit of President Goodluck to Maiduguri was designed to prepare the ground for Mr. Jonathan’s campaign in the troubled Northeast region beginning next week. This is contrary to claims by the Presidency that President Goodluck Jonathan made a surprise visit to Maiduguri, on Thursday to sympathize with troops and displaced people in the region.
The visit which was planned by the President's campaign group to wet the ground for the Party to canvass for the people's vote during its campaign in Borno which is scheduled for January 24. The source which prefer to remain anonymous said that the president was advised to try and make at least one non-political visit to the region to shut up critics,” one of our sources said. “Everyone agreed that taking campaigns to the zone without this kind of initial visit might expose the President to ridicule. That’s essentially why he visited today, and I’m telling you this authoritatively.
With the visit by the President, it is believed that the people of Borno state will warmly receive the  the President and the PDP campaign group when they go for campaign.

List of Presidential candidates and their parties

The Independent National Electoral Commission has published the names of the 14 Presidential candidates running for the February presidential election. The names of the candidates was published on the commission's website on Tuesday. The names and the parties of the candidates are as follow:

Accord Alliance (AA): Tunde Anifowose Kelani as President and Mr Ishaka Paul as his running mate.
ACPN: Alhaji Ganiyu Galadima as President and Ojengbede Farida as the running mate
AD: Rufus Salawu as President and Akuchie clif as the vice president
ADC: Dr Mani Ahmad  as the president and Obianuju Murphy-Uhozue as the vice
APA: Ayeni Adebayo as president and Anthony Ologbosere as the running mate
APC: Muhammadu Buhari as president and Yemi Osinbajo as the running mate
CPC: Chief Sam Eke as President and Hassana Hassan as the vice
The Hope Party: High Chief Ambore Owuru as president and Haruna Shaba as vice
Kowa Party: Comfort Shonaiya as President and Alhaji Seidu Bobboi as the vice
NCP: Chief Martin Onovo as President and Ibrahim Mohammed as the running mate
PDP: Goodluck Jonathan as President and Namadi Sambo as the running mate
PPN: Allagoa Chinedu as President and Arabamhen Mary as the vice
UDP: Godson Okoye as President and Haruna Adamu as the vice
UPP: Dr Ckekwas Okorie as President and Bello Umar as the running mate

Abuja – The independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has published names of 14 presidential candidates for the 2015 general elections.
Details of the names were released on the Commission’s website on Tuesday, showing that one presidential candidate and four vice presidential candidates are females.
The candidates are Sen. Tunde Anifowose-Kelani as the presidential candidate of Accord Alliance (AA) and Mr Ishaka Paul as his running mate, Rufus Salawu as Presidential Candidate of AD and Akuchie Clif as his vice president.
Also published on the commission website were Alhaji Ganiyu Galadima and Ojengbede Farida as the presidential and vice president of ACPN, as well as Dr Mani Ahmad and Obianuju Murphy-Uzohue as president and vice president for ADC.
Others are Ayeni Adebayo as president and Anthony ologbosere, female for APA, Muhammadu Buhari and Prof. Yemi Osinbajo as president and vice president for APC, while CPC has Chief Sam Eke as its presidential candidate and Hassana Hassan as vice president.
The Hope Party has High Chief Ambrose Owuru and Alhaji Haruna Shaba as president and vice president, while KOWA party has
Comfort Sonaiya and Alhaji Seidu Bobboi as president and vice president.
NCP has Chief Martin Onovo as president and Ibrahim Mohammed as vice president, while PDP presidential candidate is Dr Goodluck Jonathan, and Namadi Sambo as his running mate.
The PPN has Allagoa Chinedu as presidential candidate with Arabamhen Mary (female) as vice president, while Godson Okoye is the presidential candidate of UDP and Haruna Adamu as vice president.
For the UPP, the presidential candidate is Dr Chekwas Okorie and Mr Bello Umar as his running mate. (NAN)
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/01/inec-publishes-names-14-presidential-candidates/#sthash.M22PtVOv.dpuf

Abuja – The independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has published names of 14 presidential candidates for the 2015 general elections.
Details of the names were released on the Commission’s website on Tuesday, showing that one presidential candidate and four vice presidential candidates are females.
The candidates are Sen. Tunde Anifowose-Kelani as the presidential candidate of Accord Alliance (AA) and Mr Ishaka Paul as his running mate, Rufus Salawu as Presidential Candidate of AD and Akuchie Clif as his vice president.
Also published on the commission website were Alhaji Ganiyu Galadima and Ojengbede Farida as the presidential and vice president of ACPN, as well as Dr Mani Ahmad and Obianuju Murphy-Uzohue as president and vice president for ADC.
Others are Ayeni Adebayo as president and Anthony ologbosere, female for APA, Muhammadu Buhari and Prof. Yemi Osinbajo as president and vice president for APC, while CPC has Chief Sam Eke as its presidential candidate and Hassana Hassan as vice president.
The Hope Party has High Chief Ambrose Owuru and Alhaji Haruna Shaba as president and vice president, while KOWA party has
Comfort Sonaiya and Alhaji Seidu Bobboi as president and vice president.
NCP has Chief Martin Onovo as president and Ibrahim Mohammed as vice president, while PDP presidential candidate is Dr Goodluck Jonathan, and Namadi Sambo as his running mate.
The PPN has Allagoa Chinedu as presidential candidate with Arabamhen Mary (female) as vice president, while Godson Okoye is the presidential candidate of UDP and Haruna Adamu as vice president.
For the UPP, the presidential candidate is Dr Chekwas Okorie and Mr Bello Umar as his running mate. (NAN)
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/01/inec-publishes-names-14-presidential-candidates/#sthash.M22PtVOv.dpuf

HOW TO IDENTIFY JOB SCAM (II)

                                                                          

                                                              HR Talk 

                                                                 with

                                                       Moruf Kolawole Nasir

In continuation of our last week’s article on ways of identifying job scams, below is the concluding part of the ways. Meanwhile, our subsequent article will be on how to identify fake recruitment outfits.

THE RECRUITER’S EMAIL ADDRESS: I have read few writers who are of the view that using free email account such as yahoo, Gmail is a sign of scam. This may not always be true as many start ups companies and many small and unstructured companies who have little or no need for a website to do their business, go about their businesses without a website and thus leaving their staff at the mercies of free email accounts like yahoo, Gmail etc. However, when a supposedly recruitment company has no website or a well established/structured company requires you to send application to a yahoo mail or a Gmail account, then take cover. I see lots of this where job adverts are placed for companies as organized as MTN and applicants are required to send in their applications to one Mr. mrlagbaja@yahoo.com, or mrtamedo@gmail.com in any such situation, something ‘scammish’ is in the offing, so take cover.

CHARGES FOR APPLICATION: Irrespective of the nomenclature given to collecting money from you, extortion is extortion; either at the application stage, middle of the recruitment process or at the end of it. Care must be taken here as lots of recruitment outfits are daily springing up and use all manner of tricks to collect money from unsuspecting job seekers. REAL recruitment companies don’t make a dime from job seekers; they make their monies from their clients-employer. So whenever you are asked to purchase one scratch card or pay for one useless process either by any of our irresponsible government parastatals (for only irresponsible government will extort her unemployed youth- using sweet words to describe the extortion), or you are required to pay to register with any ‘recruitment’ outfit to get you job, take to your heels. I must quick to say here that some ‘consulting’ firms render other services to job seekers e.g. CV review etc; they demand for and are entitled to payment for such services. If that is your case, then no cause for alarm, but if the payment is connected to getting you a job, please run!

NO INFORMATION ABOUT THE RECRUITER OR RECRUITING COMPANY: For many reasons, employers sometimes prefer to remain anonymous in their job advert. This is what these fraudsters capitalize on to swindle job seekers; hence statements like “our client…”, “an Oil & Gas firm …” etc are justifiably thrown around by both genuine and fake recruiters. Since the company’s identity is hidden in this kind of advert, it is expected that the identities of the recruiting firms be known and traceable to their callings. If the recruiting firms’ have no traceable track record of their recruiting business, then you should observe some caution.
 

INVITATION WITHOUT APPLICATION: I need not do long explanation here. We all know what happens when you are been offered $1000 through you email without you playing any lottery. Same thing is applicable here. If you cannot remember applying for the job, don’t bother attending to the invite. If you are however in doubt, you may just subject the invite to some of the above test and see if it passes, only then should you go for such interview, with your eyes wide open though. Most times such ‘unremembered’ applications are always scams. What we (HR practitioners) do in cases of old applications from our data base, is to give the person a call first to find out if he/she is still available for the position after which detailed invite is sent to such person. We do not just send invite to someone after six month of applying to a job. (that is in genuine cases).

THE VACANCY COMES FROM AN UNKNOWN SOURCE: If you belong to some BB group, you will frequently get job advert; same thing is applicable to subscribing for jobs in some job boards. These platforms have identities so there is no much ado. But when openings/vacancies start coming from an unknown face to you through whichever platform, please tread with care.
 

THE VACANCY FAILS SOME OR MOST OF THE ABOVE TESTS: With all these above points, any reasonable graduate should be able to identify job scams whenever they rear their ugly head. Whenever you subject any job advert to all the above tests/points and the vacancy/job fails some or most of the them, trust me, it is a no-go area.

Always remember “In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn”.

send your questions to shadedreflects@gmail.com or nmkolawole@gmail.com.

NYSC shifts mobilization of Corps Members

The National Youth Service Corps on Monday said corps members would be mobilised in only two batches in 2015.
They are 2015 Batch ‘A’ and 2015 Batch ‘B’.
NYSC has however shifted the date of mobilisation for Batch A from Tuesday, May 5, to Tuesday, May 26, 2015.
The Director of Press and Public Relations in NYSC, Mrs. Bose Aderibigbe, said this in an interview with THE PUNCH while clarifying a press statement on Monday in which she said the decision was “due to some operational exigencies.”
Aderibigbe said, “Part of the reasons is because of the forthcoming general elections. You know our corps members are participating in the elections. February 21 is when elections will be rounding off and Batch A, that is supposed to pass out, will still be in service to continue with the elections.”
The NYSC spokeswoman denied that the action was due to fears that there could be a repeat of the 2011 post-election violence.
She said, “No, which post-election violence? It is not because of that; we have three batches already in service and they are all participating in the elections. It is not because of fear of post-election violence.”
A earlier sent by the NYSC read, “The management of the NYSC wishes to inform the general public, especially prospective corps members, that due to some operational exigencies, corps members will be mobilised in only two batches this year: 2015 Batch ‘A’ and 2015 Batch ‘B’.
“Furthermore, the 2015 Batch ‘A’ Orientation Course has been scheduled to take place from Tuesday, May 5 to Tuesday, May, 26 2015, and not in the month of March as obtained in the previous years.
“All prospective corps members are advised to check the NYSC website: www.nysc.gov.ng for details of the 2015 Batch ‘A’ mobilisation time-table and be guided accordingly, please.”

for more news update log on to www.shadedreflects.blogspot.com