ECR's Top 5: Red flags to take notice of when applying for jobs
When the going gets tough and desperate, people do ignore warning signs.
As the year reaches the halfway stage, many people in South Africa are still unemployed.
According to Stats SA, the unemployment rate climbed to a high 35.3% in the fourth term of 2021, up from 34.9% in the previous period.
Read more: SA's unemployment rate highest since 2008
Sadly, there are people who are trying to take advantage of this dire situation, so there are red flags to consider when you're applying for jobs.
Here are some of the red flags you should look out for when you're applying for jobs:
Recruiter asks for payment
Any potential employer should never ask you for payment of any kind. Scammers lure people looking for work in by asking them to pay for application fees, interviews, and other fictitious reasons.
A real recruiter will only ask you to give them your details, qualifications, contact information, and job experience.
Read more: Roughly 450,000 jobs to be created in the South African Halaal industry
Unprofessional communication
Communication is important in any job. This is the one part from a recruiters' point of view that still has to remain professional at all times. Pay attention to the responses you may have received from some companies. Make sure to check the tone, grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
It might seem like it's a small thing, but it's important to note whether the company is a professional one that carries high standards within its work or whether it is operating in an unprofessional environment.
Read more: Calls for Ramaphosa to tackle crime and unemployment at SONA 2022
Confidential information requested
If a job application requires of you to give all your personal information right off the bat, then you know something is wrong.
There is absolutely no need for you to give confidential details until you are hired and HR requests this of you. Remember that.
Read more: Dept of Labour in KZN addressing UIF payment backlogs
If there is no company contact information
Every single legitimate company has to have contact information. Whether it's a small business like a spaza shop to a global empire that is internationally recognised, it will have at the very least a work number to dial from.
If for whatever reason you conduct some research and find no trace of the organisation you have applied to, it's very likely that you have applied for a position at a company that doesn't exist.
Read more: Looking for a job? These are the most in-demand skills to future-proof yourself
Being offered the job immediately
Recruiters will without a doubt spend a lot of time sifting through loads of CVs for clients. If a person applies and receives a job offer right away, there could be something fishy going on.
Your qualifications, experience, and other achievements may be at the top of the food chain, but you still need to exercise extreme caution before proceeding with accepting the job.
Read more: ECR's Top 3: Highest earning professional jobs in South Africa
