Last Updated on October 28, 2015 by Larious

Nigeria today is a country full of unemployed and unemployable citizens, The country economy is nothing to write home about with the current Government making no effort in improving the current state of the country economically. The new buhari regime promised over thousands of jobs opportunities if voted into power but as of this moment nothing is being implemented to change the situation of the economy, it’s so very sad.

The Nigeria we are today is a country if you don’t have connection or know someone at the top you would remain jobless and useless to your family and loved ones. Also the most important is knowing God, with God you don’t need to know anyone or have connections, God can connect you to your divine helper and get you jobs with you having no idea how it happens or how you got that job mysteriously.

But the main issue is how well do you know God? and how well are you connected to him? Knowing God is not an easy task, it takes time and dedication. Most people rather network and get connections to secure a job, because that is the easy way out. Also the game of lucky isn’t always lucky, Nothing happens in  life by luck, its divine.

Am so sorry to bore you with all the spiritual and churchly talks about securing a job. Lets get started to the main reason for this article below.

This article was composed mainly because of the recent increase of fake employment or recruitment companies in Lagos Nigeria. As you all know i recently concluded my service year and the next possible way forward is to look for job. Writing resumes, cover letters  and sending it across all the job sites like jobberman, Ngcareers and the likes isn’t really a problem, The main problem is actually getting a genuine job interview from real firms or recruitment agencies.

 Below is my personal experience with a fake job recruitment company, Kindly read and learn from this article.

After my Passing out Parade (POP) I quickly composed my resume and cover letters to send online across all job sites I find advertising vacancy in my field.  I sent my resumes on jobberman, NGcareers, jobmag, and all others even sent resumes to mails i see on jiji, Olx and the likes advertising job vacancies.

To my surprise the next day I got over seven (7) text messages stating I should come for a job interview/briefing/test/chat and so on. I was so full of joy. I  told my senior brother, he said they are all scams that I shouldn’t waste my time going. I later decided to go online and do little research about these so-called job recruitment companies that sent me text messages. I googled each company and also checked Nairaland thread for any information relating to the companies.

I found no relevant information regarding those companies, But thanks to Nairaland thread and google I found out a lot of information about these fake recruitment companies based on people’s personal experiences. In fact these recruitment agencies are fake. All they do is GNLD and MLM marketing of drugs and health products.

Back to my personal experience with a fake recruitment company, I applied for a particular position with a company online from one of these job websites and submitted my resume, Few days later I got a email and also a text message from the company stating i should come for a job interview/training. The mail was looking so legit, I even shown my senior brother, he said this looks real and legit. I decided to  search online and visit the website, the company website was real, went on Nairaland thread, typed the company name and checked all threads, found out the so-called company was among the lists of fake recruitment agencies and all they do is market GNLD and MLM drugs and health products. I decided to ignore all the information I found on google and Nairaland. The Interview was held yesterday, 27th October 2015 at their office in palm groove, 10am was the time the interview was to start. I got there 9am, the office was almost filled up with people, we were almost 40 people who came for the interview. Well, the interview started, it was like a normal recruitment interview, it went well.

After the first interview, they asked us to wait for the second round of screening and selection. I didn’t eat anything from home, I was so hungry, we waited still 2pm for the second phrase of screening, A lady came out to address us, she talked and talked about all what the company was about and blah blah, I knew deep down within me that i was in hands of those GLND marketers who always deceive people they are real recruitment agency. I kept my cool and decided to see how it ends.

I got a funny feeling as I entered into the office premises, I got a sense this wasnt a real recruitment agency. Because the so-called staffs were not organised and inside the office looks like a leased office with no real organization settings. Anyway the second screening started with the CEO of the company, He came in flaunting his car keys and suit.

The so-called CEO told us about the company mission statement and goals, and talked about all they are into, from oil and gas, lifestyle, customer service, portfolio, real estate and others, Just imagine a single company doing all that, isn’t that suspicious?

He kept on talking and talking about life and business and how much money they make and the car he bought. I got so tired and felt like leaving, because i practically wasted my transport fare and time. Because the so-called CEO never mention a particular job description of what they do, he was only talking about money. What really killed my spirit was when he mentioned that we were to pay N3,000 for training so we can become unit heads in the company. I already packed my bag I wanted to leave but I couldn’t, I wanted to see how it ends. Some people at this point walked out and left, others remain, I stayed because I wanted to see how everything ends and how stupid and desperate are some Nigerians.

To my surprised over 15 people stood up to pay the N3,000 and start the so-called training. I was shocked,  this was an obvious scam and most people couldn’t read between the lines. The CEO later said we the rest that don’t have the N3,000 to pay now he can help us pay but we have to make a financial committment of any amount. At this point I laughed inside me, I remember those desperate pastors who scams their church members to pay this  and that.

We that remained just played along and said yes we were going to come next week with the money to pay. * I pray oh* like we Nigerian usually say. I quickly took my bag and sharply left the office, took bus to my house and regretted how I wasted my day, but on the bright side it was a real life experience because I get  to help others from falling into the same predicament I did all in the name of looking for job.

Finally, hope this article was inspiring and a source of help to those job seekers out there. Be careful, most job out there are fake and its all about exploiting innocent individuals.  The world is a wicked place.

How To Identify Fake Job Recruitment Companies In Lagos

• You were contacted from nowhere without applying to that company

You were notified via a text message that you have been shortlisted for a job aptitude test/job briefing/Training/Chat without applying for the job at that particular company. First and foremost, there is nothing like a job briefing, Job training and chat with our board of directors or management team. This term is mostly used by scam marketers who invite unsuspecting and desperate job seekers to unsolicited marketing sessions under the disguise of a recruitment agency.

• You were contacted via Sms Only, No Email

Real companies do not send interview invitations via SMS’s Only. And even on rare occasions when they do, such an SMS will always be accompanied by an email. If this does not happen in your case, it is likely that the job is a scam job.

NOTE: The recent upgrade of scams recruitment agencies has gotten to a new level, where they send both text messages and emails. so be very careful.

• Payment fee was demanded

To identify a scam job, check out if processing fee or any fee whatsoever is being demanded. If the job requires that money be paid, it is a scam job. No real or serious employer will ask you to pay before you work for them. The company pays the real recruitment agency to recruit staffs for them, so it makes no sense if the ask you for money because they really need your services.

• Personal information was requested

Real employers don’t ask for bank information and passwords. If anyone asks you to provide these at the application or interview stage, it is definitely a scam job. To identify a scam job, you must be very vigilant. Do not disclose your personal information to anybody, anywhere.

• No online Presence

Always use google to get information about the company. Real companies have websites with references from other websites. but fake companies also have websites too, so be careful.. Someone somewhere would have talked about the job or the company online via Nairaland. In any case, if it is a scam job you will likely find a Nairaland thread on the company or the job that will tell you if it is a scam job.

If the company or job has no online footprint, don’t bother wasting resources and time, It is most likely a scam job.

• Your intuition says it’s a scam job

Identifying a scam job involves research & cautiousness. However, sometimes, some of these scam jobs are water-tight which means you might not see all the tell-tale signs of scam.

But, if your “sharp naija mind” says something isn’t right with the job, trust your intuition; follow your heart and alert other job seekers so they can also steer clear. Thus this is just the main purpose of this article.

Do you have any scam job story we can all learn from? Have you identified any scam job recently that you think others should know about? Do you have other tips you want to add? Kindly share in the comment section.

Thank you 😀

Watch out for my next article on the list of fake recruitment companies in Lagos, Nigeria.