31/07/2017

With research showing 1 in 10 jobseekers has been the victim of a job scam, the Dept for Work & Pensions has called on recruitment agencies and employment websites to help promote awareness among jobseekers by entering into a partnership with the joint industry and law enforcement organisation, SAFERjobs.

Victims of job scams are typically on low income and are duped into applying for fake jobs for which they are requested to pay upfront for training, material, security checks etc. A study of 10,000 jobseekers by CV Library in conjunction with SAFERjobs found that of the 10% who had been victims of job scams, 46.7% suffered a financial loss averaging £500.

Over the past 2 years, SAFERjobs has identified a 300% increase in recruitment related fraud and misconduct.

The number of people accessing advice and information from the ‘Safer Jobs’ website has already increased sixfold since a link to it was established on the government’s Universal Jobsmatch website.

The sites of many of the leading online job boards and recruitment companies also carry a link to the site, where a separate ‘recruiters’ section explains the benefits for recruitment businesses of partnering with SAFERjobs – which include promoting their business to millions of jobseekers.

The conditions they must meet before they can partner with SAFERjobs are also listed.