Job hunting can be a challenge, and I would be the first person to admit it. It also plays a lot on your emotions and psyche. Unfortunately, it makes you vulnerable to mistakes you would not do otherwise.

Time and again we have seen con-men appear in different parts of the world, who try to act like absolutely professional recruiters. They offer a job opportunity that will sound absolutely convincing and very appealing. Some would sound too good to be true. And, THAT should be your alarm bell. If it sounds too good, then there are strong chances that it may be untrue.

While there are few exceptions, legitimate recruiters and employers do not charge anything to the job seekers. They make good money from the employers. So much so, that agencies in UAE who used to charge a nominal Dhs 15-50.00 (US$ 4.10 - US$13.70 approx) as documentation charges were also barred by the government from charging such fees.

But, on the net we keep coming across con-men who would pitch high and hard with amazing job opportunities in fabled industries (shipping / cruise / oil & gas, etc.), and in popular job markets (Dubai / Malaysia, etc.). If you play along carefully, you will eventually notice that they will ask for a payment. Smart operators will start with some very nominal amount under the pretext of documentation charges. Once you have done that, then they have got you "trapped". They will then ask for a second amount which could be a higher then the first one. And this would continue until YOU get wake up and stop paying any further.

People who pay the first time, continue with further payments because they don't want to previous payments to be wasted. And of course, the con-men will play with words to psyche you into the fear that if you don't make the next payment, and within the given period then everything you have done so far will be lost.

Here at GulfJobSites.com and WorldJobSites.com, we "try" to screen entries which have any shed of uncertainty. However, given our very limited resources, we can not get into a detailed scrutiny of each entry that comes in for a listing. However, if any volunteers would like to come forward and help us in this, we would certainly welcome them.
After all, its all one big community effort.

So, as a rule, when applying for jobs, be it online or offline, if the recruiter asks for money, you should get cautious.
Employers pay the recruiters for their services, therefore there is no real need for charging the job seekers.
Find out more about them. Enquire from others who have used them with positive results.
But don't ask the recruiter for references, because, surely, if they are con-men, the references they will provide would be well trained and probably well paid.

And, finally our appeal for help:
We have some ready-to-use pinups and pass-it-ons that you can print, photocopy and circulate in your neighborhood, to your colleagues and club-members, at your place of worship, practically everywhere.

Download Pinup, Download Pass-it- ons.

Good Luck with your job search.

Raza Jaffri
Editor
GulfJobSites.com: Gulf's Top Jobs Portal
WorldJobSites.com: Building World's Largest Jobs Directory