Be warned: Fake job ads in Malawi’s newspapers

High unemployment levels in Malawi have caused many people to be desperate for job opportunities, giving a chance to unscrupulous individuals to take advantage of job seekers.

It has been observed that some crooked people are placing fake job adverts in newspapers in order to dupe poor job seekers.

In recent times, there have been a tendency for some companies to advertise vacancies in Malawian newspapers without providing email, postal or physical address, job description or company background yet such firms offer several positions.

One of the adverts that caught Malawi24’s attention in one of the dailies was an advert by a tourism company called Cartoon Ville International.

The company claimed that it wanted to recruit 139 employees on positions of service providers, administrative assistants, data management officer and procurement officer but there was no job description for the posts or email, just a number for people to call.

But when one job seeker called the contact, he was told to send money to the number through mobile money in order to be employed.

The employer declined to meet the job seeker in person or to provide him with the company’s physical address.

The reports have led to questions among job seekers on whether they should continue trusting job adverts that appear in newspapers or not and if the newspapers are doing enough to protect their readers.