Job Discussion Forums

[charlie_likes_marmite]

I applied for a job with these people after seeing an advert on the website www.eslemployment.com. I don't know if it is a scam but the following things didn't sit right with me so I declined their job offer.

1) It sounded too good to be true - that they would pay my return airfare, provide my own flat and pay me $800 a month
2) That I had to ring them for a telephone interview! The number appeared to be a mobile number because when I rung I could hear background noise. I was told to ring during office hours but a man answered who didn't speak much English and told me that the principal was in a staff meeting and that I should call back in an hour. I left it an hour an a half and got told the same thing. Then I couldn't get through. I tried again another day and the principal could barely speak English either and seemed to get a bit shirty when I asked any questions about the facilities the school has etc. He also asked me odd questions like whether I would be travelling alone!
3) They offered me the job after minimal questioning, despite having no degree, barely any experience and being only 21. This seemed all the more weird when they said that they had 62 applications for the 5 positions.
4) I was sent a congratulatory email which said something like "you are now one of us" (a bit OTT!), asking me for a "commitment fee" of $200 to be sure that I was serious before they paid for my flight. They wanted this to be transferred by Western Union money transfer.
5) The school has no website and I have two Nigerian friends who have never heard of it. The job people said that its because it is a new school.

I'm so glad that I followed my gut instincts and didn't send any money. Then I came accross this website and now Im sure I made the right decision. I feel angry that I could have been taken advantage of so easily as Im new to TEFL and this was the first job I naively applied for, thinking that it would be perfect for me. I assumed that websites check over the companies and schools that they advertise - I take it that is not the case? Im a bit worried, though, because I did send the Nigerian "school" scanned in copies of all my original certificates as attachments - can they do anything with these? I feel really silly!

[junkmail]

Most things that involve Nigeria are scams.