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Employment4students (E4S) has partnered up with JobsAware on an accreditation scheme designed to keep students safe when searching and applying for jobs online.

JobsAware is a brand of SAFERjobs, and combined, the two non-profit organisations have helped more than two million job seekers and workers to stay safer in the last 15 years.

JobsAware research reveals that reports of employment scams have grown almost fourfold in the last couple of years.

The JobsAware findings are backed up by recent research from Ofcom which found that almost 1 in 3 (30%) of adults in the UK have ‘experienced employment scams or fraud.’

Now, the organisation is pushing for all job boards and platforms to become ‘JobsAware protected’ to display their ‘commitment to protecting job seekers and their business credibility.’

Job seekers themselves are also vocal on the subject, with three quarters of respondents telling JobAware that they wanted job boards to do more to proactively prevent fraudulent activity.

JobsAware is the number one platform for protecting worker rights in the United Kingdom and has worked with the partner organisations such as the Home Office, HMRC and law enforcement to continue keeping job applicants and employees safe.

Our own partnership with JobsAware will allow students and other job seekers to see which job boards vet or screen the recruiters they work with via an online recruitment accreditation scheme.

At the moment, alongside e4s, there are only two other job boards working on the pilot accreditation scheme with JobsAware; Guardian Jobs and Adzuna.

The job board software provider Madgex is also part of the JobsAware pilot scheme which is due to launch in the second quarter of this year.

Announcing the pioneering initiative, the chair and co-director of JobsAware, Keith Rosser, said: “This scheme will be game-changing for protecting the safety of workers and work-seekers. How people come to find jobs is fundamentally changing; it’s becoming much more digitised. On one hand this creates opportunities but it also allows fraudsters to scale.”

“We’ve seen employment scams rise sharply over the past couple of years, harming labour market access and participation. With many people often applying for one role, people are counting on that role being legitimate for their livelihoods.”

“People are losing on average over £3,000 to scammers, they can also have their identity compromised or fall foul to other kinds of labour abuse.”

“This scheme is a robust approach with workers and businesses at the very heart, to make sure that everyone involved in the labour market is protected from becoming a victim to fraud,” added Mr Rosser.

Co-founder and owner of e4s, Chris Eccles, also commented on the scheme, saying: “After spending years developing our own systems to keep students safe from fraud on the Employment4Students platform, we are delighted to be working with industry partners to devise an industry code of practice that will help jobseekers more safely search for their next job role.”

Simon Fell, the Conservative MP for Barrow and Furness who works as Rishi Sunak’s Anti-Fraud Champion, welcomed the announcement:

“I am delighted to support the JobsAware online recruitment scheme aimed at tackling fake job adverts that not only defraud people looking for jobs, but also lead to other labour abuses such as modern slavery.”

“This scheme is an excellent example of an industry stepping up to protect the public to meet the requirements of the Online Safety Act. It's a good example of what we want to see from the online economy as we strengthen controls alongside important initiatives such as the Online Fraud Charter.”

“The fact the scheme will be certified by UKAS-accredited organisations and meets a set of independent criteria gives citizens across the UK peace of mind that those job boards involved are committed to protecting people looking for work across the UK," said the MP.

You can find out more about the non-profit organisation and the causes they champion by visiting the JobsAware website.