Before Responding to Job Adverts: Verify the Company and the Role
According to the Labour Department’s Interactive Employment Service “Beware of Job Traps” guide, job seekers who find that a job involves multi-level commission (i.e. pyramid selling) and that the goods sold are more expensive than those on the market; or who are asked to pay a large membership fee; and who are persuaded to recruit members (including relatives, friends and classmates) to become their downline staff, thereby earning profits rather than focusing on product sales, should decline the offer.
In addition, job seekers should not readily believe job adverts that claim “no experience or academic qualifications required” yet offer “high pay and good benefits”, and should check whether the salary of the vacancy and the required conditions are realistic and in line with market levels.
Fees and Personal Data Requirements
The Labour Department reminds that some fraudsters use recruitment as a pretext to extract important personal data from job seekers, such as identity card, bank account and credit card details; they also levy unreasonable fees from job seekers under various pretexts and guises, such as registration fees, data processing fees, administrative fees and work permit fees. Legitimate companies generally do not ask employees to bear any costs.
If, when job seeking, you are told that you do not meet the entry requirements for the vacancy and need to enrol in a training course or other programme at your own expense to upgrade your skills before you can be hired, you should stay alert, as this is likely to be a fake recruitment aimed at cheating people out of money.
Interview and Online Job-seeking Safety
Fraudsters may cheat job seekers out of money or personal data during the interview, and then steal the job seeker’s bank savings or use the obtained data for unlawful activities; or they may claim to be recruiting for online part-time work, promising job seekers that they can earn service fees or commissions by purchasing online game top-up cards on behalf of others, and once the job seeker provides the top-up card serial numbers and passwords, the fraudster sells the top-up value and loses contact, causing the job seeker financial loss.
When going for an interview, bear personal safety in mind, avoid going alone to abnormally remote locations for interviews, and pay attention to whether the interview process is excessively lax. During the online job-seeking process, if you need to provide personal data, consider whether the employer’s request is reasonable and whether there is a risk of excessive collection of personal data. If the employer makes unreasonable demands, refuse outright, and never carry out illegal work for the employer.