Verify recruitment advertisements and job requirements
The Labour Department reminds job seekers not to readily trust recruitment advertisements that claim “no experience or academic qualifications required” yet offer “high salary and good benefits”, and to consider whether the salary offered for the vacancy and the required conditions are realistic and in line with market levels.
Beware of fees and training requirements
If, when job seeking, you are told that you do not yet meet the entry requirements for the vacancy and need to pay for your own training courses or other programmes to upgrade your skills before being hired, you should stay alert, as this is likely to be a fake recruitment scheme aimed at defrauding you of money.
Legitimate companies generally do not ask employees to bear any costs. Some fraudsters also use recruitment as a pretext to charge job seekers unreasonable fees under various pretexts and names, such as registration fees, data processing fees, administrative fees and work permit fees.
Protect personal data and belongings
Some fraudsters use recruitment as a pretext to obtain important personal data from job seekers, such as identity card, bank account and credit card details. During the online job-seeking process, if you need to provide personal data, please consider whether the employer’s request is reasonable and whether there is a risk of excessive collection of personal data.
Fraudsters may steal job seekers’ belongings or obtain personal data during the interview, and then drain their bank deposits or use the obtained information for unlawful activities; or they may claim to be recruiting for an online part-time role, promising job seekers that they can earn service fees or commissions by purchasing online game top-up cards on behalf of others, and after the job seeker provides the card serial numbers and passwords, the fraudster sells the credit and loses contact, causing the job seeker financial loss.
Interview safety and dealing with unreasonable demands
When attending an interview, always bear personal safety in mind, avoid going alone to unusually remote locations for interviews, and pay attention to whether the interview process is unduly hasty.
If an employer makes unreasonable demands, reject them outright, and never carry out illegal work for the employer.
In addition, if job seekers find that the work involves multi-level commissions (the so-called pyramid selling) and the goods sold are more expensive than those on the market; or are required to pay a substantial membership fee; and are persuaded to recruit members (including relatives, friends and classmates) to become their downline staff in order to earn profits, rather than focusing on product sales, they should decline the job offer.