Verifying the company, position and job advertisement
Before responding to a job advertisement, Hong Kong job seekers should verify the company, position, fees and personal data requirements. The Labour Department reminds job seekers not to readily trust recruitment advertisements that claim “no experience or academic qualifications required” yet offer “high pay and good benefits”, and to pay attention to whether the salary of the vacancy and the required conditions are realistic and in line with market levels.
Beware of unreasonable charges and training requirements
Some fraudsters, under the guise of recruitment, impose unreasonable fees on job seekers under various pretexts and names, 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, during a job search, you are told that you do not meet the entry requirements for the vacancy and must pay your own way to enrol in a training course or other programme to upgrade your skills before being hired, you should stay alert — this is likely to be a fake recruitment scheme intended to defraud you of money.
Protecting personal data and taking care with interview safety
Some fraudsters, under the guise of recruitment, extract important personal data from job seekers, such as details of identity cards, bank accounts and credit cards. During the online job search 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.
Fraudsters may also, during the interview, deceive job seekers out of their belongings or extract personal data, and then steal the job seeker’s bank deposits or use the obtained data to carry out illegal activities. Alternatively, 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 point cards on behalf of others; once the job seeker provides the point card serial numbers and passwords, the fraudster sells the points and cuts off contact, leaving the job seeker to suffer financial loss.
When going for an interview, keep personal safety in mind, avoid attending interviews alone at unusually remote locations, and pay attention to whether the interview process is unduly hasty.
Refusing unreasonable demands
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 if they are asked to pay a large membership fee; and are persuaded to recruit members (including relatives, friends and classmates) to become their downline staff so as to earn profits, rather than focusing on product sales — they should refuse the job. If an employer makes unreasonable demands, job seekers should reject them outright, and must not carry out illegal work for the employer.