This article was actually inspired by something I read from
the Metro paper yesterday, and it reminded me of a few of my friends back in
our high school and just-entering-university days. A few of us actually came
across positions and job agencies that were legitimately advertised in the
paper and online but turned out to be hogwash. Note: This article is
probably more appropriate for newcomers in Canada or for the younger generation
trying to obtain their entry level positions.
Of course, none of these scam artists are going to give you
a clear disclaimer of liability, so here are some hints and telltales:
- They ask for an upfront fee: In many cases, legitimate service providers will not charge you upfront. Most of them will charge you based on the pay rate you get from the job they successfully setup for you. In some of these cases, the fee is hidden because the way it works sometimes is that employers use these service providers and will offer to pay a set price per hour, but then the employment agency will turn around and give you a lower rate per hour, thereby pocketing the difference as their service fee. Either that, or they charge a percentage of what you have earned during the first year or other similar arrangements.
- They ask for referrals before successfully getting you a job, indicating they will pay you a referral fee. Hmm, starting to sound like a pyramid scheme doesn't it?
- If you were hired as a salesperson, and they want to charge you for their demo kit or demo products of which you require for sales meetings. Essentially they are just forcing people to buy their products.
- This one is a given – If they have terrible ratings on employer rating/review websites, and negative feedback on online forums.
- Management have a hostile attitude, taking the approach of scaring you into not voicing your concerns to them. They figure by bullying you and having you afraid of them, you won't bring up concerns over being short hours on your paystub. That brings me to another point, ALWAYS keep a log at home recording all the hours you have worked, preferably with exact sign in and sign out times. This will come in handy when you need to discuss with management over short hours.
- The agency promises suspiciously high payouts: Keep your expectations grounded and you should be able to avoid this one. Don't expect $55,000 starting if you have just graduated high school, those kind of jobs are almost non-existent. Though I have heard being a miner pays a lot out in rural areas...hmm.
Anyway, if it seems too good to be true it probably is. Keep
your hopes high, but keep a level head and don't get caught up in their
promises. ALWAYS BE SKEPTICAL, a lot of legitimate ones out there but there are
bad apples. It's like buying a used car, you don't know which one is a lemon so
you will have to assume they all are until you have evidence proving otherwise
;)
-TT
