LookAtVietnam – A crackdown on labour recruitment offices has been ordered to root out unlicensed operators who are cheating job seekers out of money.

Job seekers register for interviews at a job fair in Ha Noi’s Son Tay town. The fairs can help labourers avoid being cheated by unlicensed job centres.

The committee was told that many of the illegal offices were operating without trained staff, yet they were advertising their services and were charging job seekers high fees when it was supposed to be the employer who paid the fees.

“Also, inadequate knowledge of recruitment procedures leads to other violations,” Phuong said.

One such claim of a rip-off by an unlicensed office, came from Nguyen Nhu Hang, a second year student, who said she had been cheated out of VND300,000 (US$17) by a recruitment centre.

She had paid the boss the money as a deposit for a receptionist job, working for the centre itself.

“The job is to pay VND900,000 ($50) a month for three working hours a day,” Hang said. “The boss told me the deposit would be returned after three months.

“I accepted the job without considering the contract carefully. The terms were that I had to introduce three other people to work for the recruitment centre and I would get the salary.

“However, after one month I never introduced anyone. I didn’t want to cheat others. I received no salary and I had to leave the job and lose the deposit.”

Hang admitted it was partly her fault for not reading the labour contract carefully. However, she said, paying a deposit for a job was not regulated by law.

In a bid to prevent similar fraud, the municipal leaders asked the labour department to require all centres to apply for a licence from concerned authorities.

“We have sent lists of the 26 licensed businesses and centres to all districts so they can identify the unlicensed ones,” Phuong said.

First-time violators would be ordered to remove their signs and register within 15 days or face a fine of VND5-10 million ($275-550). Centres that cheated job seekers would be fined VND10-15 million ($550-880).

A list and information on legal recruitment centres would be published twice a year.

In addition, employment information and promotion would be publicised for job seekers on the new website www.vieclamhanoi.net.

She said the city has rushed to upgrade recruitment centres in districts including Thanh Tri, Soc Son, Long Bien, Son Tay and Hoai Duc.

“However, job seekers should increase their knowledge to avoid being swindled by illegal operators.”

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News