Popular Employment Schemes

Job Training – Job Guaranteed

Look out for ads promoting job training that claim to guarantee employment and high starting salaries with the same company that offers the training. Often this ‘training’ does not lead to employment and legitimate employers may not recognize the certification.

From the ministry’s case files: An individual responded to a newspaper ad for "50 security officers, immediate openings". When told during the interview that in order to get a position he must take a two-day course to qualify as a security officer, the complainant paid the $214 fee and signed a registration form. The next day, the complainant tried to cancel his registration and get his money back. The company wouldn’t refund his money and refused to provide a copy of the contract.

Phoney employment agency

Fake employment agencies contact people who may have posted their resumes online or with a job-search engine. Job hunters are invited to interviews and promised employment with substantial annual salaries. They are then pressured to sign a contract and asked to pay an administration fee for the job placement service. The victims might never hear from the company again, or they will be given a list of referral companies that have never heard of the phoney agency and have no work to offer.

Complaints will be dismissed with a referral to ‘the fine print’ in their contract, which says employment is not guaranteed. From the ministry’s case files: An employment agency offered to arrange interviews with prospective employers but candidates had to pay an upfront retainer fee. Individuals were told that the retainer would be refunded when the individual was hired, with the money paid by employers in exchange for the recruitment services. The complainant said that she did not receive any referrals and the company refused a refund.

Bogus Business Opportunities

Companies that advertise specialized business opportunities, such as office cleaning, will promise clients contracts in exchange for an ‘investment’ fee of several thousand dollars. The paperwork suggests that the individual is a ‘partner’ or ‘sub-contractor’ and they may even be encouraged to register their own business as a separate entity from the company. The company guarantees a certain number of clients within a specific timeframe or the investment fee will be refunded. The company ultimately fails to refer the promised number of clients and fails to deliver the refund.

From the ministry’s case files: An individual paid $1,200 to be a sub-contractor for a cleaning company. The client was promised a certain number of cleaning contracts and she could act as a sub-contractor for them. She was provided in writing with a refund guarantee should the promised cleaning contracts failed to materialize, but the company never reimbursed her. The ministry determined that the consumer protection legislation did not apply to her situation and suggested that she take the matter to Small Claims Court.

Make Big Profits Working at Home

Big profits are highly unlikely. Ads like these are designed to rope people into low-paying work like stuffing envelopes or turning out cheap handicraft products. Or they may ask you to pay in advance for working materials. When they arrive, you find you paid much more than the materials are worth.

We Have a Job for You

Beware of calls from so-called employment agencies telling you they have been asked by an employer to "screen" you for a particular job. After getting you to pay a hefty administration fee, they send you to see someone who has no work to offer and has never heard of the agency. They then point to fine print in their contract, which says jobs aren’t, after all, guaranteed. In other cases, the offer of a non-existent job is used as bait to get you into their offices. Once there, you are pressured to sign up for job-finding services. Payment in advance, of course.

Come Fly With Us

You have to be extra careful about newspaper ads promising jobs in foreign countries. In one popular scam, you’re invited for an interview – likely in a hotel suite or rented office – by individuals posing as foreign employers or their agents. You’re told you’ve won the job and all you have to do is pay a few hundred dollars for visas and other paper work. The phoney employer pockets the money and disappears.

In another version of the scam, ads ask you to send money for an "information package" guaranteed to get you a foreign job. When you get the package, it may contain nothing more than a list of companies taken from an old phone book and perhaps some instructions on preparing a resume. You can get better information free of charge from a foreign trade mission or a good library.