Hi everyone.
My presentation is about common employment frauds. I hope this presentation can protect you from these common traps in your summer job.
Of course, there are people who adopt an alphabet soup of tactics to cheat job seekers’ money. But these tactics do have a common scenario – the employers ask for your money before the payment date, and of course, they virtually vaporise before this date arrives.
So how can they get away with your money long before you have the faintest idea of what’s happening to yourself? From the Labour Department, many employers request the teenage salesperson to buy their unknown products before selling them. For example, during last summer vacation, there were cases where the teenagers were persuaded to buy one thousand bottles of health products. The price was surprisingly high – at around five hundred dollars each. But let’s guess: when they tried to resell the products, how much could they earn? The answer’s simple: zero. Can’t understand what’s happening? Listen: the company sells you some ‘placebo-like’ tablets, packaged with an unknown brand name. With no doubt, the teenagers simply can’t sell these cheap products; finally, of course, they can’t claim their money back.
Another common trick is to provide some so-called ‘lessons’ to the employees. Do you ever dream of being a model? Some companies also recruit models during the vacation. But before they can ‘successfully’ transform you into a beautiful model, you need some ‘magic’. Their magic includes: an intensive facial therapy, a catwalk course, an introductory fashion course, and you name it. Unfortunately, as the ‘transformation’, so-called, is wonderful, their price tags are also wonderfully labelled – some courses may cost you tens of thousands of dollars before you receive a job order. Finally, to your dismay, the cheque you receive is never as wonderful as those price tags: the income may be less than a thousand before your vacation ends.
There are, certainly, a never-ending list of other tricks to deceive you. Examples include employment without a formal contract, contract with very harsh terms, or even fake self-employment. So how can we protect ourselves while seeking summer jobs?
The most important thing is, of course, to read the contract carefully. I know a lot of you’ve been penalised a mark because you don’t read the instructions carefully, but the penalty isn’t that light if you repeat the same mistake in the workplace. For example, there may be some harsh terms like you can never receive your payment if you fail to meet a certain sales figure. Then, you’ve got to stop and ask yourself: Is that figure unrealistic? Can you really meet the figure? Then, look for other terms that may bar you from reaching that sales figure. By this you can tell whether the employers are setting up traps in the contract or not. This can also help you to know more about your rights.
Another piece of advice for you is to think carefully before you make payment to the firm. According to the Labour Department, most of the real companies don’t require their employees to take courses; if they really do, they will provide them to you free of charge. So if you are really asked to pay a large sum before you work, the firm’s probably cheating you.
Well, I know that many of you may not know about your rights. So if you’re really in doubt of your prospective job, why not visit the Labour Department? There is a subdivision called ‘YES!’, where you can consult experienced HR managers about the job. You may also bring along the contract with you. They can give more specific and professional advice. Although a summer job may be short, don’t hesitate – they’re more than willing to talk to you about it. Summer jobs can be fun and rewarding, but no one hopes to encounter these awful experiences. So I hope you can be extra vigilant and cautious when seeking your part-time job, and enjoy the most of your special vacation!
Thank you very much!