A lot of people still become victims to illegal recruiters. Illegal recruiters mostly, like to exploit applicants who are in a real hurry or who are in great need to work abroad. It is a sad fact but it is true. The reason for this maybe because when you are in a hurry, you would no longer check the background of the recruiter.
People who are not in a hurry can also become victims of illegal recruiters. When the recruiter has been recommended to you by a friend or a relative, you would no longer check the facts because you trust your friend or your relative. Sadly, a lot of illegal recruitment cases that made it in the news, the applicants were victimized because it was their relative who recommended the recruiter.
As a rule, always perform background checks on your recruiters especially if you are meeting them for the first time.
How to Avoid Illegal Recruiters
1. Check if the recruiter is licensed by POEA
Go to http://www.poea.gov.ph/cgi-bin/agSearch.asp. Type the name of the agency. If they appear in the search then they are a licensed recruitment agency. If they did not appear then you are probably dealing with an illegal recruiter. If you type RRJM in the search box, you will see the name of our company plus our addressed and our main contact person. We’ve been licensed since 2002. We will be ten years in the business this coming June.
This is probably the only check you need to make. If the recruiter has no license from the POEA then they have no business trying to recruit workers from the Philippines.
2. Avoid recruiters who transact with you outside their offices or visits you directly at your home
All transactions must always be in the recruitment office and they must give you a receipt. If a recruitment agency representative insist in transacting with you outside their office, then you must perform background check.
a. Again go to POEA website and check if they are a licensed agency.
b. If they are licensed, check the representative. Call their main office and check if they really work there (Of course, don’t get the address and telephone from the representative. They will probably give you a fake address if they are an illegal recruiter. Instead get it from the POEA or a phone directory).
I’m pretty sure that you will find out that they are not really an employee. But even if they are it is not a standard for recruitment agencies to transact at home or outside the office. So you better find yourself another agency.
3. Avoid direct hiring
I have a lot of friends who got employed abroad through direct hiring. But still this route is risky and this is often the scheme that Illegal recruiters use. The current POEA rule is that foreign companies can only get Filipino workers if they place their job orders through a POEA Licensed recruitment agency. This rule is imposed to protect Filipino Overseas Workers from becoming a victim of human trafficking and illegal recruiters.
There a lot more legal recruitment companies than illegal ones. But it is those unscrupulous few that gives the whole industry a bad name. We hope you follow the advises we have given here so that you can be more secure as you search for your perfect Job Abroad.
Goodluck!
