Philippine Labor Secretary Brion announced last Wednesday that recruitment agencies can now recruit over the internet. These are the guidelines they issued when it came to online jub hunting:
- Carefully read all the information in the website. Examine whether the company name and profile appear believable. Check for its company profile or click the “about us” button to verify if the office address and phone numbers are correct.
- Examine the website design and check all the links and pages. A legitimate recruitment agency is likely to invest in web design, while an illegal placement firm is likely to have a cheap-looking website. But this might always be the case.
- Look at the instructions about submitting a résumé and application papers. Most legitimate websites prefer that applicants to fill out a résumé form online or send information via e-mail.
- Examine the job offer. If it sounds too good to be true—as the saying says—it probably is.
- Check the recruiter’s background and other information about recruiter or the company by using search engines, like Yahoo and Google. Do an Internet search using the name of the recruiting firm or other topics posted on its website.
- Check the domain name of the website. A legitimate recruiter will have one, which features additional information about the company.
- Report suspicious recruitment offers posted on the Internet to the POEA or other authorities.
My thoughts on this
Pro’s for recruiters: better and wider reach to potential applicants.
Pro’s for applicants: easy access to job openings and therefore an increased opportunity to be employed.
Anybody can put up a website and claim to be a legal recruiter so do some homework first and try to research more about the recruiter or employer you are interested in. Being ignorant is never an excuse. 
