internship position?
Internet giants are recommended internally, don’t take any money without getting an offer, and are guaranteed admission... At present, internally recommended internship opportunities are clearly priced, becoming a commodity on major e-commerce and social platforms, and are sold for thousands of dollars. Ranging from tens of thousands of yuan.
"Internal Recommendation" was once a tool for companies to improve the quality and efficiency of recruitment; but in recent years, some institutions and individuals have seen business opportunities and made use of college students' urgent need for internship positions to make "Internal Recommendation Internship" into a course. A profitable business.
In the past few days, Chao News reporters have secretly visited a number of job search service agencies and found that paid internal referrals have quietly formed a gray industry chain. Some people rely on pretending to be students who have successfully applied for jobs, some are busy deceiving students, and some rely on helping students analyze internal referrals. True or false, collect money and make money.
"Internal Recommendation Internship" has a clear price tag:
From thousands to tens of thousands of yuan
This summer vacation, Chen Siqi, a college student in Beijing, originally wanted to be a data analyst intern at an Internet company, but she searched for two months in a row and submitted her resume countless times. All fell into disrepair. At the end of June, she was helpless and consulted several paid job search service agencies. “The cheapest one charged 16,000, and could only recommend consulting agencies such as Ipsos, Nielsen, and Capgemini. Internet companies did not even have this position. "Since the quotes from different institutions vary greatly, Chen Siqi was a little hesitant, "Everyone on the Internet said it would cost 20,000 to 30,000 yuan, and I was worried that the cheaper one would be unreliable." But the other party repeatedly urged: "There are not many places during the summer vacation, and general positions are available on the same day. "It's gone."
html In June, when Xiang Yang, a junior in Hubei Province, was looking for internships online, he also found that "all were paid internal referrals." "An internship position at the eight major accounting firms costs 2,900 yuan. Even if there is no subsidy for the internship, it is still required." Flip post. "When college student Chen Yue was looking for an internship, he came across a job search agency that claimed: "It provides an internship program with guaranteed admission, 100% guaranteed internship offer for the target company and position, and the fee starts at 9,800 yuan."
Internet screenshot
. On major social platforms, recruitment software, and e-commerce platforms, Chao News reporters found many internally recommended internship posts claiming to “guarantee admission upon payment.”
On an e-commerce platform, the reporter searched with "internal recommendation" as the keyword, and a variety of sales links popped up. There are various internship positions in finance, investment banking, consulting, Internet, media, FMCG and other industries. The store has subdivided them into "summer internship", "online internship", "remote internship", "paid internship", etc., which are marked on the page. Prices range from 6 yuan to several hundred yuan, and most of them emphasize "guaranteing admission" and "leaving the job."
Internet screenshot
"Submit your resume through the internal recommendation code, and it will be viewed by HR first." "School recruitment, social recruitment, and internship are all available, and all positions are available."... On a certain second-hand trading platform, there are many with prices of 2 yuan. Referral codes ranging from 9.9 yuan.
Some people divert traffic, some deceive
and some people make money by "anti-counterfeiting"
For college students who pay more and more attention to internships, paid internal referrals have quietly formed a gray industry chain.
On a certain social platform, the reporter noticed that a netizen posted comments saying that he had successfully landed an internship in a large factory through paid referrals, but his social account page was filled with advertisements for interns from major companies.
When the reporter said he was looking for an internship, he immediately sent a "Remote Internship Product List", which listed nearly 300 positions, involving consulting, finance, Internet, FMCG, law firms, advertising, construction, education, etc. For well-known companies in the industry, the fees range from 8,000 yuan to 12,000 yuan.
At the same time, according to the student resume provided by the reporter, he quickly provided 6 offline internship positions, and reminded that "the summer quota is tight, you need to secure an additional contract (at least 1 first-recommended position + other positions), the price is 24,000 Yuan, guaranteed to be hired within two weeks.” During the exchange, he repeatedly emphasized that “we maintain long-term cooperation with many companies, and paid internal referral interns have dedicated leaders in the company to inform and connect.”
reporter consulted another. An organization called Prounion said, “If you don’t have time for an internship and don’t need to participate in specific business, you can provide a stamped internship certificate, a letter of recommendation, and support background interviews."He quickly matched the reporter with an offline internship position in the operation position of a well-known large factory, and the price was 23,000 yuan.
Through a second-hand trading platform, the reporter contacted a seller who posted internally recommended information. The other party claimed to be from an organization." Green light to apply for a job", and then sent a similar set of words: "We have long-term cooperation with the company, and the project team will directly send the requirements when recruiting people. The advantage is that it is fast, you can be hired and start work within a week. He suggested that reporters choose online remote internships. "Online internships provide more opportunities to enter large companies." "However, he admitted that Internet companies do not have formal remote internship positions. "Online internships are relatively low-level, and they are definitely not official. The instructor will lead you to do the project at hand. "This agency quoted a price of RMB 10,000 to RMB 15,000 and required "half of the deposit to be paid first, and the balance to be paid after passing the interview. "
Screenshots of successful recruitment and payment
On one side, some people are promoting "internal referrals for internships", and on the other side, there are also people who claim to be "cracking down on fake internal referrals."
A netizen named "Internship Xiaochuimai" revealed to reporters, "'Green light to apply for a job. 'We have used loopholes in the platform to defraud many students into making deposits. If you don't believe it, just ask them if you can pay after they join the company. She said that she specializes in helping students identify genuine and fake internally recommended jobs, as well as the reliability of job search service agencies. “I can recommend to you a list of formal internally recommended internship positions that have been comprehensively compared and have reliable student feedback. It only costs 66 yuan; you can also choose to take it with you to avoid pitfalls, which is 188 yuan. "The reporter noticed that she also posted a lot of suspected screenshots on her homepage of helping students recover deposits from job search service agencies.
Internally recommended resumes are not given priority.
However, there may be
paid internships that guarantee admission through secret operations. Is this really possible? A reporter from
searched the Black Cat Complaint Platform using the keyword "internal referral" and found that there are currently more than 4,700 related complaints, 55 of which involve "internal referral for internships." For example, someone complained about a headhunting company that said it could internally recommend up to four people. I had an internship at a major accounting firm and had the opportunity to be retained, but after paying 48,000 yuan, I found out that the internship had no actual work content and no internship certificate could be provided. There were also complaints that a company in Shanghai falsely claimed that it could recommend internships to well-known companies. After receiving the payment, he only provided a forged internship certificate, and the amount involved in the lawsuit exceeded 40,000 yuan.
Network screenshot
Zhang Xiaohua, a senior human resources manager who has worked for a major Internet company for nearly 10 years, told reporters, "If you promise to guarantee admission, there is a high probability. It's a scam. "
Zhang Xiaohua said that in the industry, paid internal referrals are nothing new. Since about 2018, three job search service agencies have contacted her and recommended a group of intern resumes from time to time, but she heard that these agencies all charge students In her view, initially, the customer base of these institutions mainly focused on international students. “They have relatively sufficient funds, but they also face more information gaps and poor channels. "
As a recruiter, Zhang Xiaohua said that he will indeed accept and review the resumes of interns recommended by service agencies. "It just means more choices, but they do not have any priority. "She said that she almost always checks the resumes she receives on recruitment websites.
She admitted that compared to third-party recommendations or so-called "internal recommendations", when reviewing resumes, priority will only be given to students from prestigious schools. "For an internship position, you may receive hundreds or thousands of resumes. You must first look at the resumes of students who graduated from '985' and '211' colleges and universities. "
Regarding interns recommended by service agencies, Zhang Xiaohua said that the acceptance rate is about 10%-20%. "The reason for admission is that the candidates are indeed suitable and the screening standards will not be lowered just because they are recommended. " She believes that if organizations buy and sell internship opportunities, they may make money based on the probability of being hired.
Why have paid referrals become rampant in the field of internships? In this regard, she believes, "It may involve private interests, which is very likely to be involved in companies. Fraud. "She said that it is true that internal personnel of the company and external service agencies may collaborate and operate in secret, and internal personnel of the company may receive commissions. "After all, it is easier to be admitted to an internship position than a full-time position.”
In 2021, Tencent Group’s Anti-Fraud Investigation Department assisted the public security organs in investigating such scams, and transferred employees who participated in paid internship scams and committed illegal activities within the company to the public security organs for processing.
In the case disclosed by Tencent Group , there were 5 cases in which Tencent employees cooperated with external job search agencies, and the external agencies were responsible for recruiting interns. Then Tencent employees arranged for interns to conduct fake remote internships, and received part of the fees paid by the internship applicants from the external job search agencies
. When "paid internal referrals" become an industry chain, what legal responsibilities will the relevant participants bear? Yang Zhidong, a partner at Guangdong Noson Law Firm, analyzed that if money is defrauded under the guise of paid internal referrals, it may constitute a crime of fraud; if there is Forgery of certificates and other acts may be suspected of constituting the crime of forging the seals of companies, enterprises, institutions, and people's organizations; if there is bribery in the process, it may also involve the crime of bribing non-state staff and accepting bribes by non-state staff
. It often leads to "traps"
In recent years, "paid internal referrals" have been banned repeatedly, and many companies have taken action to crack down on counterfeiting.
"We continue to find that illegal job search agencies/public accounts/individuals publish information about paid internships. It is said that as long as you pay the agency fee, you can have an internship experience, but in fact these positions are fake positions. The so-called internship certificates obtained by the students are also fake certificates, and even the seals stamped on the certificates are forged. "On June 5 this year, Tencent Group issued a reminder and emphasized that "all internship positions in Tencent are free of charge, and such behavior is strictly prohibited. All paid internship positions are fake positions and are fraudulent information. . "
Network screenshot
On July 18, in response to false advertising information such as "remote internship" and "recommended internship" that required payment under the name of Huawei, Huawei also issued a reminder, "Huawei does not have 'remote internship',' Internships such as internships are recommended internally, and we have never carried out any form of internship cooperation with any third-party organization or individual. "
Network screenshot
At present, the trend of "paid internal referrals" is getting more and more intense. Yang Zhidong believes that this is closely related to the fierce competition in the current job market and the existence of information gaps. "At present, there are indeed no regulatory penalties for 'paid internal referrals'. Many companies do not have very strict regulations and penalties for such incidents. "In this regard, he suggested that major companies should strengthen the transparency of the recruitment process, strictly review recruitment information, and standardize the management of internal referral mechanisms; at the same time, relevant departments should strengthen supervision of the job market, crack down on false recruitment and fraud, and improve public awareness. Legal awareness.
For college students who want to take shortcuts to "get internships", Zhang Xiaohua said that although he understands their needs, he must not do anything wrong.
"In order to make their resumes look better and better apply for jobs in the future, college students are paying more and more attention to them. practice. When recruiting, we do value internship experience. If you have internship experience in a large factory, it is a bonus, but internship experience is not the only bonus. "For example, Zhang Xiaohua said that if a graduate has no internship experience, but has participated in many school-enterprise cooperation projects, participated in various professional competitions inside and outside the school, or taught himself professional skills and developed products through the Internet, it will become a highlight on his resume. .
At the same time, for college students who are anxious to find internships, Zhang Xiaohua suggested not to limit their sights to large factories. "After all, the positions in large factories are limited. When looking for internships, you can relax restrictions on companies and regions. As long as you are down-to-earth, every internship experience will be valuable." valuable. On the contrary, if a fake internship experience in a large factory is written on your resume, if it is found out, your credibility will be compromised. She reminded that finding an internship is also a process of improving one's job search skills. Don't trust "paid referrals" and take shortcuts, which often leads to traps.
(at the request of the interviewees, Chen Siqi, Xiang Yang, Chen Yue, Zhang Xiaohua pseudonyms)
Source: Chao News reporter Zhang Rong, intern Deng Lanxin
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