Workers lose as companies post phony job-openings

HCM CITY (VNS)— Companies in export processing and industrial parks in HCM City, as well as nearby Dong Nai and Binh Duong provinces, are publicising an excessive number of job openings as a way to attract more applications, adversely affecting hundreds of workers.

Most of the companies engaged in this practice are in the textiles and garments field.

In HCM City's Tan Binh Industrial Park, for example, the T.C. Garment and Textile Company regularly announces job openings for about 500 workers, both skilled and unskilled, even when the need is only a few dozen.

The P.T. Seafood Processing Company, located in another industrial park, also regularly requests about 100 manual workers, as does the T.V. Footwear Company in Binh Duong Province's Dong An Industrial Park.

T.V. Company's head of personnel, who declined to be named, said that her company overestimated the number of job openings so that it would always have a reserve of applications in case of staff turnover.

Nguyen Tan Dinh, deputy head of HCM City's Export Processing and Industrial Zone Authority, said these phony figures for job openings were damaging both companies and workers.

Companies, for example, often lose workers who apply for an advertised job requiring little experience and offering higher pay.

Nguyen Ngoc Phuong, a worker for a garment company, said her friends had not even been called for an interview after applying for jobs at another company.

Workers who shift to other jobs suffer the most, as they lose allowances or bonuses given for long-term employment or improved work skills at their current companies.

Moreover, new workers will be the first to be laid off by companies faced with financial difficulties, according to Dinh.

He advised workers to be cautious and research new job openings carefully and not quit their current jobs. — VNS