Isn't / Shouldn't it be illegal for job agencies to advertise jobs that don't exist?

Question

I came across this many, many times and many of my friends and their friends had the same.
Job Agencies often advertise jobs just to get people's CV's so that they can show them off to potential contractors.
People are wasting their time with writing applications and hopinf to get a job, when they are being exploited for money-making and market research.
What do you think?

I think it is disgusting that they play with people's hopes and feelings. It takes a lot of time to prepare a good cover letter and it seems like many agencies (at least in the UK) don't appreciate it. Of course they also try to place people, but then they should not advertise for jobs that don't exist but only for the ones they already have on file.

This one job I was interested in was posted on the jobcetreplus website with a contact email adress. I sent an enquiry about the nature of the post, as it just said: Admin
The reply was: If you want to apply for the job, send us your CV.
I then replied again, that I would like to have some more information first, e.g. what kind of admin, working hours, etc., but never got a reply back.
I have contacted the job center and watchdog now, as I am fed up with such parasites.

Answer 1

It should be. In fact, last year when I was looking for a job (I now have one) several agencies would have interesting jobs advertised. After enquiring about them, time and again I got the reply "That one's just gone".

Yet such adverts were never taken down. So technically, the Advertising Standards Authority should be notified, as it is a misleading advert. The good old Job Centre Plus is unlikely to have this happen, nor newspaper adverts due to the cost.

The public sector is unlikely to do this either, but beware if an internal candidate is already lined up for the position, and applications and interviews are only carried out to fulfil equal opportunities legislation.

It's only jobs where you reply to a box number that I would never touch - who are they in the first place if they want to know about you? Also, jobs that state a weekly minimum income of £600 per week, have a mobile phone contact number, and stuck on lamposts but higher than the height of a dogs leg.

Answer 2

It is illegal. If a person is successful or not in obtaining a position the CV should be shredded after 3 months in accordance with the data protection act 1998.
I used to work for a large well known Employment Agency quite a few years ago, but we never did anything like that. Our aim was to place as many people as we could into the right jobs. It would have been counter productive to just hold CV's, as we earned a commission on the placements we did.

Answer 3

I really had no idea this outrageous act was taking place! It is extremely immoral as well as illegal, and the people in charge of this scandal obviously have no respect for the hard working people whose hopes they let down. I believe in reporting such scams, to teach them a lesson and instruct the people out there against the false proposals they might come across. This kind of exploitation is completely intolerable, and should not be allowed to evolve any further.

Answer 4

I don't know where you are but if you have a Department of labor I would let them know. If nothing else they can direct you to the correct agency. Here in the Usa there are very specific laws about employment offers. If they are placeing ads I would also contact the job board you saw the ad on. Places like yahoo jobs etc would remove the ad.

Answer 5

yes this is something me and my partner have debated quite a bit recently.
from what we can gather the vacancies they advertise are available - however there is perhaps one or two vacancies and they get 100 people ring up, so they put them all on the books anyway for other work and 98 people don't get a look in at that job which was advertised - well that's what someone in the business told us!
sometimes i have questioned if they just make them up though!

Answer 6

i honeslty never knew that it happend...but now u mention it kinda makes sense....hell yeah it should be illegal...cos ur cv is a private document, given in confidence and should never be used for anything other than responding to the job...when in the hands of a propsective employer!


kinda unrelated..buyt i got a really pervy call a while back, form a guy who id given my cv to in a store...weirdo perv!!

Answer 7

yes it is why would be illegal but they only try to do that so that they can show them off thats all