Sina Technology | I “spent a lot of money to buy a job” on Xiaohongshu

Another group of young people from Northeast China have chosen to “lie flat.”

During the Spring Festival, many young people returning to their hometowns expressed an idea: work hard to earn more money, strive to save 300,000 yuan as soon as possible, and come back to buy a decent job.

Why do you need to spend money to get a job? These young people pointed out a “clear path” for Sina Technology.

Investigations have found that on social platforms such as Xiaohongshu, there are many companies that “hang a sheep’s head but sell dog meat.” They appear to be consulting service companies. But behind the scenes, the main business of these companies is “manipulating job sales.”

These companies will clearly price different positions: large private enterprises like Master Kong are priced at around 10,000 yuan, state-owned enterprises like FAW and Hongqi are priced at around 200,000 yuan, and state-owned enterprises with established positions are priced at over 450,000 yuan.

Driven by the unhealthy industrial chain, stable and decent jobs have become increasingly difficult to find in the eyes of young people. Some young people who have returned home said frankly: After returning, you can’t get a job without spending money.

You can’t get a job without spending money?

Hu Hui is a recent master’s graduate from Changchun, Jilin Province, and her career plan is to stay in a local private university to be a teacher.

She recounted her own experience: During the school recruitment, she failed multiple interviews. By chance, she found a recruitment resume on Xiaohongshu, which actually announced the position she had just interviewed for.

After communicating with the “human resources” company, the position she interviewed for was priced at 140,000 yuan, which made her feel disheartened, “So the interview was useless! Is it only useful to buy it?”

In many cities in Northeast China, it is not new to spend “human relationship fees” for a decent and stable job. “For us ordinary students, how can we get a stable job without spending money?” Hu Hui said.

And Hu Hui’s roommate also realized early on that “buying a job is the right way.” She chose to go far away from home, working in Hainan to earn money, striving to save 300,000 yuan as soon as possible to buy a stable job in her hometown.

Such concepts and needs have spawned an industrial chain.

On social platforms such as Xiaohongshu, many companies are “hanging a sheep’s head but selling dog meat.” Sina Technology, as a job seeker, inquired with several companies.

A staff member of the human resources company – “Jilin Xinsuai Human Resources” said that different positions are priced, with the price of large private enterprises like Master Kong ranging from 8,000 to 10,000 yuan, the price of state-owned enterprises like FAW and Hongqi being around 200,000 yuan, and the price of state-owned enterprises with established positions being over 450,000 yuan.

The staff member said that if you enter a position with established positions through this channel, you do not need to take a written test and can directly enter the interview process. And during the interview, as long as the job applicant’s basic conditions meet the requirements, they can be guaranteed to pass.

In addition, according to the staff member, their process is: first pay half the deposit, sign a contract, and the company will help arrange the interview process. After passing the interview and officially starting the job, the remaining payment will be made.

In the positions recommended by the company, almost all of them are formal contracts signed by the employer and the job seeker for three years. If the contract is not renewed after three years or if the employee is dismissed without cause, the company will also come forward to solve the problem. “Our company has been established for so long, and many people have been sent to work before, and no one has encountered this problem.”

A contract with loopholes

To dispel doubts, the staff member also sent the corresponding contract, “The contracts are legally binding, and the payment is also handled publicly.”

But upon closer inspection, the details of the contract are not well-founded. For example, the party B must pay the corresponding service fee before enjoying the job information service provided by the party A. Party A provides the interview information of the target company within 48 hours before the interview, and party B must pay the remaining service fee to party A.

In other words, if Sina Technology wants to interview for the above-mentioned state-owned enterprise job, it needs to pay the full amount of 450,000 yuan before getting the interview opportunity. But the contract later states that Party A has the right not to make any promises about the interview results, and everything depends on the results of the interview at the target company.

In addition, the contract also shows that after the interview and successful employment, if the employing unit goes bankrupt or lays off employees; the labor or service contract expires, and the employing unit indicates that it will not renew the contract; Party A can recommend employment positions to Party B for the second time, and the employment unit is provided by Party A and cannot be self-selected. If Party B does not make a clear statement within one month, it is deemed that Party B automatically waives this right, this agreement automatically terminates, Party A will not refund any fees, nor will it perform any rights and obligations.

This means that the “coming forward to solve the problem” mentioned by the staff member may only be to help change a job, and does not guarantee the salary and stability of the new job. For example, a job seeker spends 450,000 yuan to seek a high-paying and stable career, but is “reassigned” to a subway security inspector. If the job seeker does not accept it, the 450,000 yuan paid in the early stage cannot be recovered.

In this regard, Meng Bo, a lawyer from Beijing Jingshi Law Firm, told Sina Technology that civil legal acts that violate the mandatory provisions of laws and administrative regulations are invalid. And a civil legal act implemented by a person through fraud, causing the other party to implement it against their true intentions, is a fraudulent act. In addition, according to the provisions of the “Criminal Law”, if a person, with the purpose of illegal possession, uses the method of fabricating facts and concealing the truth to defraud a large amount of public and private property, it is suspected of constituting the crime of fraud.

“In civil fraud, the person also has the purpose of seeking improper benefits subjectively, but this benefit is achieved through civil acts, such as the performance of the contract to achieve the benefits of the contract; while in the crime of fraud, the person seeks not the consideration benefits of the civil act, but the property of the other party, even if the person has a superficial ‘performance’ behavior, it is only to cover up or mislead the other party.” Meng Bo said.

Sina Technology learned that in the sentencing of the crime of fraud, if a person defrauds public and private property, and the amount is large, they shall be sentenced to imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or public surveillance, and shall also be fined or solely fined; if the amount is huge or there are other serious circumstances, they shall be sentenced to imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years, and shall also be fined; if the amount is particularly huge or there are other particularly serious circumstances, they shall be sentenced to imprisonment of not less than ten years or life imprisonment, and shall also be fined or have their property confiscated.

Therefore, although the contract of the above-mentioned company lists many format clauses that protect the legal effect of the company, the contract itself is “illegal” and does not have legal effect.

There are many people who are desperate to seek medical help

According to Tianyancha data, such a human resources enterprise that can “turn the state-owned enterprise’s positions into clouds and rain” has a registered capital of only 2 million yuan.

For example, in a mediation contract dispute case concluded by the Wusutu Court of the Qingshan District People’s Court of Baotou City, the plaintiff Ma and the defendant company and the company’s employee Zhang signed an “Intermediary Contract”. The contract stipulated that after Ma participated in the training of a certain company, he could obtain a job in a state-owned enterprise without taking an exam, and the training fee and service fee were 150,000 yuan.

However, the plaintiff Ma did not get a job in a state-owned enterprise after waiting for a long time. The court, after hearing the case, believed that although the plaintiff Ma entrusted a third party with 150,000 yuan to find a specific job and signed the “Intermediary Contract”, the parties should abide by laws and administrative regulations and respect social morality when concluding and performing the contract, and should not disrupt social economic order and harm social public interests.

The defendant company does not have human resources qualifications, and seeking a specific job for the plaintiff Ma is not obtained through a fair and open recruitment selection to obtain a job in a state-owned enterprise. The plaintiff Ma is aware of this operation, and the contract involved violates the fair and just competitive order, violates public order and good customs and the principle of good faith, and harms the interests of the employing unit and social public interests, and should be invalid.

The final judgment was that the contract signed by both parties was invalid, and the defendant company and the defendant Zhang returned the actual payment delivered by the plaintiff Ma.

But now, under the “involution” of the big environment, the situation of “desperate to seek medical help” is becoming more and more common.

On social platforms such as Xiaohongshu, there are many posts about whether it is reliable to spend money to buy a job, and recommendations for channels to buy a job. Some people said frankly that in many places, most of the good jobs in all walks of life are bought with money, and you can’t get a job without spending money.

And it is these trends and viewpoints that have spawned a large number of intermediary companies similar to the above-mentioned companies. If job seekers want to exchange a good job for a high price, the risks and crises in the future will inevitably be uncontrollable.