RESPONDING TO JOB ADS: IS IT WORTH IT?

Are virtual jobs outside the rules of propriety?

The lack of available jobs for middle-aged, returning workers could mean many settling for virtual jobs holstered by numerous ads on many social network sites locally. 

Hard to miss those ads, really. 

One ad could promise an easy Php 1,000 to Php 3,000, gig payout for applicants, as these also brag about the ease of applying. Or so one thinks.

Try responding to any pop-up ad that gives vague details of individual names and businesses that ask for part-time applicants; one will know it is not a walk in the park of convenience.  

Where inquiry is a just text or chat away, one can also be confronted with non-working links, registration errors, bouncing or slow-motion pages, and irate staff handling the inquiry.

The job ads lure virtual job applicants who are displaced by the normal recruitment process and those who have been excluded by many employment limitations: such as age, industry work availability, etc. Thus some workers, have been pounding for work that could be less than what their diploma should have earned for them-- the non-inclusive standards set by Human Resource personnel resulted in some returning professionals' ambivalence to the employment situation when all they can easily reach out for are ads rooting for VA jobs in the era of A1.  

At its best, the job ads which do not seem to discriminate when it comes to age and educational requirements or tech proficiency, give a shady impression as one progresses to chat with the business handler who prompts an applicant to register for a site. 

Nothing much has changed since the pandemic happened, even after local employers promised the shift to online work and the much-vaunted promise of availability of online jobs. 

Only, virtual jobs and work assist job offers are now more pervasive on social media sites and seem to have been tailored towards the promotion of products for e-commerce companies.

But "trying" the apply button is always worth a curious try when one has enough spare time.  

Clicking on the apply button can actually lead to another site, which leads again to another individual account with phone number details, profile photo, and an instant chance to chat and inquire about the job being offered anonymously.

Then comes the usual opening line or introduction. Most often a very brisk idea of how the business is, and what it needs from the part-time applicants.  

The next step is to click on the link that the staff has provided. A very vague alphabet numeral combination, the usual link line.

At this stage, the would-be applicant tries to input details. Usually a mobile and other required information. The problem lies not just in thinking through the "sending" of details but whether the details would be accepted; and in estimating if the site is legit. Also one will have to wait and see if one would be directed to a faulty site that is different from what the staff receptionist expects. 

The process really can take less than a minute depending on the number of fail tries. 

But as an applicant for virtual work,  one could rather surmise that there is a high chance that the sporadic ads are actually not that legit, after all.  

This realization would surface as one progresses into the chat inquiry as the individual staff converses with an applicant.

On the side of the brunt, terse, or frankness to a fault, the individual receptionist handling the message of an applicant for virtual jobs, could show a lack of training within 5 minutes into the conversation..

Below is a sample text of how an applicant could be treated by the so-called "business handler" of some e-commerce or shopping sites' marketing or affiliate companies, that aim to find part-time applicants through job ads:

The first message shows the first instance of an irate message sent to an applicant, by the business account handler or receptionist.  

The second message positions an assumption from the chat receptionist that the applicant did not at all register on the required site to go through the application process. It also came with a dissatisfied comment.

So how rude of a remark is considered appropriate to accept when one is a virtual job applicant, in this age when jobs are scarce for traditional middle-aged workers?

Workers, be aplenty and veer away from settling for much less when you can still prime for the best jobs that can be offered by more decent employers online

NEWS REVIEW PHILIPPINES 2024

January 16.