Fake Job Hunters Wanted

Some 200 to 300 people in this room are pretending to want a job

It looks like hongbaos or red envelopes in China, have arrived in Hong Kong.

A recent job fair organized by the government of Ningbo promoted 820 positions with annual salaries as high as 3 million yuan (US$432,000) were apparently available.

The event was held at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong, where 51 recruiters, from universities research institutes, state-owned enterprises, private companies and NGOs were looking for people from Hong Kong to fill the positions.

The job fair was organized by the Ningbo government

The Ningbo Human Resources Service Centre that organized the event, is a public institution under the Ningbo human resources authorities, and the job fair was arranged with support from the Beijing Liaison Office in Hong Kong, and Ningxing Group, which is the Ningbo government's investment vehicle.

Five days before the event, an advertisement was circulated on WeChat, which was looking to hire part-time actors to make the job fair look well attended.

"You need to prepare a resume and wait for an interview, which will be conducted for appearance sake," the advert said.

"Salary of HK$200 will be paid at the scene. Only nine places are left now. Add me [as a friend on WeChat] if you are interested. I will put you into a chat group."

A Hong Kong-based reporter went undercover to sign up, and was recruited as an "actor", but on the day of the fair was told there was enough people and didn't need to take part. The reporter still got the HK$200 -- easy money for just showing up! -- which was then donated to a charity.

Having fake job hunters helped boost attendance numbers

At the fair, the recruiter told the reporter there were 200 to 300 people paid to be there. She also said the liaison office and Ningxing Group were not involved in finding part-time actors.

"Unemployment rate in Hong Kong is so low. It's unlikely for such a recruitment fair to be popular here. But every government has its performance goals," the recruiter said.

"There are some companies paying money to hire people to fill the room and make it a lively scene. In return, they will have a better relationship with the Ningbo government when they do business there," she said, adding nothing illegal was taking place.

Meanwhile after the event, some people were seen receiving HK$200 each from a man who was standing across from the hotel in a park.

Some of the companies were contacted to ask if they knew some of the applicants were fake, but they were not aware -- except one noticed it was strange that one woman wanted to take a picture while she was being interviewed...

Sound familiar back on the mainland? It's not unusual for companies to hand out hongbaos as "transportation allowances", but in Hong Kong?

Perhaps someone needs to explain to the Ningbo Human Resources Service Centre that Hong Kong operates under "one country, two systems", and the latter part means no hongbaos!