The food, beverage and hospitality industry is among the thriving industries in the Philippines due to the increase in international and domestic tourism. Likewise, a number of food retailers, food manufacturing restaurants, hotels, and resorts have already been rising in Metro Manila outskirts and provinces. If you’re eyeing a career in food and hospitality, these 12 jobs info may help you get started.   1. Executive Chef  Photo by Kyle tsui and licensed under creative commons   Chefs make up a number of hierarchical positions in the hotel and restaurant industry and the highest is the executive chef. You manage a number of restaurants headed by sous chefs under your supervision. Your job is more administrative or managerial and you may do little cooking. Being in this role, you’ll: Make menus and design food presentations. Make food costing by quantifying food wastages (weighing) to monitor and bring down food wastages. Delegate food costing tasks to CDPs and kitchen commissaries to quantify food wastages and measure the weight of ingredients. Make sure that HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) is followed. Oversee kitchen operation to ensure smooth flow, make dishes, design presentations and garnishing.  Make sure that mise en place standards are followed by CDPs and junior chefs. The French term refers to the preparation of ingredients such as chopping parsley, dicing carrots, washing vegetables, deseeding olives and peeling potatoes etc. May write for magazines (for chefs who have writing skills). May do some computer-related tasks such as populating spreadsheets on food costing and contacting suppliers.  Ensure that the received and ordered goods are in good condition. Tolerate a high-pressure environment especially if you work in busy hotels and restaurants. Set standards of mise en place (ingredient preparation) and cooking. Human resources Interview applicants for chef positions. Conduct screening of candidates. ​Train and orient newly hired chefs. 2. Chef de partie A Japanese Chef Photo by Dengeki Bunko from Piqsels.com Chef de partie is the third in command of chefs. They are subordinate to chefs as they only oversee a kitchen section such as salad, bread, pizza. So there are CDPs each assigned for salad, pasta, pizza and Japanese cuisine sections. You’ll likely work in a hotel, restaurants specialized kitchens (military, prison, hospital), and resorts. Here are the lists of tasks that you’ll likely encounter in a typical fine dining restaurant. Handle purchase order in the absence of the chef.  ​Follow preservation standards. Replace expiration dates, supervise kitchen commissaries/junior chefs  Make mise en place (preparation of ingredients). You’ll uphold hygiene practices recommended by the HACCP. You may monitor temperature, follow chopping board colour codes and safety measures.   3. Junior chef (Kitchen commissary) Photo by Pixfuel and licensed under creative commons Junior chefs rank below the chef de partie and demi chef de partie. Most of the cooks who took this job are either kitchen newbies or transferees from other restaurants. Likewise, this is an entry-level role in culinary arts. In a la carte restaurants such as fine diners, you’ll do the following tasks: Make mise en place.  Follow HACCP guidelines such as using the right chopping boards and knife colours (red for meat, white for dairy, green for vegetables) and maintaining sanitation procedures. Rotate stored ingredients or first in and first out.  Place stickers onto food containers to avoid spoilage. Monitor chiller temperatures. Make sure that no foreign things go into pasta, salad or sandwich. 4. Bartender Photo by gimballica from creativePxHere Movies and to some extent, dramas and soap operas, often show bartenders who serve alcoholic drinks and fruit cocktails while talking to customers. Bartenders work in bars, restaurants, resorts, hotels, cruise ships, night clubs, and casinos. What you’ll do in this role? Well, here is the list: Mix alcoholic and syrup recipes (such as piña colada, rusty nail, tequila sunrise, whisky sour, margarita, cosmopolitan, dry martini and negroni). ​Serve water with ice cubes. Keep the glassware, and alcoholic drinks stocked. Keep the bar clean by following HACCP practices. Operate a cash machine   5. Barista   Coffee is a well-loved beverage of people who wake up for work or folks who want to fight drowsiness.  At cafes, you can meet guys and gals working 8 hours who serve various coffee recipes. In this job, you’ll be the master of coffee-based drinks. You’ll make Cappuccino by drawing the right amount of an aromatic arabica coffee down right into a portafilter - a device used to filter coffee powder from the liquid. Pressing a button just above the portafilter will cause hot water to fall down into the device. This makes an espresso - a concentrated coffee liquid. On the other side of the coffee bar is the aluminium pot of milk.  You’ll turn this milk into foam by having a steamer nozzle submerged into the milk and pressing a button that releases a jet of steam which rotates and warms the milk (145 C)  and turns it into a foamy consistency. After the foaming process, you’ll pour this milk foam into an espresso mini mug.  Barista veterans say that a good espresso should make up this layer (a thick layer of foam on top, a thin layer of liquid in the middle mixed with espresso. If you’re artistic, you can make art of latte foam such as cats, dogs and birds.  You may also serve juices flavoured with different syrups such as orange, caramel etc. Here are the details of what goes in the daily life of a barista. Receive ordered supplies such as coffee beans, gas cartridges for whipping cream, jugs of full and skimmed milk, syrups, sugar sticks, sugar substitute sticks, take out paper cups, cup lids and paper bags. Restock coffee bar supplies by making a list of depleted items (milk, coffee etc) either on paper or via the system. In some large coffee chains, a cafe manager may do this restocking orders. Make bi-monthly inventories of cafe supplies. Operate cash or point of sale (POS) machines by keeping enough cash float and submitting details of the day’s sale. In large coffee chains, a cashier may handle this task but if you can multitask you may operate a POS and handle money. Make coffee and juice recipes according to the cafe’s standards. Popular recipes include macchiato (espresso with whipped cream on top) cappuccino (espresso with milk foam), an espresso shot. Keep the bar clean by daily cleaning of a coffee machine and its steam nozzle, portafilter, coffee grinder, glassware, pots.   6. Food Stylist Photo by Elke Wetzig and licensed under creative commons This one is uncommon like the sommelier. You have a flair in making food aesthetically pleasing in the eyes of diners. You’ll turn a heap of veggies meat into a food art ready for photography and videography. You may work for a team to transform that tonkatsu into a crispy and freshly fried one. You could make burger patties with a sizzling appearance by adding grill marks. The result of your creativity is mouthwatering and fresh looking food that can be placed on ads, magazines, shows and televisions. Your specialities could be poultry, ice cream, baked goods, meats and chocolate.   7. Kitchen steward Photo by Simcitywok and licensed under creative commons Kitchen stewards are also called Messman and sometimes dishwashers. They work in hotels, resorts, fine dining restaurants, and industrial food factories. In other hotels and restaurants, the kitchen steward is distinct from the dishwasher. This is mostly a manual role and you don’t need formal training in culinary arts except for the HACCP crash course. Large food factories also employ a steward supervisor who manages a group of dishwashers and stewards. Your responsibilities may include: Clean kitchen equipment (grill, fryer, pots, pans, oven). Update clean up monitoring checklist by populating it with checkmarks and dates corresponding to areas that need cleaning. May clean grease trap (a plumbing device used to filter waste cooking oil). Operate a dishwashing machine and organize plates and cutleries. Use professional sanitation chemicals (used for cleaning grills, grease trap, dishwasher, floors, fridge, and crockeries). Clean pots and pans.   8. Sommelier Photo by Eduardo Pavon and licensed under creative commons Fine dining isn’t complete without red and white wines. Certain foods taste better or the dining experience enhanced with a serving of wine. The knowledge of pairing and wines is the job of Sommelier.  Lists wines such as the brand, type and origin. Order wines. Organize wine tasting parties/events. Coordinate wine lists with chefs and restaurant managers. Inform guests about the availability and varieties of wine. Train waiters about wine pairings. Negotiate prices with sellers. Comply with HACCP (sanitation standards). Suggest wine to food pairings. Write articles about wines for wine websites and magazines.   9. Pastry chef    As artisans of bread and confectionery (desserts such as chocolates), pastry chefs are tasked to turn doughs and other ingredients into delicious morning pairs for coffees. If you have been to a bakery or cafe, you’ll see croissants, cakes, apple turnover, baguettes, rolls, ciabatta bread, danish pastries, pan de sal and bread loaves. You’ll likely work in a chain of a bakery, hotel, resorts, a fine dining restaurant or specialised kitchens. Inside a large bakers kitchen, you’ll do mixing, kneading, waiting for the dough to rise (fermentation) and operating sophisticated machines such as bread proofer, oven and dough kneader. Another related position to this job is the confectionery chef who specializes in making sweets such as macarons, ganaches, candies, and other gourmet desserts. Tasks  Supervise junior pastry chefs. Make food costing. Make sure that mise en place standards are followed. Make pastries according to standards set by the executive chef. For example, if you make a croissant, you’ll start in the preliminary steps such as mixing and folding layers of butter and dough. Make sure that the HACCP principles are followed.   10. Restaurant manager Photo by rawpixel from creative commons This job entails managing the workflow and profitability of restaurants as well as leading employees. In large restaurant chains, you may either manage one to two restaurants or report to a network manager who oversees restaurants. Your role here is primarily administrative and marketing as you help the company go in the right direction. Here are some of the errands that may go into your life as a restaurant manager. Administration: Coordinates with chef/sous chef and other kitchen staff with regards to menu planning and costing. Estimate food and beverage costs. Coordinates with baristas, waiters, and cooks to ensure a smooth and efficient flow of restaurant operation. Checks if the food preparation process and recipes conform to the standards - portions and the quality of ingredients. Checks if the sanitation standards are followed. Establish policies on tips sharing. Make sure that HACCP is followed. Make marketing strategies to increase restaurant sales.  Negotiate with vendors of food and beverage ingredients. Build a network of vendors. Ensure that all paperwork is coordinated and done. Such paperwork includes sanitary, business, fire safety permits and rental. Managerial and Human Resources Train restaurant staff. Supervise one or more supervisors. Promote teamwork among the staff. Interview new staff. Evaluate team performance.   11. Waiter   Photo by Jonathan Marin Posada from Pixabay   Being a waiter lets you work in the frontline of the restaurant. You also act as the restaurant’s salesman by inviting more diners and upselling food. The nature of your work and uniform depends on the type of restaurant. It could be - a fine dining, bar, sem-fine dining and fast-food.  In a fine dining setting, you’ll wear a bib apron, vests, ties, and black pants.  Arrange plates and cutleries according to plating guidelines. Bus tables or take out dirty dishes, take them to the dishwasher and replenish crockeries and cutleries. In large fine diners, a busboy or busgirl may handle bussing. Guide the customer by answering his/her questions regarding the menu.  Follow HACCP standards. Upsell the menu by suggesting relevant food and beverage offerings. Clean the table and floor after the busy and dining time. Take orders accurately. Use the POS system to identify customers’ tables and send their orders to the kitchen. You may follow up this verbally to chefs and kitchen commissaries (in larger restaurants). Deliver the ordered menus by carrying several plates.   12. Vegan Chef Photo by Guillermo Muro of Pixabay Since the awareness of animal welfare and the ill effects of meat, vegan dishes sprung up and so too specialty positions in vegan culinary jobs. A vegan chef is trained in making dishes made from 100% plant-derived ingredients. You could plan and cook faux meat-based recipes comparable to ham, tapas, barbeques, adobo, lechon and kebabs. How is that mock meat possible? Vegan meat is possible because of seitan or gluten which is a plant protein. Another best source is the textured vegetable protein (TVP) with a taste and texture of pork, beef or chicken. Now, as a vegan chef, you can turn such meat analogue into a delicious vegan chicken curry that your diners can mistakenly take for a roasted 45-day old chicken. Same with other kinds of chefs, you may: Make vegan dishes according to restaurant standards. Follow HACCP principles. Negotiate with vegan supply vendors.  Supervise a team of junior chefs.

Learning refers to the process of getting new or modifying existing skills, knowledge, behaviour and values. It’s a common fact that traditional learning takes place during early teens and early adulthood. For most people learning stops at graduation but for some learning is continuous - middle and old age.  Here are the Filipinos who studied later in life. Abzonie Reño - Studied college at age 23 and graduated summa cum laude. Melchor Eda, a 62-year old grandfather who graduated in an alternative learning system highschool in Naga, Camarines Sur. Generito U. Yusores, a 64-year old tricycle driver who graduated with a degree of Education at Western Mindanao State University. Salvacion Flores Nacario, an 81-year-old grandmother who graduated high school at Fort Bonifacio High School Makati Rosita Majait - A 66 years old student of Negros Occidental High School. Lolo Benjamin, a 75-year-old from Pangasinan, who took Political science at the University of Pangasinan. Virgilio Pentacasi, a native of Tagbilaran City Bohol, enrolled in senior high school. On the international level, here are some late bloomers to inspire you: Momofuku Ando - Japanese-Taiwanese inventor of noodles. Vera Ellen Wang - American Wedding dress designer who only wrote fashion until 39. Joseph Conrad - English-Polish writer who spoke no English until 20. Grandma Moses -  American folk painter, who only started painting from the age of 78. Dave McClure - American businessman and Angel investor who did no investing until the age of 40. Fauja Singh - British-Indian centenarian (aged 108) who made a marathon record of 6 hours and 2 minutes. Vincent Van Gogh - Dutch painter who until 27 only drew and didn’t paint.   1.  You could benefit from previous experience Being at the middle adulthood or late adulthood stage, you may have already earned enough experiences on various aspects of life such as emotions, skills, work and portfolios. Such things can help you get prepared and establish a solid foundation to learn higher skills. 2.  You may change careers Changing careers is a transition or switching to another job/lifestyle that is similar or different from the previous one. Career changes are long-term that could be 5 years or a lifetime. When you switch to another new career, such a situation will present another opportunity for you to learn a new skill by learning at school or at home and earn a certification. Learning is a fact of life whether you are a new graduate or a middle career employee. 3.  You can upskill or add another degree It’s possible to learn while studying for a degree. In fact, some Philippine schools offer classes for student workers. For example, if you want to pursue law, the University of the Philippines College of Law offers evening classes so that you can work in the morning and study in the evening. Be reminded that juggling studying and working can be tough. Time management may help in this situation. 4.  You’re free what to do At some point, you may or might already have a side or full-time business. Likewise, you could have a part-time or full-time job that you can use to finance your education. Such freedom means you have time and money to pursue your education. 5.  You’re more disciplined Discipline is a noun related to another noun “disciple” or a follower of code and rules. Younger people (pre-pubescent ages) tend to be less disciplined compared to adults. Being disciplined is an essential trait if you want to succeed in learning another skill because you’ll have to endure countless hours and fight your procrastinating urges while on your way to finish studies/degrees. 6.  You can learn more from mistakes Mistakes/failures let you learn so that in the next opportunity you can identify what and what not to do.  Many quotes from celebrities and notable people told about that failure is a teacher and that’s true when you search in Google/Yandex search engine. Failures teach you to get used to challenges rather than being stuck in comfort zone and helps you to introspect. 7.  You could have networks You can find networks at school, bar, company, street, volunteer organizations, parties, seminars, job hunt, and social media (internet). They could be your friend, fiancé, customer, boss, work colleague, former classmates, former teacher, and people whom you met on the internet or social media. 8.  You can bring more value to the company Companies admire employees who want to upskill or upgrade their skills. For employers, such men and women striving to hone their trade will help the company improve productivity and the quality of products and services. Upskilling employees have more chances to get promotions and salary raises. Learning-related or another skill lets you avoid being stuck in a career/job and gives you confidence and readiness to go for a well-paying job.

Skills empower people to easily find their targeted jobs or dream jobs. It provides you with a tool so that you can trade your services into a monthly pay and allowance that we call salary. We define skills as the ability to do something in order to accomplish a specific goal. Enhancing skills is crucial when you want to advance in a job and career. Use your free time to study new skills or review existing competencies. For example, if you’re a graphic artist with an intermediate knowledge in Adobe Photoshop and GIMP, you could watch video tutorials and read ebooks. You can practice the program while watching the tutorial. If you’re working full time, your free time could be the free hours before or after the shift, and weekends. If you’re working as a freelancer, your free time is longer and could be 4 to 6 hours before or after the freelance work.   Study through distance learning schools Distance learning schools or adult learning schools comprise a division of some major public universities of the Philippines. They might use web-based modules, tests, media, and physical tests for academic programs that need lab work and field practice. International MOOCs/ Distance Learning Schools Description Asian Institute for Distance Education There’s a fee for admission and courses Benguet State University  A 100 Php fee for admission and $25 for foreign nationals. CAP College Foundation   Central Luzon State University Digital Learning Environment   Polytechnic University of the Philippines - Open University System There’s a fee (100 Php per unit). They offer undergraduate and graduate programs. For reference, visit here. University of Northern Philippines Open University There’s a tuition fee for courses such as Education, Nursing, Public Admin, Social Work and Criminology. University of the Philippines Open University There’s a fee for admission and courses. Physical appearance could be required for field practice and laboratory work. Visayas State University VSU offers distance education in agriculture University of Northern Philippines UNP offers an MA in Education, Nursing, Public Administration, Social Work and Bachelor of Science in Criminology Study through MOOCs MOOCs or Massive Open Online Courses are websites that offer free or paid short, long and diploma courses. You begin by signing up and choosing a course. These MOOCs could be completely free, partially free, and free training but with a paid diploma. The pros of using online courses are that they provide you with flexible means of online education by using only a laptop and an internet, you can study and earn certificates/diplomas without commuting to a physical school. International MOOCs/ Distance Learning Schools Type Alison Free training/Paid certificates edX Free training/ paid certificates GCFLearnFree.org Totally free training and free certificates. They rely on volunteers, donations and support from organizations. Openuniversity.edu Free training and badge Coursera.org Paid training and certificate Udacity Free for 200 courses but without a certificate.  Nanodegrees are paid. Udemy Paid training and certificate Khan academy Free training Saylor Academy/ Saylor.org Free training and free certificates. They have also a donation page. Attend seminars, classes and workshops Seminars, classes, and workshops are usually short-termed courses that are either free (totally free and partially free) or paid. If paid, the fees could cover food and drinks, modules and trainers fee. Workshops are timebound and they only exist on a specified date. Each of these seminars is either conducted by training companies or by government agencies such as TESDA. Earning a certificate from these seminars and workshops can expand your skills, experiences and they look great for resumes too. They comprise the following themes or categories: Category  Participating organizations and source Name of event Carpentry Tesdacourse.com Carpentry or Furniture making Crafts craftmnl.com Basic leather crafting, candle making, cardholder making Graphic design Tesdacourse.com Inventivemedia.com Graphics theory and graphic software usage. Food production sweetsuccess.ph Making of bread, doughnut, essential oil, macaron Hospitality and Tourism  Galastarsculinary.com coffeeschoolasia.com Certificate in Basic Culinary arts Events Management Services NC II Health redcross.org.ph Basic life support and first aid training Information technology Zuitt.co Upsitf.org Arduino training, web development, graphic design Money matters Learntotrade.com.ph financial-planning-manila.com Forex trading Financial advice Test reviews Britishcouncil.ph IELTS Practice and learn with a tomato timer Getting good at skills doesn’t happen overnight or the following day. If you’re learning Japanese and expect to be fluent after 3 months, then you’ll be setting up for failure or procrastination. Your body uses hormones (dopamine) that provide focus and drive, unfortunately, it’s limited, and when it runs out, you can lose motivation and will. One of the best ways to avoid procrastination is to use a Pomodoro technique which is also a time management method. Pomodoro is an Italian word for tomato.

If you worry about employment gaps, it’s worth knowing that most interviewers, if not all, may see such details in your resume history. And that could happen if the hiring personnel is meticulous. Worrying about Employment gaps? Just be honest and you won’t lose an interview unlike when you try to hide something or lie. You could lose the battle in front of the selection committee, if you say - I just watched grumpy cat videos on youtube for months unless you are working as a freelance movie reviewer. Employment gaps refer to months or years when you don’t have full-time employment whether it’s inside the company office or your home. Different companies have their own policies about employment gaps. They may or may not treat career histories seriously. Some companies treat a non-office based (freelance job) different from the office-based (inhouse) job. Gaps can happen because of various reasons - job-hopping, lay-offs, recession, resignation, termination, and career shift.  Two types of employment gaps Long-term  Transitional This refers to major life changes such as: Personal health issues ​Caring for a family member (sibling, parent, aunt, uncle, grandparents) Serious illness This lasts from 1 month to 9 months. A person may have taken a short stint in freelance, part-time job, and training before transferring to another company. Why employment gaps may mean an unspoken career issue? They may be concerned that you’re hiding something that could hinder your job performance. Being idle for months and years is not an attractive trait to employers and their HR. They’ll assume that you forgot your skills or you’ll be lazy in their company. Should you worry too much about Employment gaps? Employment gaps are not things to be afraid of but are life details that you should take seriously before you fire your resumes to hundreds of recruiters and job boards. Employment gaps make up the normal part of the career cycle. No two people possess 100% identical career history. Some things are beyond your control such as the economy, the temperament of the interviewer, competition, job trends, industry changes, and nature. You’ll be on the safe side if you say thoughtfully or honestly and make up for the things you can control (interview preparedness, dress, resume, and learning). How do deal with employment gaps 1. Stay honest Assume that interviewers are meticulous or might soon find your employment gaps if they do background checks. If the interviewer asks you about the specific days and months, say it truthfully. 2. Offer one or some of these reasons Emphasize the positives of learning from the following activities during your gaps. Reasons for Long-term employment gaps Reasons for short-term employment gaps Professional and skills training Part-time and freelance jobs Business Serious medical or health issue Volunteering Part-time and freelance jobs Short-term medical & health issues ○   Professional and skills training - You could have enrolled in an online course or in a physical school. When you studied, you demonstrate that you want to improve your career, sharpen your skills and land in a good job - things that employers value and admire. ○   Earned through a part-time/freelance job - Freelance and part-time jobs are acceptable as they show that you earned an income despite not having an office full-time income. You might have been doing these non-full time jobs: proofreader, moderator, home-based writer, and artist. ○   Took care of a relative (parent, sibling) - You resigned because you took care of one of your sick family members.  ○   Started a business - You might have started a small family business such as a mini-grocery store, a sari-sari store, and e-commerce. ○   Medical or health issue - Medical issues such as type 1 diabetes and another life-threatening disease that demand withdrawal from a full-time job. ○   Volunteering - Joining groups such as Habitat for Humanity, an organization that builds houses for the homeless, is an excellent way to learn valuable skills and show that you took your time productively even it’s an unpaid one. You could also add activities in the church or a community organizing. 3.  Explain for the two types of the unemployment gap Long-term - You can tell about your major life events - you became a parent, cared for an ailing family member or went for medication because of a life-threatening disease.  Transitional - Your obvious answer to this is that you’re looking for work. Sometimes you’ll run into situations - you got fired, laid off, just graduated and resigned. Job hunting can be time-consuming and challenging.  4. Get creative and make your employment gap less obvious but be ready if the interviewer asks for further details. Note: Some job board blogs/articles recommend this method while others don’t. This could backfire if your answers aren’t congruent with the details of your resume. Use a functional resume - This type of resume highlights your experience and skills instead of your work history. It’s commonly used by job seekers who are changing their careers. In the above example, you started as a warehouse assistant in January 2015 and resigned on February 8, 2019. You started at another company on December 15, 2019. You can make your 9 months less obvious by not showing the exact dates.  Note: The above example only works when the exact dates of employment aren’t brought up by the interviewer. If the hiring personnel asks you for it, be prepared to answer honestly and accurately. Likewise, you have to give your exact date of employment in job application forms or job boards.  5. Include training, classes, and seminars  Training, classes, and seminars look great in a resume and they emphasize that you prepared for your future job. Such skill-building activities could be online courses or outdoor ones - paid or free. Upon completing your training, you can print certificates and training details and bring them as credentials in your interview. The bottom line Resume gaps aren’t a big liability unless you had a criminal history (and that’s another topic). The truth will set you free whether it’s bad or good. By telling what’s behind your employment gap, you say to them that you are an honest and vulnerable person. Hiring personnel and employers will appreciate people like you who are making efforts to improve their lives. Being a person working for his/her dream is an admirable character.

The internet gave job seekers the liberty to scan hundreds to thousands of job ads. Employers have the liberty to select the best candidates. However, that freedom of easy access also opens the door for those with nefarious intent. Here are the red flags to watch out if the job ads you found in newspaper classifieds and job board, are genuine or just looking for their next victim. Beware that con men are getting more sophisticated.   Inflated number of recruits Job scams tend to exaggerate the number of recruits to attract more applicants. The real number of required personnel is different from a genuine advertisement. You can find such bogus job ads on Facebook and even in some job boards. One of the examples is the Mushroom-picker in Canada vacancies for Filipinos that was posted on Facebook pages. The job ad turned the legit number (about 14) into hundreds of vacancies.    Too good to be true Too good to be true job offers refers to the inflated salaries of a certain job that turned out to be bogus upon thorough research. Such jobs pay well and at the same time, no experience required and very flexible. While the pay scale differs among companies and cities, there’s an industry standard for the said position. One example, a Filipino guy (Mr.A) who was nearly scammed when he was offered via email of a high paying job in the United Kingdom.  It started this way. The job was an airport ground CSR. It pays well - around £ 5,000 per month. MR.A received instructions telling him to answer the online questionnaire. He complied by sending back the answered questionnaire. After two days, the advertiser told Mr. A passed the test and now he will be offered a job. The advertiser also sent letters with a UK government sea. Later, Mr A asked for advice from his best friend who told him that the job ad (offer) was a bogus one. His best friend discovered glaring grammatical, typo errors and similar modus from previously identified scam jobs.    Fees for processing, registrations, tests and software for freelance Bogus jobs will immediately ask for fees so that you can secure the positions or else - you lose the opportunity. They use a psychological trick of scarcity and immediacy by imposing time/vacancy limits so that you can quickly consider their offer or reduce your time to rethink or doubt. It’s like picking a rare product that everyone wants and that you must act buy ASAP or else you lose it. The scam artists may tell you to do their bidding by asking you to send credit/debit card details and send money through PayPal.  A fake job ad will require you to pay some kind of license to start working. Another example of a bogus employer is enticing a freelance applicant to pay for software. They would tell the job seeker to buy the work at home program and such fees will be reimbursed after the first paycheck. After paying, the said job and software never materialized. Scammers often make impostor Facebook pages akin to the real or official FB pages. There, the con men can use their new platform to harvest personal info and post ads asking for a registration fee. The short reminder about jobs that require you to pay - You don’t pay the employers, real jobs pay you.    Unsolicited job hunt: You didn’t contact them; they contacted you You may receive a job offer or an interview out of the blue even if you can’t recall when or where you applied. You can’t recall what kind of job board you signed up, or you received such popping job ad from a job site that you haven’t used for more than 3 years.    Interviews are online or there's no interview needed Unless you’re applying for a remote or freelance job, fake employers will just stick to online interviews. Con men could either use online interviews via messaging services or say - there’s no interview needed, you passed already.   Vague employer details Beware of job ads that don’t mention the job descriptions, experiences and place of work. Likewise, employer details are sketchy - no official website, office address or plainly with a hidden business name. On the other hand, con men can imitate the real company’s website and use such duplicate to trick applicants. Q & As  Questions Examples and description Does the company have an official email? Most or all companies use their official domain email address rather than the generic ones. For example, abccorp@gmail.com versus hr@abccorp.com  Do they have locations? Their office can’t be found both in search engine maps and physical address. Are there any discrepancies in company website and spelling? Awesome.com versus awesom.com   Unprofessional correspondence Whether it’s email or a letter, anything a written communication with glaring typos on job descriptions could be made by a software translator or someone who doesn’t care about the writing standards. Grammatical mistakes may not be the perfect signs of identifying scam artists but they are commonly found in the identified scam letters.   Exists in various type ○   Data entry scams - This one promises big bucks and a job that doesn’t need skills or some sort of skills set. Then it asks for an upfront fee for the program and training. If you fall for this one, you’ll soon realize that the promised program and training didn’t materialize. ○   Pyramid marketing - Pyramid marketing or scheme is an unsustainable or shaky business model that involves upline or top-level members who pay an upfront fee and in turn have their new underlings to recruit newbies. Pyramid marketing relies on recruitment fees and not from the sale of services or goods.  ○   Pyramid marketing with bogus business - They have a similar scheme to pyramid marketing in terms of recruitment. Their business model uses non-existing services. One example is an unlicensed and non-accredited multi-booking service. ○   Fake job offers and ads in social media - Fraudsters imitate official pages of DOLE, POEA, other government agencies and companies. The Philippine daily inquirer reported one incident when a bogus FB page posting as the DOLE central office used a false name to scam a job seeker. The scammer asked for a reservation fee (1,000 Php) from the victim who then later discovered that the said name of the government employee wasn’t among the roster of DOLE employees and sadly the job advertised.  ○   Jobs that charge for testing fees - Test fees for applicants before or after the interview.  ○   Shady jobs - These jobs could offer a job but hides their illicit method of qualifying applicants such as paying for IDs and registration. In the end, after you become an employee, you’ll be surprised that your salary is below than what you expected.   How to outwit scammers Remember the rule  Remember, as a job seeker, you are looking for a job so that you can earn your money or living and not the other way around. You're not the one who is going to pay money. It’s the employer’s business to pay you money in exchange for your time and services.   Do not give in to the sense of urgency Here’s a psychological one. Con artists make a sense of urgency by sending job ads that demand immediate need or deployment. They will tell you that what they offer are only limited and if you don’t act today, you’ll risk losing an opportunity. Others will come out of the blue and convince you to work for them and that if you act today you’ll get a paycheck after 2 or more weeks of working. Then, after you contact these scam artists to asks for your pay, they’ll no longer respond to your calls or emails. If you face such possible scam with a sense of urgency, think twice before you sign up or typing your bank card details. We often make wrong moves after we make hasty decisions.   Research the company Does the company have a professional website? Are there any grammatical mistakes or typos? You can use the search engine (Google, Yandex, Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo) to look for mixed or different results. Use social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, Vkontakte) forums and blogs to uncover more details about the company.  ○ Look in the left of the URL. A website with https tag is more secure and trustworthy. It’s also called Secure Socket Layer or SSL. A padlock icon represents this security sign although more sophisticated forge padlock sign . So use a combo of research and verification methods. ○ Find the company’s postal address - Suspicious companies and fake ads have mismatched postal address or don’t have physical contact address at all.  ○ Read reviews - You could run into reviews of complaints unless you’re reading fake reviews. ○ Check the website through Who.Is - Here you can verify the websites registration info (date of website or domain registration).. ○ Use domain white pages - Job con-artists are getting more sophisticated so they set up phishing website or websites that look identical to the real ones. Use it to see all the domain info of that website. Suspicious looking websites could be a year or less than a year old.   Verify the company’s social media site The easy and fast sign ups lead to some social media accounts masquerading as DOLE, POEA and other official company’s accounts. Use the word “official” along with the “Facebook page name of a government agency or company when searching through search engines (Google, Yandex, Yahoo). Examples of Genuine/official social media pages versus impostors Genuine/official social media page of a government agency or company  Impostor social media accounts   DOLE - https://www.facebook.com/laborandemployment/   Dole Job Assistance-Local and Abroad POEA    https://www.facebook.com/poea.gov.ph/ POEA Job Hirings in New Zealand POEA Jobs Online OFW POEA Jobs Abroad POEA Jobs Abroad POEA Job Hiring USA POEA Job Hiring Australia POEA Job Hiring UK POEA Job Agency Hiring POEA Trabaho Abroad Hiring POEA Jobs in Dubai Work Abroad-POEA Licensed Company POEA Accredited Licensed Agency (1)   Spotting a bogus social media accounts versus genuine social media accounts   Genuine/official social media page of a government agency or company  Impostor social media accounts Blue checkmark - Blue checkmarks can be found in the pages of big brands and some companies. Also, the verified blue checkmark can be found in FB search results. Note: Blue checkmarks aren’t a perfect test nor an absolute sign of legitimacy because there are some genuine FB pages without verified checkmarks.  There’s no verified blue checkmark Review section - The page may or might not contain the review section but it may contain messages from recent, current and past customers. There could be some negative reviews but that would tell about customer service issues, not scams. If a Facebook page makes up a review section, then there could be some reviews from people telling that the page is fake. You may also find comments that warn people against the said page. Outbound link - The Facebook page/twitter comprises a link to the official website. The fake page comprises a link that leads to a dead or phishing website. Number of followers/likers - In Facebook and Twitter, more followers could number tens of thousands to a hundred thousand or more. Again, the number of followers/likes is not an absolute benchmark of legitimacy. The number of likes and followers may number a hundred or less.   Never give your personal info Scam job pages and posts on Facebook pages may run surveys and contests that ask for photos, numbers, emails and other personal info. Personal info includes the following: Home address Bank account number  SSS number TIN number Passport number Credit card number Ask for a contract A legal and signed contract details all the tasks, terms and conditions, and the rights of both parties (you and the employer). If they can’t give a contract or gives a contract with so many discrepancies and suspicious details, then be on guard. Be wary that even some legit employers do not disclose the exact working hours other than those stated in the contract. For instance, there are employers and recruiters (some jobs in the Middle Eastern countries) to state 8 hours working time in the contract while in fact, it’s topped with 4 hours overtime resulting in a 12 hours work. Reference:  1 - https://globalnation.inquirer.net/181944/fake-poea-social-media-pages-listed