DMW (Formerly POEA) Accredited Agencies for New Zealand: How to Protect Yourself from Fake Recruitment Agency
Working abroad is one good way to provide for the family. Depending on the country where you will be deployed, you earn much more money abroad for similar jobs that are available here in the country. Countries in the Middle East remain popular work destinations for Filipinos. However, other countries have also been opening their doors to Filipino workers. One of these countries is New Zealand. This country near Australia has also been a dream destination for Filipinos. When they hear the country’s name, they think of cows and sheep roaming green pastures or scenes from the Lord of the Rings movies. More than picturesque scenery, New Zealand provides job opportunities for Filipinos.
The promise of high pay and a great working environment in New Zealand has attracted many Filipinos to try their luck applying for jobs there through recruitment agencies. However, this demand for jobs in New Zealand or other countries is also being taken advantage of by scrupulous individuals and entities. We are talking about fake recruitment agencies.
These fake agencies pose as Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) formerly known as POEA accredited institutions, when in fact the only thing they want is to get money from people dreaming of greener pastures abroad. What they would do is offer non-existent jobs to unsuspecting people. They would later require money supposedly as a “processing fee,” and once their victims pay, they would disappear with their victims’ money.
DMW has recently released an advisory on the proliferation of fake job positions for deployment abroad, particularly on the social media platform Facebook. They noted pages using the logo and name of DMW to lure victims. In the advisory, these scammers DMW said that these pages “use page titles with catchy labels such as work abroad, job hiring and accredited agency,” which prompts job applicants to like their page. They reminded people that DMW has only one official page on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/dmw.gov.ph l – which is verified and has the blue verification badge.
However, not all Facebook pages posting jobs in New Zealand or other countries are fake. There are legitimate ones who want to help Filipinos by landing them their dream jobs abroad. Let us give you tips on how to protect yourself from fake recruitment agencies:
Tips on How to Spot Fake Recruitment Agencies
1. Check the DMW webpage if an agency is legitimate
Checking whether a recruitment agency is legitimate or not is not that difficult. First, visit their webpage: https://dmw.gov.ph/. Then, scroll down a bit until you see the section STATUS OF RECRUITMENT AGENCIES. It will have a space where you can enter the name of the agency you are looking for. Type the name of the agency and click or tap “Search.” After this, you will be taken to a page where you will see information about the agency, such as contact details, official representative, and license validity. If the agency is not on the DMW webpage, then it means it did not register at all and is probably a fake one.
The webpage includes DMW accredited agencies for New Zealand and other countries. What’s good about this list is that it also includes agencies that are closed or banned from hiring Filipino workers. It also shows whether an agency’s license is still valid, or if it has been canceled or suspended.
2. Check social media and websites
As mentioned earlier, not all pages that post about jobs abroad on Facebook are fake. You can check the page’s legitimacy in different ways. One is to check when it was created. When did it first post? Fake pages are often just newly created. Another way is to read comments by users. Does the page have positive reviews, like from people giving thanks for getting hired?
Also, check if the agency has a website. A legitimate agency should have a website, but not all of them do, especially small agencies. However, having a website is not always a sign that an agency is legitimate. Creating a website is quite easy nowadays, so scrutinize the page. Does it look professionally done, or does it look like it was made using a template? Is the content high-quality, or do you see lots of errors and inconsistencies?
3. Check offline
Ask for the address of the agency in question and try to visit it if it really exists. Fake agencies may not have a real office at all. If the agency does have an office, ask people about their experience with the agency to get an insight into how it operates.
Partner with a Legitimate Recruitment Agency for New Zealand in the Philippines
One recruitment agency in the Philippines accredited by DMW for New Zealand is Staffhouse International Resources. It was established and licensed in DMW in 1999. If you check on the DMW webpage, it will show that the agency still has a valid license, so you can be sure that it is legitimate. It has also received various awards from the DMW. It was named a Top Performer Awardee and Top Deploying Agency in 2018, 2019, and 2020 by the DMW. Since its establishment, it has deployed over 25,000 Filipino workers to the Middle East, Africa, North America, Asia, and Oceania.
Dhalal, one of the applicants who have been deployed abroad, thanks Staffhouse for receiving a job offer just three days after her application. Another applicant, Charm, is now working abroad, and she thanks Staffhouse for the assistance the agency provided for her smooth deployment.
If you are looking for jobs in New Zealand, then you can be sure of Staffhouse, as it has a long-standing recruitment service partnership experience with foreign placement agencies. It is known as a 100% non-fee charging company, so you do not have to worry about fees. Contact us today!
