Screenshot of chat records between the interviewee and the intermediary agency. Photo provided by the interviewee.

　　Wang Mengqi, a junior student from a "non-double first-class" university in southern China (referring to universities not included in the "Double First-Class" construction), recently had an unforgettable "job-hunting" experience: preparing to apply to overseas universities, she wanted to gain several internship experiences at foreign companies as soon as possible to enhance her competitiveness, but almost fell into a "paid internal referral" scam.

　　Today, many university students apply to study abroad, and a considerable number of overseas universities place great importance on students' social activities and practical experience—the more prestigious the university, the more it values such experience. Besides striving for better grades, many Chinese students also hope to have impressive internship experience as a "shining point" on their resumes.

　　Now, as the 2024 university graduation season arrives, some lawbreakers and unscrupulous agencies are taking the opportunity to dig "pits" and set traps. Chaos such as "paid internal referrals" and "paid employment" occurs from time to time. A quick search on some online platforms will bring up a flood of information such as "Get into good companies like State Grid, tobacco, railway, and petroleum for ×0,000 yuan" and "As long as you sign up for the full-process service class costing more than 30,000 yuan, you'll have a 98% success rate."

　　In April this year, the Ministry of Education specifically issued a reminder urging university students to be vigilant against job-hunting traps such as "paid internal referrals," "internship nesting dolls," "fake recruitment," and "illegal pyramid schemes." A few days ago, the Ministry of Education once again issued a "job-hunting reminder": "With less than two months before graduates leave campus, it is a critical period for university graduates to seek employment. Some lawbreakers are using recruitment as a cover to dig 'pits' and set traps, and phenomena such as defrauding money, stealing information, and inducing crimes occur from time to time, seriously harming graduates' employment rights and interests." It reminded students to strictly guard against four types of traps: illegal employment agency traps, recruitment fee traps, recruitment fraud traps, and "tricky" contract traps.

　　How did the threshold of the workplace turn into a stall with arbitrary pricing? What harm does falling into "traps" bring to university students? How can this phenomenon be eliminated? Recently, reporters from China Youth Daily and China Youth Network interviewed a number of university students, teachers, and experts to analyze this phenomenon.

　　Supply and demand arise together; the "shortcut" is not necessarily the shortest path

　　"Our school is not a prestigious one. The internship opportunities obtained through school channels are basically at unknown small companies with little value." Wang Mengqi said that to enrich her resume, she began searching for opportunities on major social platforms, and on one social platform she saw a post about "big tech internship internal referrals." The blogger claimed that she herself had successfully entered a "big tech company" through this kind of "paid internal referral," so she was willing to help others obtain internship opportunities in the same way.

　　Feeling "a fellow sufferer," Wang Mengqi, who thought she had found a "companion," immediately increased her trust in the blogger. She quickly contacted the blogger and submitted her resume.

　　However, after communicating, Wang Mengqi discovered that the WeChat account this "fellow sufferer" recommended to her was not a personal one but that of an intermediary agency called "×× Job-Hunting Consultant." In chatting with the intermediary, Wang Mengqi was told she needed to pay an internal referral fee of 100,000 to 200,000 yuan. After paying this sum, the intermediary could ensure she would get a company interview through the internal referral and ultimately land a job offer.

　　At this point, Wang Mengqi realized she had fallen into the currently popular "paid internal referral" scam. She immediately stopped providing further information and reported the blogger's WeChat account.

　　In fact, "internal referral" is not a new phenomenon in the job market; it refers to current employees recommending people they know to work at their company. Internal referrals generally do not involve any fees, and the referrer usually acts based on knowledge of and trust in the candidate rather than a monetary relationship.

　　So how did this method of "recommending the worthy without avoiding relatives" evolve into a money transaction and even a trap that harms people?

　　Using the contact information provided by Wang Mengqi, reporters from China Youth Daily and China Youth Network contacted the blogger who posted the internal referral message and were, in the same way, pulled by the blogger into an "internal referral service group."

　　When the reporter told the intermediary the same needs as Wang Mengqi's, the intermediary immediately copy-pasted a long "script": "Our internship projects are paid, with a 100% guarantee of matching you with an internship offer at your target company and position (e.g., MBB consulting, Big Four audit/consulting, foreign investment banks/securities firms, internet/tech giants, FMCG/luxury/automotive giants, etc.—all core positions at leading companies in various fields or Fortune 500 enterprises). The project fee for guaranteed internship admission starts at RMB 9,800, with prices varying according to different companies/positions/durations and other conditions. May I ask if you can accept this?"

　　During the communication, the intermediary claimed it could not only provide "internal referral" opportunities but also help with study-abroad applications and how to perfect a job-hunting resume. "As long as you pay the relevant fees, we will ensure you pass the interview and will be responsible for contacting the mentor within the company to guide you on interview preparation and future work content and related matters," the intermediary said.

　　In addition, the agency not only provides paid internship positions but also offers research experience and professor recommendation letter services, with prices ranging from 30,000 to 300,000 yuan depending on different needs.

　　Supply and demand always arise together. When some university students need to quickly obtain internship experience but cannot get it, some people exploit the gap.

　　In its recent reminder, the Ministry of Education said: University graduates should sharpen their "discerning eyes" to identify scams and master the "moves" to guard against traps. When encountering information that "sounds beautiful" such as "little work, lots of money," "easy money," and "lying flat and making money," or "good things" like "pies falling from the sky," they must heighten their vigilance, investigate more, ask more, and take more precautions to avoid "stepping on mines" and "falling into pits."

　　With the mentality of taking shortcuts, what awaits is not necessarily a "pie" but more likely a "trap."

　　Buying public information at a high price—paying cannot buy genuine knowledge and skills

　　If university students pay, can they really obtain the services promised by these agencies?

　　Li Haoran's job search was also very unsuccessful. Anxious, he desperately sought any remedy and spent 36,800 yuan to participate in one of the agency's programs. The intermediary assured Li Haoran that he would get a job offer within three months.

　　During these three months, Li Haoran enjoyed the "expert lectures" promised by the agency—the content included techniques for interviews and resume submission—but Li Haoran found that this content was actually no different from the learning resources and tips published on public platforms. In addition, Li Haoran also found that the internal referral channels advertised by the agency were in fact just some public information online.

　　The services and information bought with money are merely public resources on the internet. This is only the first layer; some students pay a high price for an "offer" that is meaningless to their personal development.

　　Zhang Chen, a junior majoring in new media who is determined to study abroad, decided to grasp the "olive branch" extended by an intermediary.

　　Zhang Chen had originally wanted to pursue further studies in China, but failing the postgraduate entrance exam left him somewhat confused about the future. Just as he was considering his direction, an advertisement from a study-abroad agency offering a "one-stop service" for internships at well-known foreign companies caught his eye. With a "non-double first-class" undergraduate background, he had originally held low expectations for the level of his target overseas school, but the intermediary's extravagant pitch moved him. After paying more than 100,000 yuan in agency fees, he began to look forward to a wonderful life after entering a big company.

　　However, the happiness was short-lived. The dreamy bubble painted by the intermediary burst with a gentle poke.

　　After arriving at the so-called famous advertising company, Zhang Chen discovered that his daily work consisted of trivial chores such as organizing spreadsheets and documents, with no training to speak of.

　　According to the intermediary agency, the "paid internal referrals" they currently provide fall into multiple types. The most basic form is providing a recommendation letter after a remote internship ends and supporting a background check on the mentor. In addition, there is a more advanced service.

　　With the fee Zhang Chen paid, he could enjoy the advanced service. "The intermediary told me that in addition to the internship opportunity and certificate, I could also participate in university research projects and even obtain a professor's recommendation letter," Zhang Chen said.

　　However, after receiving the internship certificate, when Zhang Chen asked the intermediary about the background check, the intermediary's reply was very vague: "Background checks are supported, but it cannot be used as experience background for joining that company." Only after looking into it did Zhang Chen understand that his internship had not been recorded in the company's HR system, and the so-called background check support merely meant supporting a background check on the "mentor." There is much to be said about this "mentor": many bloggers who exposed "paid internal referral" scams revealed that some of these so-called "mentors" are just the company's most ordinary employees, and some are even temporary workers who signed labor dispatch contracts with the company.

　　As for "participating in university research projects" and "obtaining a professor's recommendation letter," there was even less trace. A netizen commented under an exposed post about a "paid internal referral" intermediary: "Who would have thought that the recommendation letters we received so smugly might just be something fabricated at will by the mastermind behind the scenes using their position?"

　　After stepping into a pit, can the losses be recovered?

　　Very difficult.

　　Following the requirements and steps in the purchased "famous teacher one-on-one guaranteed pass course," Zhang Chen submitted his resume and prepared for interviews, but ultimately did not obtain the position as hoped. When he contacted the intermediary agency to request a refund, the agency refused on the grounds that "not receiving an offer is your own reason and has nothing to do with the agency."

　　Zhang Chen sought to defend his rights through multiple channels but has not yet achieved any result.

　　Experts suggest establishing a unified and standardized internship system

　　In an interview with reporters from China Youth Daily and China Youth Network, Chu Zhaohui, a researcher at the National Institute of Education Sciences, analyzed the chronic problems in the internship system. Chu Zhaohui pointed out that a major dilemma currently facing university students is the urgent need for internship opportunities to gain career experience and graduation certification, which has precisely become a target exploited by certain commercial agencies. Some agencies, under the name of providing internship opportunities, engage in excessive commercialization, which is in fact a disguised abuse of power and far from a proper path of study.

　　Chu Zhaohui further explained that the fundamental cause of this problem is the lack of a unified and standardized internship system in China in areas such as insurance, labor protection, teacher guidance, and labor remuneration. Enterprises are cautious because of the uncertainty of interns and are unwilling to open up too many internship opportunities; some universities also have problems in process management and cannot effectively connect with enterprise needs...

　　The combination of these factors makes the internship path for university students not smooth.

　　On the other hand, some schools push the heavy burden of finding internship opportunities onto students. Chu Zhaohui believes that only when universities can normally arrange internships and guarantee smooth channels and necessary rights and interests can commercial behavior in the market under the name of internships be eliminated, thereby solving the problem at its root. "For students, in the increasingly fierce job market competition, they should keep a clear head and not easily believe those seemingly attractive shortcuts," Chu Zhaohui said.

　　Recently, the Ministry of Education also reminded university graduates to enhance "three awarenesses" in the job-hunting process, namely "risk prevention awareness," "information security awareness," and "awareness of defending rights in accordance with the law."

　　Many universities have also noticed these phenomena in society and have taken measures to improve students' internship experience and employment preparation to prevent students from falling into similar job-hunting traps. Taking Beijing International Studies University as an example, Zhou Yitong, the university's employment guidance teacher, introduced that first, regarding training in students' practical business and professional abilities, the school will provide more practical and reasonable employment guidance to enhance students' ability to solve practical problems; second, the school will strengthen contact and collaboration with employers, jointly care for and cultivate students, and let them learn truly useful skills during internships.

　　Zhou Yitong also said that relevant departments need to improve rules and regulations and create a reasonable and efficient internship model, aiming to reduce formalism in internships and prevent the waste of students' time. By formulating clear internship norms and standards, low-quality internships can be avoided and students' rights and interests can be protected.