In the increasingly fierce competition in the job market, fresh graduates do not hesitate to spend a lot of money to seek help from job search agencies in order to get offers from their favorite companies. However, some unreliable job search agencies take advantage of young people’s employment anxiety and harvest through false promises and high fees. This article reveals the common routines of job search agencies through a number of real cases, hoping to help everyone.
“Our side is the whole process of tutoring, and the price ranges from 30,000 to 50,000 yuan.”
“There will be a special one-on-one main teacher, 24 hours a day, nanny-style service.”
“We have one-on-one job search plans for international students, and there are projects that guarantee offers and those that do not.”
Mai Zhiwei, a fresh graduate of the class of 2025, found a job search agency with an A-word on Xiaohongshu and added contact information. The sales and consultant teachers have their own English names, which are very tall, the service attitude is very enthusiastic, and the project is also introduced in detail.
“Because I have been studying in the United States, I don’t know much about the current situation of the domestic employment environment. I don’t have any resources and I can’t figure out the way, so I want to find someone to take me around. ”
Mak graduated from the State University of New York Institute of Technology with a major in business management. He wanted to enter a big factory in Shenzhen and find a PR position, but after several months of going around in circles, he couldn’t find his ideal job.
At the beginning of April this year, when he was swiping on Xiaohongshu, he finally saw hope – a user who claimed to be an “international student” posted, claiming that he had found his ideal job through a job search agency and got an offer from a large factory. Mai Zhiwei was immediately moved, but he didn’t know at that time that from this “fishing post”, he fell into a precise scam that relied on employment anxiety to accurately harvest fresh graduates.
1. The promise of “guarantee offer” failed, and 50,000 yuan could not buy an interview opportunity
“We can provide full-process services such as resume refinement, career planning, written interview counseling, remote internship, internship/full-time internal promotion, etc. The project price of the security job offer is 57,800 yuan, and the project without the guarantee offer is 37,800 yuan. ”
The expensive offer made Mai Zhiwei, who had no income, hesitate for a while.
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However, the consultant teacher of the consulting group will give him a “hook” every day or two, “Our internal promotion opportunities will basically update dozens of job opportunities every day, and they are all from some well-known companies.” ”
In order to dispel Mai Zhiwei’s doubts about “whether he can really enter a big factory”, the consultant also gave a case of a student: “I had a student who submitted his resume to a large factory by himself and also got some interviews. However, he didn’t pass the interview, so we found a senior employee of the big factory to tutor him, and gave him an internal push, and soon joined the big factory. ”
Thinking of the attractiveness of the big factory offer, Mai Zhiwei finally gritted his teeth and chose the super VIP service project – the 57,800 yuan V plan security job offer sprint version project.
The job search agency claimed that the service content of this project includes a remote internship of a famous enterprise, unlimited internship and full-time promotion of famous enterprise services, and exclusive student system training (including industry-wide video classes, written test question banks, interview materials, industry-wide job search information), etc. In addition, the contract also stipulates the scope of target companies, all of which are famous companies and large manufacturers, and promises that students can be refunded if they do not get a satisfactory full-time offer.
After signing the contract and scanning the QR code to pay, Mai Zhiwei was quickly pulled into a VIP learning group, which included class teacher service teachers, duty teachers, supervision service teachers, senior planning teachers, etc.
Through the introduction, he learned that the class teacher service teacher, that is, the escort teacher and the duty teacher, are online 24 hours a day and can consult at any time, but the tutor needs to make an appointment in advance and teach one-on-one live teaching.
The tutor’s name is Linda, who claims to have graduated from Columbia University in the United States, and has many years of experience in the Big Four accounting firms and top domestic game companies, and is good at advertising, public relations, Internet industry job planning, etc.
However, the teacher’s real name is always kept confidential, and students cannot add their WeChat account alone, and the teacher never shows his face during one-on-one live teaching.
He couldn’t judge whether the other party’s introduction was true or false, and he couldn’t be sure whether the teacher’s internal push was reliable.
Moreover, Mai Zhiwei soon discovered that the list of companies listed by the other party for him was suitable for recruiting positions, such as “content public relations expert”, “brand public relations”, “public relations manager”, etc., as well as the so-called internal push code, which can be found on the company’s official website, recruitment website, Xiaohongshu and other platforms.
This disappointed Mai Zhiwei, who needed hard-core connections who could really transfer his resume to the recruitment department of a large factory. In the face of his doubts, the institution reported that “the resume has been handed over”, but Mai Zhiwei could not judge the authenticity of the feedback.
The tutor teaches the panacea experience that can be found everywhere on the Internet, and the escort teacher focuses on providing emotional value and calming his anxiety online 24 hours a day.
After a month, Mai Zhiwei got zero interview opportunities from large companies, and the promised offer was also in vain. Disappointed, Mai Zhiwei wanted a refund, only to find that the contract said “I didn’t get a satisfactory offer and refunded 25,000 yuan”, which was less than half of the amount he paid.
2. Xiaohongshu’s “lightning protection post” has become a “phishing post”, and there are many drainage routines for job search agencies
It’s not just Mai Zhiwei who is fooled.
In Xiaohongshu, search for “Is it necessary for a job search agency”, and there are more than tens of thousands of related notes.
Ms. He, who has a bachelor’s degree from 211 University in China and a graduate degree in British business, is a “pit dropper” of the same age as Mai Zhiwei.
As a graduate of the class of 2025, she spent more than 20,000 yuan to find a job at X Pigeon, which specializes in serving international students to find jobs, and purchased unlimited tutoring programs. “The so-called unlimited tutoring is a pit, and the real situation is that it is difficult to make an appointment, and it is said that the appointment is full every time.”
Mentioning the experience of finding a job in a pigeon, Ms. He was a little indignant, “And the later service is very poor, and the teacher is very slow to ask for information and interview feedback!” Even if I don’t provide emotional value, I can’t get an offer because of my educational background. ”
Li Qian, a Beijing girl who graduated from Hunter College of the City University of New York, was also PUA by the job search agency when she was preparing for the autumn recruitment. “Before paying the money, I kept packing the ticket and saying that I could get the offer I wanted, but after paying the money, my attitude changed, and I kept hinting that my school ranked badly, and even if I pushed inward, I was stuck in the first level and couldn’t get an interview opportunity.”
Li Qian once posted a post about the lightning protection agency, but was quickly reported by the other party. “I don’t dare to say the name of this institution, I just want to tell fresh graduates who are looking for a job like me that they must keep their eyes open before choosing a job search agency, otherwise a lot of money will be wasted.”
If you pay the money, you will be PUA, and if you don’t pay, you will also be PUA.
Tang Biwei, who graduated from Xi’an University of Foreign Chinese Studies, received many calls from a job search agency called X Cunchangsheng many times during the job search process, and after adding the staff’s WeChat, the other party sent more than a dozen WeChat messages every day urging him to pay the fee and sign up.
“Other students have already received offers from two state-owned enterprises, give yourself a chance. The number of internal promotion places for large factories is limited, and this is the last opportunity to push inside. ”
“Time flies quickly, the 26th graduates have begun to look for jobs, and the 24th and 25th graduates should hurry up.”
Later, Tang Biwei couldn’t help but consult the price and model, and the other party claimed, “We charge 3,680 yuan to serve for three years, and after one year of employment, we will be rewarded with 4,000 yuan in incentives after successfully changing jobs.” ”
“The registration fee is 3,680 yuan, and the reward for successful job change is 4,000 yuan, which means that they not only give me free tutoring, but also pay backwards.” Tang Bi smiled slightly, “Can a free pie fall from the sky?” Unless it’s a pig killing plate, these job search agencies are too scary. Digging such an obvious pit makes people jump in. ”
After many fresh graduates are deceived, they will publish lightning protection posts on platforms such as Xiaohongshu. However, some “fishing posts” that drain traffic for job search agencies are also disguised as “lightning protection posts”, which make college students who are not deeply involved in the world unguardable.
“Take your parents to a job search agency, this spring recruitment is bound to win!” , “Job search agency consultant, has resigned, tell the truth”, “Push my conscientious job search agency, you will really be moved”, “Unscrupulous job search agency, my blood and tears lightning guide”, “Big liar agency, hurry up and close down”, “Job search agency stop harming us international students, okay”, “More than 30,000 yuan to buy lessons, job search agencies avoid lightning and blood and tears posts”, “Don’t trust some job search agencies! Bloody lesson! ”
On Xiaohongshu, search for keywords such as job search agencies and job search agencies, and many posts will appear claiming to be “students” with real experiences. After whetting the appetite of job seekers, these posters will implicitly implant job search agency advertisements to guide job seekers to conduct “in-depth communication” through Xiaohongshu private messages and WeChat.
In communication, these posters who claim to be “students” will affectionately call job seekers “pro” or “baby”, and then take advantage of the job seekers’ educational background, career planning, job search experience, etc., and wait for opportunities to target job search agencies.
“I originally wanted to know which intermediary to avoid lightning, but later I was sold and wanted to take me into the pit.” Zhao Zhao, a fresh graduate from Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, complained that she searched for more than a dozen students’ real experience lightning protection or recommended posts on Xiaohongshu, and found that the other party was the “childcare” of the job search agency after private chat.
Fake lightning protection is really promoted, “these are just business wars between job search agencies, using advertorials to promote themselves, and slandering competitors by the way”, Zhao Zhao suddenly realized.
3. The “guarantee offer” harvests young people’s employment anxiety
Although it is well packaged, over time, it will be found that the sales model of the staff of the job search agency, the little brother who sells the card in the barbershop, the manager of the real estate agency selling the house, etc., is similar, and even only needs to be carefully studied, and you can find that many job search agencies are not reliable.
According to the enterprise investigation, X Mou Information Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., which is behind Xrui’s job search, has only 11 employees, and the company behind X Ma Vocational Plus has only 6 employees. X Cun Changsheng, which has a lot of bad reviews on Xiaohongshu, has also been labeled as a “liar” many times. Although unreliable, their business can be like a fish in water because in a difficult employment environment, they accurately harvest the job search anxiety of fresh graduates.
“Finding an institution can relieve my anxiety, and it can also supervise me and keep me in a positive job search state at all times.” Talking about why he chose a job search agency in the first place, Mai Zhiwei said that the employment environment is not good now, there is no hard enough relationship, no resources, no qualifications, and it is difficult to find a good job. “If you can’t find a fresh graduate, it will be even more difficult to find it in the future, after all, many large companies only recruit fresh graduates.”
According to the latest data from the Ministry of Education, the number of ordinary college graduates nationwide is expected to reach 11.87 million in 2025, an increase of 290,000 year-on-year, a record high, and the competition in the job market is extremely fierce.
The more difficult it is to find employment, the more popular the job search and recruitment industry is.
According to QuestMobile data, as of April 2025, the monthly active users of the education job search app industry will be 471 million, a year-on-year increase of 5.1%. In terms of user habit characterization, the proportion of online medium and high consumption willingness of education and job search APP users and the proportion of online consumption of more than 1,000 yuan reached 88.6% and 82.3% respectively, which far exceeded the consumption structure of the overall users.
When the “most difficult employment season in history” becomes a reality year after year, when the “aura of big factories” and “landing anxiety” are constantly intertwined in the hearts of graduating students, unreliable job search agencies also take advantage of the situation. Compared with formal job search and recruitment platforms, they dare to make promises, and they are also lions in terms of fees. In this regard, a number of large manufacturers reminded fresh graduates not to trust so-called job search agencies.
“I have received calls from many job search agencies, and they want me to be able to take classes online via video, and the cost is 300 yuan an hour,” a middle manager of a large factory told us, and his first reaction when he received the call was ridiculous. “I am very busy with my job and have no time to work part-time; My time is also very precious, an hour is far more than 300 yuan; It is even more impossible to endorse an unreliable job search agency for a mere few hundred yuan, risking career risks and reputational risks. ”
“The project of guaranteeing the offer itself is a psychological word, first of all, even if it is an insider of a large factory, it cannot guarantee 100%, many large factories recruit after multiple rounds of written tests and interviews, not one person has the final say”, Ms. Ma, who has 15 years of HR experience and works in a large state-owned enterprise in the aviation field, revealed, “The final decision whether you can get an offer or not is not a job search agency, but your strength.” ”
Indeed, for fresh graduates, instead of spending tens of thousands of dollars to buy “guaranteed offers”, it is better to improve themselves, polish their resumes, and accumulate job search experience.
When “one-on-one tutoring” becomes a templated discourse, when “internal pushing resources” become the transportation of public information, and when emotional value and PUA become two sides of the same coin – these “services” that cost tens of thousands of yuan are essentially nothing more than weaving an illusory certainty for confused graduates.
The future that those job search agencies cannot “guarantee” is often hidden in the hundredth and one resume thrown, in the review notes after each interview, and in the refusal to be anxious and down-to-earth.
Mai Zhiwei also woke up completely. In early June this year, after repeatedly asking for a refund and being prevaricated, Mai Zhiwei found a lawyer friend and claimed that he was ready to file a lawsuit, and the institution finally refunded him the money. He changed his WeChat signature to “Remember, there are no shortcuts” to motivate himself.
(The cases in this article are all real interviews, and some characters are pseudonyms to protect privacy.) ）
