Riding on the mobile trend, recruitment applications (apps) have become quite a popular tool among employers.

However, an investigation by Oriental Daily has showed that many apps do not possess an employment agency license from the Labour Department.

According to the law, all recruitment agencies are required to register with the department or may risk violating the employment ordinance.

Operating without a license, these apps collect a huge amount of personal data from job applicants which may put them at risk.

Barrister Albert Luk Wai Hung said employers using unlicensed recruitment apps to hire might be prosecuted for abetting and counselling others to commit an offence.

A representative from one such unlicensed recruitment apps said however, there is no need for the businesses to register with the Labour Department because they are not recruiters but software developers who build a platform for recruitment.

He stressed that the app only charges employers for posting job advertisement and does not earn commission like recruitment agencies and head hunters do.

Alexa Chow Yee Ping, managing director of AMAC Human Resources Consultants agreed that there is a grey area in the law that allow app developers to take advantage of the law but she thinks running a platform for recruitment is no different from operating a recruitment agency.

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