Corporate Recruiter Cold Calls Suck

[Geek King]

mjr, I can almost promise they don't have your resume. All these places really do is glean names and contact numbers off the various job search sites. They don't really care what you actually do. They just hope to get enough desperate souls to come to a big group interview where they will hype up their company, how much you can maybe make every week, barely mention what they actually do, and hype up how much you can make if you recruit more people for them. If they're lucky, a couple will fall for it.

Yes, I might have gotten tricked into going to one of those pep rallies.

These places have lead to a new personal rule that group interviews are a sure sign I need to walk out.

[dalesys]

... going to one of those pep rallies.

Perp rallies?

[mjr]

mjr, I can almost promise they don't have your resume.

Oh, sure. I'm rather sure that the scammer ones don't. I'm talking about recruiters from "legitimate" recruiting firms.

I did find it odd, though, that a guy from a car dealership in the town where I live contacted me (probably saw an old resume) to ask me if I wanted to sell cars.

[protege]

Oh, sure. I'm rather sure that the scammer ones don't. I'm talking about recruiters from "legitimate" recruiting firms.

Unfortunately, some of the "job listings" posted on those sites are simply to get more suckers for the scammers. How do I know this? Several years back, when a certain California-based utility company failed, and the auditors of said company went under, I was thinking of going to work in the accounting industry. I have my accounting degree, plus a BS in BS , so I started putting feelers out there. Temp sites, ScaryCreature, and others, mostly because it couldn't hurt, right?

Imagine my surprise, when I get a call about an "interview" one night. Considering that the guy wanted to meet at the local Panera Bread for a "meeting," I knew something was up. The more the guy talked, the more red flags he was throwing up. He droned on mostly about getting people to join, so they could buy products over the internet.

When I tried to get details on what the company did, or what "products" I'd be selling, he clammed up, and said that if I was truly interested, I'd need to get a tax ID number (not cheap, I looked), and kept repeating himself.

Naturally, I told him I wasn't about to hand over a wad of cash, and that I'd "think it over." The guy was actually dumb enough to let me have his company materials. After a quick 'net search, the company in question was closely related to Amway...which is a well-known pyramid scheme. They set things up just enough to be on the legal side of things.

Pissed, I thought I'd have a little fun at his expense. When I called back and said I wasn't interested, he demanded that I mail back (at my expense) his literature. I told him to get bent...and instead sent the package to my cousin at NBC. Why? Well, they were doing a story on such schemes, and were very curious as to what the "company" was up to. Why not provide them with details instead

Folks, I know what it's like. These scumbags prey on people who are desperate. They'll tell hard-up folks exactly what they want to hear, provide a lot of pretty graphs, in an attempt to screw them over. These firms should be taken out and shot. But, because they're smart enough to keep things *just* on the side of legal, that will never happen.

[Dreamstalker]

After recent contacts, I'm seriously considering removing my phone number, and operating strictly off of email.

I have my phone # on resumes too, but am also seriously considering removing it; we've been getting a LOT of hangups on the machine which mom is convinced are cold calls and they don't actually know who they're looking for. Interested parties would get a phone number only if/when I can determine they are legit and the interest is mutual.

[Food Lady]

I got taken for sales training about 10 years ago, to the tune of $500. Their dishonesty will be "rewarded" at some point.

[NecessaryCatharsis]

I get sick of these from the other side, for two different reasons

1) We get cold calls from recruiters all the time, telling us that they have excellent candidates available for positions we have advertised. Great, why not submit their details to apply? Oh, we have to sign up for your recruitment services first - yeah right. If you were an agency with candidates available that means you are charging the employees a fee to find them a job, so why would you charge the employer? If you are an agency that finds employees for employers, you don't have a list of candidates, you have to go source them, so signing up with you won't accomplish anything except you will charge us to keep advertising our positions

2) Any sales position offered it is impossible to get people to respond in a normal fashion. They just email question after question, won't give contact details or send a resume. The ad clearly says - salary + commission, sales experience required paid training available on our products. That means you get a salary (which is higher than minimum wage) no matter how much you sell (although you probably will gone in two months or so if you don't go sell things) and that you are paid your salary through any needed training period. IE obviously not a scam, but an actual job. People are so used to these scam companies that any sales position is treated as one of them.

AARGH

[silverstaff]

. . .and I just got another questionable cold call from a recruiter for a sales job.

*ring*

"Hello?"

"Is this Silverstaff?" (sounds of phones ringing and busy office noise in the background)

"Yes."

(speaking very fast) "Hello my name is NameHere and I'm with (name mumbled and spoken so fast I can't hear it) and we got your resume and would like to have you come in for an interview on Thursday at 11." (still loud in the background)

"Pardon me, who did you say you were with?"

"*mumbles quickly and incoherently* Can you come in for an interview on Thursday?"

"I have a job interview that day with the State Office of Homeland Security at noon that day (I really do!), so I can't make it."

"Oh. . .well, we can get you in for the next interview after that on the. . ."

"Wait, wait, what job is this even for. You haven't said what you do, or what this job you're offering an interview is for." (and still didn't even intelligibly say who they worked for, but I was assuming they were intentionally fudging that, as I realize that the background noise isn't like a regular office or call center, much louder and more hectic)

"Oh. . .uh. . .it's for a Benefits Representative. You help people find the benefits packages that fits their needs. We work with unions so that we send out letters on union letterhead advertising our plans. If you just got something in the mail offering to sell you insurance you'd think it's junk mail and throw it away, but we work in partnership with unions so that our offers come to people on union letterhead so they'll open them and read them. You'll only have to work in an office two and a half days a week, the rest of the time you are in meetings with potential clients who have already responded to our mailings and would like more information, so there's no cold calling and. . ."

"So, you're having me sell insurance for you?"

"Yes, and. . ." (all that loud noise never let up,)

"No, thank you."

"Oh, uh, okay" *hangs up*

[mjr]

"So, you're having me sell insurance for you?"

"Yes, and. . ." (all that loud noise never let up,)

"No, thank you."

"Oh, uh, okay" *hangs up*

Does your resume indicate that you have sales experience? If you don't, it seems odd to me that you're getting phone calls about sales jobs.

[silverstaff]

Does your resume indicate that you have sales experience? If you don't, it seems odd to me that you're getting phone calls about sales jobs.

No, no sales experience at all.

My resume lists experience in law enforcement and corrections, and military experience in military intelligence. The jobs I've applied for are mostly government jobs or contractor positions working for government agencies.

The closest thing I have to sales experience is about 4 months working retail in a department store 12 years ago. . .which I don't put on my resume.

Best I can figure, I'm getting sales calls because they don't care about prior experience and just want warm bodies to be out there making cold calls and pushing their products.

[mjr]

Best I can figure, I'm getting sales calls because they don't care about prior experience and just want warm bodies to be out there making cold calls and pushing their products.

This seems to be the most likely thing.

I work in tech as a software guy. I haven't gotten calls for sales jobs, but I did (as I mentioned earlier) get a couple of emails about selling cars, both of which I rejected.

The idea that I mentioned earlier would save job seekers time, and reduce (but not necessarily eliminate) these types of job contacts.

I just don't know if job seekers, recruiters, and such would go for it...

[silverstaff]

. . .and I just got ANOTHER one, this one actually snippy when I wasn't interested.

*ring*

"Hello"

"Yes, may I please speak with Silverstaff?" (sound of a busy office in the background)

"Speaking."

"Yes, I'm calling from CompanyName and my supervisors have given me your name and telephone number in reference to your resume that you've posted online, and based on what was in your resume, my supervisors feel you may have leadership potential so we think you're a great fit for our CityName office and would like to talk to you about careers in our company. . ."

(Note, CityName here is about an hour and a half from where I live (and depending on where in the city their office is and how bad traffic is that day, the commute could easily be 2+ hours), it would mean either a big commute, or moving, so it better be a heck of a job offer)

*interrupting the speech* "Wait, so what actually do you do? What kind of job are you wanting me to do?"

"We do business to business work helping employers find the right benefits plans to best suit the needs of their customers, and my boss thinks you'd be great at this and wants to talk to you about your potential with our company and putting you on a career path that can take you to management."

"I'm not interested in a sales career."

"Oh, no, this isn't conventional sales, you'll be doing just business to business work. No cold calling, no door to door, you'll just be helping companies choose our policies as what they will offer to their employees."

(Again with an insurance agency wanting me to sell their policies, a field I have 0 interest in and never indicated any interest in.)

"I am really wondering how your boss thought I'd be a good fit for a sales career since I have no sales related experience and instead have years of experience in law enforcement and corrections, and years of military intelligence experience, and the fact that I live 2 hours away from that city."

(Snippy and hateful-sounding) "Well, I'm an active duty vet myself, and we try to find candidates with leadership potential, but since you're *clearly* not interested in our job offer I'll stop wasting your time." *click*

[mjr]

Wait...was it the same company but just a different person who called you?

[silverstaff]

Wait...was it the same company but just a different person who called you?

Different company, same industry, same day.

[CyberLurch]

It sounds like your information has been harvested and placed on a list, possibly several lists, and is making the rounds. Sadly, it will probably continue to do so for a while. These lists are sold to anyone with the cash - telemarketers, scammers, etc. Worse, once the buyer goes through the list and harvested the contacts they want, the list is resold to another company.

Its part of why I use a 'burner' cell when I go job hunting any more - just a cheap, $20 phone with a prepaid plan, and I provide that number as contact information. Once I'm hired somewhere, I give my real information to my new employer, and chuck the burner cell into a drawer.

Similarly, I use a disposable email address (sometimes several!), and close the account when I feel it isn't needed any more.