The vast majority of job seekers have endured the unfortunate circumstances associated with unforeseen gaps in employment. Constant reminders about unpaid bills from countless creditor phone calls make it very easy to lose focus. Those that manage to compartmentalize their emotions are able to develop a solid employment strategy. They produce an attractive resume and cover letter that can adapt to each employer’s needs. Yet, after several hours of planning, toil, and refinement, there are still many obstacles to overcome. The time it takes to separate scams from legitimate opportunities is frustrating to say the least.
Unfortunately, getting a job offer, often times requires job seekers to upload their resumes to job boards. These resume clearinghouses claim that they get your resume in front of hundreds of hiring managers looking for your skills and abilities. After filling countless online fields to provide information that’s already provided by the resume, they ask for a credit card number to upgrade your profile. Those that don’t upgrade rarely accomplish more than falling pray to spam, employment scams, and sweatshops masquerading as legitimate marketing, advertising, and public relations firms.
“Entry Level Marketing – Immediate Hire,” “Junior Level Marketing Associate – Advertising & Public Relations,” “Expanding Company – Entry Level Positions – Will Train!” are all common headings used by employment scams to attract the unaware, desperate, and financially crippled career seekers.
During a search at careerbuilder.com using the search phrase, "entry level marketing," and selecting "past three days," I found a total of 2,834 of these postings. Every one of them sounds like an opportunity to get a foot in the door and grow with a company that’s experiencing "tremendous growth." Is there any truth to these allegedly deceptive advertisements? In an effort to satisfy my curiosity, I responded to one of these employment scams.
When the HR manager contacted me, within an hour of submitting my application, she told me that they had reviewed my resume and wanted to interview me for a management position. I accepted the interview even though she avoided providing information about the company, made no mention of a company name, and failed to provide an explanation of the position. All I was left with was the name, anonymous company, on my caller ID to use for research.
After attempting several different search phrases and keyword combinations, I was unable to find a website. The fact that an advertising and public relations firm did not have a website prompted me to broaden my search. What I found at rippedoffonline.com, a forum dedicated to airing complaints of fraudulent businesses, were countless claims like “this company has changed its name several times,” “they do not pay what they promise to pay,” and “they train representatives to lie to customers,” to name a few. I thought to myself, "this sounds like one of your typical employment scams.
At this point, it would have been very easy for me to cancel my interview based on what I learned, but the desire to experience it for myself completely outweighed my concerns. More importantly, I needed to hear what the principals of anonymous company had to say about these claims. So, I emailed my concerns to the HR manager and included a direct link to the website where I had discovered the claims.
She responded by denying the claims and defensively suggesting that I cancel the interview if I believe everything I read online (good point). She also mentioned that she had brought this to the attention of the higher-ups.
I respectfully responded by saying, “Don't get the wrong idea; I found it comical. It's very clear that it was from ex-employees with below-average communication skills. Unfortunately, this kind of lible can make the job of attracting talent more difficult than it needs to be. I like to provide real solutions to real problems that companies face when I interview. I can show you how to capture the first page of search results to eliminate this issue. See you at 11:45 a.m.”
After waiting for well over an hour, I had the pleasure of interviewing with the top hiring manager and the self-proclaimed owner (my email worked like a charm). I was told by the owner that they have been doing this for 32 years (he looked to be about 30 years old). He boasted that they get over 200 online application submissions per day. Both the hiring manager and the owner agreed that employees normally only last a week, which intrigued me, so I probed about the particulars of the position.
The hiring manager informed me that I would be driving all around town (on my own dime) to cover events at Sam's Club and other major retailers. I would also be expected to go door-to-door and from small business to small business to sell free auto glass replacement services (covered under insurance, but most can be repaired). Basically, I could make $50 per sale, and if I made it through the six- to nine-month training program, they would give me my own office to manage (the math is self-explanatory).
As the interview progressed, the owner probed me repeatedly about my solution for covering up negative comments posted on rip off reports. I finally told him that social media, like facebook and Myspace get ranked quickly in the search engines, and very few people search past the first page of results. I couldn't help but ask, "Wouldn't it make sense to find ways to increase the concentration of qualified applicants that have the skills to last more than a week? What if you had more employees last for a month or maybe even three months?" They laughed, and acted as if they could care less. The owner abruptly stood up and said, "I have 26 locations, just in Florida. So that is not necessary and what people are saying about us hasn’t hurt our success yet; even if it is true.”
Within 20 minutes of the interview, they signed up for facebook. I know this because the date stamp of the first post was at 1:41 PM. They are obviously more concerned about hiding whistle blowers than they are about finding qualified talent.
There have been no official statistics released by the Federal Trade Commision (FTC) that pertain to this variety of employment scam, to date. Fortunately, those who have already been deceived by employment cons, may now have an opportunity to seek justice.
An FTC news release, published on February 17, 2010 highlighted seven case filings, the developments in four previous cases, and 43 criminal actions by the Department of Justice. These government interventions are part of a new law enforcement sweep of con artists who target jobless Americans called, "Operation Bottom Dollar."
During a joint press conference at the FTC, Tony West, the assistant U.S. Attorney General, said, "Employment and business opportunity fraud causes terrible hardship to those who are suffering the most in these difficult economic times. The Justice Department is committed to prosecuting those who defraud through false promises of employment or financial success.”
Online job boards are saturated with frauds that claim to offer a lifetime opportunity, but really aren't anything more than opportunists who profit from impatience and desperation. So if you have the misfortune of being unemployed, make sure you research companies thoroughly before wasting more time and money. Contact the Better Business Bureau in the advertiser's area, State consumer agencies, and your state attorney general's office to check out the history, business practices, or general reputation of a firm. More importantly, if you have already been defrauded, contact the FTC immediately.
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Sources
Rippedoffonline.com - posts from 2010-06-30 17:05:18 - 2011-03-20 22:54:30
FTC.com - FTC Cracks Down on Con Artists Who Target Jobless Americans; 02/17/2010
Copies of email correspondence are available upon request.
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