Two of my current Executive Coaching clients asked me about a job posting they found that seemed to fit their background as a technology executive. The job description was repeated on at least five resume aggregating sites, verbatim and showed no description of the company or any enticement to respond. Both clients refused to consider responding simply on the basis that it seemed, “fishy.”
Research revealed the posting was in fact not a job at all but an ad placed by a consulting, temporary placement and recruiting firm. They posted the search on several job boards. Their own site shows a phone number that is not viable and absolutely no information about the company, management or any other relevant information.
Most recruiting firms make a concerted effort to sell candidates on their professionalism, the niches they serve, testimonials and typical companies for whom they have made placements. At the least, the pedigree of the principals is noted. Nothing of the sort was offered by the “hiring” site and it smacked of scam. I couldn’t put my finger on what that scam may be.
My first reaction to the posting was my normal admonition to avoid job boards. There was a job description and an invitation to insert contact information and credentials to apply (not a resume), and job requirements. Not standard courtship methodology to attract Executives.
Red flags went off with that request. When I see that sort of ambiguous trolling, I get really paranoid. There is no reason not to supply some details about the hiring company. And worse, to simply fill in the blanks for an executive job is absolutely the wrong way to be considered for any professional role. You have to wonder why they don’t want resumes. I immediately jumped to this was a scam to collect contact information on high net worth individuals which would be sold to marketers.
I contacted a colleague also in the career advice business who is reputed to be an expert with on line research and while she found names of people associated with the company, she could find no valid contact information. Her research disclosed a home address for the company name and a Linkedin entry for a former executive. “Whois” was of little help since only “GoDaddy” was mentioned as the site owner. The cloak of deception was deep to this emerging Nancy Drew.
Linkedin also revealed several former recruiters for the company in question and not one responded to an emailed request for information which was carefully worded to, at the least, validate it was a real company. This set my alarms clanging. It is my role as a Job Search Coach to make certain my client’s self confidence is maintained and that their job search efforts garner results. I would not encourage them to pursue this bogus lead.
A “Spoke” entry disclosed the name of a current executive. I emailed him and mentioned the invalid phone number and lack of contact information or company overview. He responded promptly to offer “…I can assure you that this is in fact a “real position” with a client of [our recruiting arm]. It is being handled by our Chicago office and I will provide you the contact information for this requirement.” He said he didn’t see a problem with the phone number on the site (three people tried the number and got the same message that it was an invalid number) and did not comment on the lack of content on his company site or the use of “insert” instead of “send resume.”
Ultimately, paranoia aside, what we uncovered is a highly unprofessional recruitment effort that offers the equivalent of a “blind ad” for executive level candidates. While perhaps not a scam, it is incumbent on any candidate to assess the quality of the referring company or parties. And further, ask yourself if any company for which you want to work would use such a subterfuge. When a company hires a recruitment firm, they are informed of the techniques and resources used by that firm. I am mighty suspicious of any company who chooses to be represented by such a sloppy and unprofessional outfit.
The job listing is for a Seattle area company. One has to wonder why that company chose not to enlist the services of any number of highly regarded and technology entrenched local recruiting firms; one connected to the technology community and with links to their own network of known-good qualified local candidates. Does the local community know something about the hiring company that precludes them from showing interest? One can only wonder.
UPDATE: We discovered there was in fact a Seattle company who at one time had an opening much like the one listed. It was over a year ago and while they made the job search information public, they did not hire the company in question. Seems we were right; the suspect recruiting company was indeed trolling. There was no such current job search.
What would you do? Feel free to comment, teach all the readers something from your own experience.
For detailed support for your search, purchase Job Search Debugged, Insider’s Guide to Job Search. For highly targeted and personalized guidance with your job search, consider Job Search Coaching.
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