Are you serious?
There used to be an outlet of a large recruiting organization located here, in the heart of downtown. They were well known for calling or emailing you, and then refusing to tell you what kind of position they called you about until you came in for a face-to-face visit and a skills test. You literally had no idea what they wanted until you did this. Many of my collegues reported the same thing, and some actually had followed through only to find they were given an entry-level test and the positions being offered weren't worth the time for a skilled person.
They used to send out emails just like the one below. No information, and usually no subject. They would always come from the same person in the office. This often got sent straight to spam. I wonder how many I missed, and I wonder how many other people had them auto-marked as spam.
There are only a few players during this round:
Me - Me, of course.
OWNER - the owner of the original website where this was posted
Somedude - A person replying in favor of the recruiter
The Email
I have received your resume. Please call my office. Thank you!
Recruter Name
City, State
Phone number
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE:
All information in this Communication, including attachments, is for the
sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and
privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or
distribution of any kind is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended
recipient, contact the sender via reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the
original message.
The Replies
Confidentiality Agreements
Hahahahaha! I always love those agreements at the bottom of emails. As if I agree to it by simply receiving the the thing. Wonder why I can't send out agreements that require a payment for receipt of agreements...?
By OWNER at 2007-05-17 02:29
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I have to wonder why they
I have to wonder why they even bother attaching such an agreement to an anonymous email. Is the receiver the intended receiver? Who knows?
By Me at 2007-05-27 23:36
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Are you serious?
Recruiter placed me in my current job and I have nothing but positive things to say about her. She takes a lot of time and effort to really help her applicants find the best fit for them. If you've never even worked with her, you have nothing to base any kind of comment on, let alone a negative one.
I guess maybe you could think about it this way. If you won't even put forth effort to go in for an interview, why should they put forth any effort for you? How could they trust you to represent their company when they send you out to one of their clients? How can they give you tips on interviewing if they can't see how you interview themselves? Do you see where I'm going with this? How do you expect someone to help you if you're difficult from the very beginning?
I'm sorry, but it just annoys me that you're writing negative things about a service that you haven't even tried and especially about someone who is incredibly professional and helpful. It's just wrong.
By Somedude at 2007-06-28 20:53
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You'll notice they're always professional and helpful. I have to wonder if this was the recruiter themselves writing this review, similar to another that I've posted here
Ok, let's try this again:
Let's discuss your reply here:
Recruiter placed me in my current job and I have nothing but positive things to say about her. She takes a lot of time and effort to really help her applicants find the best fit for them. If you've never even worked with her, you have nothing to base any kind of comment on, let alone a negative one.
I will agree that I have never worked with Recruiter personally. I have spoke with her numerous times on the phone. Each time this went nowhere.
If you won't even put forth effort to go in for an interview, why should they put forth any effort for you?
At *no time* have I ever asked Recruiter Name to put forth any effort OTHER than that of telling me why they chose to send an email to me asking me to call them. An answer of "Well, you need to come in before we speak with you" is not an acceptable answer. I feel that my effort of writing a personalized cover letter, sending that with a resume, and calling them should be enough effort on my part for them to at least tell me what they want to speak with me about. If all they want is for me to come in, why not say this in the email?
How could they trust you to represent their company when they send you out to one of their clients?
At no time have I ever asked Recruiter Name to send me to a client. They cold-emailed me. All I want is to know "what position am I applying for?" "Why did you call me?"
How can they give you tips on interviewing if they can't see how you interview (for) themselves?
Tips? Uh...ok. Every time I've tried to use a contractor's "tips," it's usually a disaster because each interview is a dynamic entity. You have to react NOW! to make an impression. Tips, other than basic ones about the employer, are usually useless. I don't want the recruiter to do anything other than set me up with the client. That is their job.
Do you see where I'm going with this? How do you expect someone to help you if you're difficult from the very beginning?
No, I don't. As I have stated previously, this company emailed me. Not the other way around. Before I commit to taking time, I would like the professional courtesy of at least knowing why they chose to contact me. No other recruiter I have spoken with has done this. Most will usually refuse to tell you over email, but will always talk over the phone. If wanting to know what you are getting into is being difficult, then yes. I am.
I'm sorry, but it just annoys me that you're writing negative things about a service that you haven't even tried and especially about someone who is incredibly professional and helpful. It's just wrong.
I write negative things because they have treated me in a negative way. I consider it very discourteous to call someone and then refuse to tell them why until they have completed some sort of program that requires an investment of time and money, however small. This is the business equivalent of calling someone and asking them if they have Prince Albert in a can, or if they want to buy some free candy.
For all I know, Recruiter Name could be hiring people to pack at one of the local distribution centers - but I don't know that, because every time they call me, they refuse to tell me why!
By Me at 2007-06-29 22:06
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That was it. The person never replied to me after posting that.
I did continue to receive calls from this recruiter over the years, they all ended up the same except for the last one - you have to come in, no we can't discuss that until you take our skills test, etc. The last contact I had with this company, probably 2011 or so, I had a different caller. This gentleman got very unhappy when I said I simply will not take the time to come to their office (now in a different part of the city that was farther away but had free parking) and spend hours with them unless I knew what it was for. (They've since moved again, and are back in the pay-to-park area of downtown.)
He kind of stumbled over things, saying they had many positions open. I asked, "Well, which one did you call me about?" Again, the stumbling, muttering something about a general technical job that might be a good fit, but that was as many details as he would release. I simply said "I can't take time off to come talk to you about generalities. If you have something concrete, please call me."
They never did.
There's a reason I don't like to simply take time off without knowing what's being presented. I did this with a recruiter previously, they indicated they had a number of open positions they'd like to discuss with me and wanted to meet at their office. I take the time off and go there with resume and documents in hand. The meeting lasts a minute, the person simply came out, shook my hand, said it was good to meet me and they didn't have anything for me right now, thank you! I was rather ticked at this, and immediately made it policy that unless you tell me what you want, I don't spend my time.
Fortunately, recruiters that do this seem to be somewhat rarer these days. But who really knows if they do this or not, I won't tell you unless you come in!