Shady Job Search Stuff

[Cuckoo]

Okay, I have never really done the job search stuff as I'm doing now so some of this stuff may be common knowledge, but it's new to me.

I recently put a resume on Monster.com, searchable but without all of my personal information. I have been contacted by a number of companies, but most of them have been outside of what I really want to do.

I received an e-mail today, though, from a company offering a nice salary with benefits for a certain position that I presumably qualify for. They want me to go to their website and fill out an application, at which time I'll supposedly be contacted for an interview opportunity.

Now, the problem. This website looks really, really basic to me, but yet they claim to have been in business since 1987. Google searches turn up nothing on this company, and their website doesn't even list a "home" office. The only address looks to be a generic Park Avenue address in NYC, but they claim to be "expanding into many markets." The domain name, according to GoDaddy, was just registered 3 days ago!

Obviously, I don't need anyone to tell me what I already know - that this doesn't look to be legit, and I don't plan on giving them my personal information on this "application." But my question is, is this common practice? And what is the goal? Do they try to get people's personal information and then sell lists to marketers or something?

This whole job search thing is making me really doubtful of nearly everyone that contacts me.

[QuikSand]

Sounds like you may have sniffed this one out. Pretty clever, I guess.

[Desnudo]

I occasionally get those, I just mark them as spam. The legit ones usually come from people, not a generic company address. I only contact ones that have individual contact information.

[KevinNU7]

Would be surprised if the application asked for SS# and other really personal stuff, if so then their plan is obvious

[Ksyrup]

Interesting. Makes sense. I've been getting purported bank and ISP emails asking for account information on a weekly basis. Makes sense they'd move to something less obvious, but just as easy to gain information like SSN and stuff.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by KevinNU7

Would be surprised if the application asked for SS# and other really personal stuff, if so then their plan is obvious

Don't most employers ask for SSN? To check credit and criminal history?

[Cuckoo]

Originally Posted by KevinNU7

Would be surprised if the application asked for SS# and other really personal stuff, if so then their plan is obvious

No, nothing like that - just name, address, phone, e-mail - stuff that people could probably find on me if they wanted to badly enough. That's why I'm not sure exactly what they're trying to accomplish. Do they just want to put me on a list? I'm on enough of them as it is...

[Crapshoot]

Originally Posted by Cuckoo

Okay, I have never really done the job search stuff as I'm doing now so some of this stuff may be common knowledge, but it's new to me.

I recently put a resume on Monster.com, searchable but without all of my personal information. I have been contacted by a number of companies, but most of them have been outside of what I really want to do.

I received an e-mail today, though, from a company offering a nice salary with benefits for a certain position that I presumably qualify for. They want me to go to their website and fill out an application, at which time I'll supposedly be contacted for an interview opportunity.

Now, the problem. This website looks really, really basic to me, but yet they claim to have been in business since 1987. Google searches turn up nothing on this company, and their website doesn't even list a "home" office. The only address looks to be a generic Park Avenue address in NYC, but they claim to be "expanding into many markets." The domain name, according to GoDaddy, was just registered 3 days ago!

Obviously, I don't need anyone to tell me what I already know - that this doesn't look to be legit, and I don't plan on giving them my personal information on this "application." But my question is, is this common practice? And what is the goal? Do they try to get people's personal information and then sell lists to marketers or something?

This whole job search thing is making me really doubtful of nearly everyone that contacts me.

I will say that this may actually be legit. For certain hedgefunds, or other private companies, they put up absolutely nothing on their web site. What industry are you looking for this in ? I believe you can search Business registers for a company also.

[KevinNU7]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Don't most employers ask for SSN? To check credit and criminal history?

I have yet to see that on an online application. Typically that occurs during the interview process when most professional organization have you go through the formalities of applying right beofre the interview

[st.cronin]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Don't most employers ask for SSN? To check credit and criminal history?

I've never been asked for an SSN before being hired.

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by Cuckoo

No, nothing like that - just name, address, phone, e-mail - stuff that people could probably find on me if they wanted to badly enough. That's why I'm not sure exactly what they're trying to accomplish. Do they just want to put me on a list? I'm on enough of them as it is...

Like if they actually read your resume? It's obviously some sort of marketing scam. I've seen the exact ones you're talking about.

[Cuckoo]

Originally Posted by Crapshoot

I will say that this may actually be legit. For certain hedgefunds, or other private companies, they put up absolutely nothing on their web site. What industry are you looking for this in ? I believe you can search Business registers for a company also.

Well, this particular company is a marketing company. Any information on where I could search would be appreciated. Obviously, if it was legit, I'd love to apply. But I'm very hesitant given all the e-mails I received.

Two weeks ago, I got one from a company who had a similarly barebones website, and I didn't apply (it wasn't something I really wanted to do anyway). Then this week, I got another nearly identical e-mail with a web address. The website was exactly the same, just with a different company name.

The one that I speak of in the original post here, though, was the first one to actually specify a position, salary, benefits - the whole nine yards.

[Aylmar]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Don't most employers ask for SSN? To check credit and criminal history?

They don't need SSN to check either.

[WSUCougar]

It's a piece o' cake job, see? They want you to deliver this brown bag, see? And it's got some, ya know, stuff in it, see? Just give it to The Man, see?

And if you don't deliver it, you end up with a permanent end zone seat, if ya take my meaning.

[Cuckoo]

Originally Posted by WSUCougar

It's a piece o' cake job, see? They want you to deliver this brown bag, see? And it's got some, ya know, stuff in it, see? Just give it to The Man, see?

And if you don't deliver it, you end up with a permanent end zone seat, if ya take my meaning.

Heehee - What's it pay?

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by Crapshoot

I will say that this may actually be legit. For certain hedgefunds, or other private companies, they put up absolutely nothing on their web site. What industry are you looking for this in ? I believe you can search Business registers for a company also.

I'm interviewing with a company like that. However, when they contacted me via email, it was an individual, and they'd read my resume on Monster. No company that wants to appear legit would put up a barebones website with no information, and force you to register there to get an interview. And specifying a specific compensation is odd too.

[Samdari]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Don't most employers ask for SSN? To check credit and criminal history?

Most employers won't do this until you have actually been hired. That has been the case for all of my jobs, and they all started those investigations after I had begun work, despite the investigations having successful resolutions being a requirement of employment. If they do ask you to fill out a form or questionaire for such purposes, there should also be some paperwork giving them permission to seek out information on you, and it will detail exactly what kind of information they will get. I would be very suspicious of any one who asked for a SSN on a job application purporting to be collecting that information for a background check.

Just curious cuckoo, what do you mean by a generic address on Park Ave?

Also, you can do your own due diligence on this company, and find out how long they have been in business, if you are worried they might not be legit. In order to conduct business, they will have needed to incorporate, in which case, there are publicly available filings for you to peruse, or they would have had to file a dba. If neither of those exists, they are certainly not a legit company. Its a lot of work, but finding a job is a lot of work, finding the right job even more.

[Cuckoo]

Originally Posted by Samdari

Just curious cuckoo, what do you mean by a generic address on Park Ave?

Also, you can do your own due diligence on this company, and find out how long they have been in business, if you are worried they might not be legit. In order to conduct business, they will have needed to incorporate, in which case, there are publicly available filings for you to peruse, or they would have had to file a dba. If neither of those exists, they are certainly not a legit company. Its a lot of work, but finding a job is a lot of work, finding the right job even more.

Their address is listed as: 100 Park Avenue, New York City, New York 10017

That sounded generic to me. I've been to New York a couple of times, but I'm certainly not familiar with it so I could certainly be wrong.

In all fairness, the initial e-mail sounded fairly legitimate. It was from a specific person (as opposed to some of the others I've mentioned), and it did specify the position and compensation that they felt like I was qualified for.

The barebones website, the generic-sounding address, the lack of anything on Google (despite the fact that they claim to have some pretty big clients such as AT&T and McDonald's), and the fact that the domain was just registered 3 days ago were what got me curious obviously.

To be honest, I wouldn't know where to start researching a company like this. I understand what you're saying in that they have to have records of incorporation and such, but I wouldn't know how to go about checking.

[Desnudo]

www.hoovers.com

[Cuckoo]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

www.hoovers.com

No results found. I guess that means I was right that it's some sort of scam.

[Samdari]

Originally Posted by Cuckoo

To be honest, I wouldn't know where to start researching a company like this. I understand what you're saying in that they have to have records of incorporation and such, but I wouldn't know how to go about checking.

Well, to be honest, I am not sure either. But, if I needed to, I could find out. For corporations, I would start with the SEC. Heck, you might be able to look at incorporation filings online. My parents have filed DBA's at the county courthouse, so you could look there.

You could always email them and ask them what state they incorporated in, or what county they filed a DBA in. A legitimate company would not take offense to such a question, in fact, whoever you ask might be impressed with how thoroughly you were researching to company. One litmus test is to reply to emails asking for a phone number, or even walk down there and see if there is such a company at that address.

The more I think about it the more suspicious it sounds. I don't think I have ever heard of a company asking for personal information before an interview. My wife (she is a great resource for this, she changes jobs so often) has had initial discussions with companies via e-mail, but they were always of the nature of finding out what she has worked on, what she want to work on, etc., to see if an interview was warranted. There is absolutely no need for them to have any information more personal than your phone number (and really, you might want to put that on your resume, despite the risk in it being collected for marketing purposes) before a first face-to-face interview - at their location.

[Crapshoot]

Well, Hoovers tends to understate smaller, private companies - speaking from experience trying to find them. what is the web site, out of curiousity ? I'll run it through a Lexis search or two to see if anything turns up. Damned if I dont spend enough time trying to find obscure ass companies anyway...

[Cuckoo]

Originally Posted by Crapshoot

Well, Hoovers tends to understate smaller, private companies - speaking from experience trying to find them. what is the web site, out of curiousity ?

I was wondering if someone would ask. It's hxxp://www.greymarketingteam.com.

I freely admit to being fairly ignorant about much of this so maybe I'm just being too paranoid, but it just seems to me that if someone was truly interested in hiring me, they would make me as aware as possible of their company and its goals. This website tends to be very general in what they do, specifies big name clients but not what they do for each one, and has virtually nothing in the way of contact information.

[Blackadar]

I have a subscription to Hoovers. If you PM me the company info, I'll look them up and send you back all the info I can find.

[Cuckoo]

Originally Posted by Blackadar

I have a subscription to Hoovers. If you PM me the company info, I'll look them up and send you back all the info I can find.

Thanks Blackie, I'd appreciate that. The previous post (with the website) is just about all I know of them. I've found (in NYC) a Grey Strategic Marketing and a Nelson Grey Marketing, but that's all. The only other thing I know is that the HR Director's name on the e-mail was Vonda Dixon.

[Desnudo]

Grey Marketing Team. Sounds like the CIA, tbh.

Hey, I can apply online for VP of Marketing, VP of Sales, or VP of Advertising!

[Blackadar]

I'd really hesitate to give them much info until they look legit. There's nothing on Hoovers and I have a full subscription. They can't even figure out whether they're Greymarketingteam or Graymarketing team. Both domains are registered to the same guy and they're even both used on the website.

The whois record is the same for both and looks like total BS. The record shows "unknown, FL" but the phone number he lists is Topeka, KS.

Whois record:
Administrative Contact:
Wagoner, Jeff [email protected]
Grey Marketing Team
n/a
Unknown, Florida 66616
United States
(785) 235-0614
Technical Contact:
Wagoner, Jeff [email protected]
Grey Marketing Team
n/a
Unknown, Florida 66616
United States
(785) 235-0614

I think I'd stay away. I couldn't even find a D&B on these guys - a company that has been in business for 18 years has a D&B record. If you feel compelled to contact them, express your interest but your concerns. If they're legit, they'll appreciate your due dilligence.

[Cuckoo]

Originally Posted by Blackadar

I think I'd stay away. I couldn't even find a D&B on these guys - a company that has been in business for 18 years has a D&B record. If you feel compelled to contact them, express your interest but your concerns. If they're legit, they'll appreciate your due dilligence.

Well, I really appreciate you looking them up. Although I'm a bit disappointed of course, I don't plan on contacting them as it looks pretty shady to me. I just can't figure out why they go through all this trouble just to get me on a mailing list. And if that's not it, what could it be?

[Blackadar]

Originally Posted by Cuckoo

Well, I really appreciate you looking them up. Although I'm a bit disappointed of course, I don't plan on contacting them as it looks pretty shady to me. I just can't figure out why they go through all this trouble just to get me on a mailing list. And if that's not it, what could it be?

Why not apply? If they don't ask you for your SSN, what do you have to lose but a little time? At least you know things aren't...comfortable...going in to this process.

[ice4277]

I don't think its a scam per se, but either a pyramid-type selling scheme, or one of those places that wants you to go door to door selling coupon books or something. Every time I have placed an updated resume on Monster, I've gotten an email from a company just like this about a day later.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Cuckoo

Their address is listed as: 100 Park Avenue, New York City, New York 10017

That sounded generic to me. I've been to New York a couple of times, but I'm certainly not familiar with it so I could certainly be wrong.

It's funny...when you first said it was a generic Park Ave address, I had a feeling this would be it.

100 Park is a huge office complex (my brother's company is in there...was there just two weeks ago). In fact, if you've ever seen the movie poster for Howard Stern's "Private Parts," that building is the one covering his junk.

Of course that doesn't mean its a real company or anything like that...

[Wolfpack]

I actually did a Google on the phone number given (the ZIP is Topeka as well, BTW). I got one hit, cached, to a topeak411.com website that had this info with that number:

Perishable Marketing Co
2704 NW Topeka Blvd
Topeka KS 66617
(785) 235-0614

[Cuckoo]

Originally Posted by Wolfpack

I actually did a Google on the phone number given (the ZIP is Topeka as well, BTW). I got one hit, cached, to a topeak411.com website that had this info with that number:

Perishable Marketing Co
2704 NW Topeka Blvd
Topeka KS 66617
(785) 235-0614

Interesting stuff.

For anyone who cares, I received another e-mail from them this morning that was from a different individual but pointed to the same website. The interesting thing is that the text of this second e-mail is exactly the same as the e-mails from those other two companies that I mentioned earlier (the ones that had the exact same site just with different company names).

Apparently, these guys are dying to find out my home address and phone number.

[JeeberD]

Cuckoo's gonna sell meat door to door!

[Cuckoo]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

Cuckoo's gonna sell meat door to door!

You want some prime cut dog tenderloins? We just got a post-experiment shipment from a local high school. This is choice stuff...

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

Cuckoo's gonna sell meat door to door!

It's better than covering up Howard Stern's junk.

[johneh]

I get emails from companys who get my info off the jobboards all the time.

I've actually got a few good leads on good jobs that way, but 90% of the emails I get are:

1. For jobs selling insurance or financial services
2. MLM scams wanting you to pay them $$$
3. Emails from people who say "I'm a professional recruiter, we don't have any openings but you should try this service..." which links to a place that charges $50 to email your resume to 100 places.

It's annoying BUT since I have got a few good leads I just learn to live with the BS emails.

[Galaril]

I was woneing if any of the job boards are any good. I am applying for a new job also and am gonna put my resume on a few sites like monster and Boston.works. I am also paying a professional resume company to help me write my new resume and it will be posted on here site Trucareers. It sounds like othe than ntworking these boards are not that great.

[moriarty]

Originally Posted by Galaril

I was woneing if any of the job boards are any good. I am applying for a new job also and am gonna put my resume on a few sites like monster and Boston.works. I am also paying a professional resume company to help me write my new resume and it will be posted on here site Trucareers. It sounds like othe than ntworking these boards are not that great.

I heard Resume Rabbit was ok. Pay your $60 bucks and it populates your resume on like 80 job boards (saving you the effort). Then again, it was probably one of the companies spamming Joneh.

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by Galaril

I was woneing if any of the job boards are any good. I am applying for a new job also and am gonna put my resume on a few sites like monster and Boston.works. I am also paying a professional resume company to help me write my new resume and it will be posted on here site Trucareers. It sounds like othe than ntworking these boards are not that great.

I had a professional service write mine. And then I ended up rewriting nearly the entire thing after I learned that online job postings are all about having key words in your damn resume. So I took out all the flowery language and put in achievement defining sentences that included all the buzz words from my industry and job.

I've received much more interest after doing that.

[Wolfpack]

I don't think I'll ever make my resumé public on the internet again, seeing what's happened here and also because the last time I did so, my inbox got stuffed with spam for the first time. To that point, my address had gotten little if any spam, but afterwards it wasn't the case anymore, even though I had left the resumé up only a day. I determined it was the potential source and took it down again. Fortunately, my spam has gone down as Yahoo's blocker has become quite good at stopping just about any of it from reaching me, but I know if I turned the blocker off, it'll pile up again. (Spammers should roast in hell, needless to say...)

I'd rather do the legwork and find the positions I like anyway.

[Cuckoo]

Originally Posted by Wolfpack

I'd rather do the legwork and find the positions I like anyway.

I agree with this. But, the problem lies with a couple of things for me. One, I'm willing to relocate anywhere so I'm looking at a number of different places. That's tough to do without a service like Monster or CareerBuilder. Second, many of the local jobs that I'm interested in don't advertise anywhere but Monster and don't allow you to apply any other way than through Monster, which means I have to have a resume online there. What I did was put only my e-mail address on my resume. But like I said, if someone wanted to badly enough, they could find out whatever they want to about me.

Luckily, the spam has not been that bad. And with the exception of these few fake offer e-mails, it has opened a couple of doors for me so far, although none that successfully quite yet as I still don't have a job.

[johneh]

The worst are the companies selling financial services/insurance.
Maybe they target me because I have Accounting + Finance degrees (but no sales exp. and NO desire to sell such items)

The worst is American Express Financial Planners - for awhile they would send an email at least once a week AND call and leave a voicemail. (you can make your contact info private on the jobboards but I guess on one I didn't have the privacy setup for my phone#).

The calls from Amex got worse and worse - 2 or 3 times a week they would leave a VM. Finally one day I was so fed up I called the guy back and told him that they look so hard up for people that it gives them a bad image and I would never let them invest my money, let alone work there.

Guess what - a month later I got another call. This time I called them back and set up a meeting for 8pm one night during the week. I had no intention of showing up but I can hope that I caused him to sit around late at the office for no reason.

I'm thinking next time they call I will set up an appointment and show up in dirty clothes, burp & fart during the interview and act real a real A-hole just to see what they do.

[Desnudo]

Probably give you a a fat paycheck to redesign their processes as an out of the box thinker.

[terpkristin]

I suppose with sites like careerbuilder and Monster, it depends on what kind of job you're looking for as to what sort of success you might expect. When I posted my resume on those sites, I got a TON of responses that were either "Make money at home" or "Cash4U" things OR they were "Hi Kristin. We received your resume off of ____. Even though you expressed no interest in the kind of work we do, we thought we'd see if you would consider our workplace." Usually, that type of work was public relations or financial advising.

The other problem I have with those sites (and job search sites in general) is when I type in "engineer" I usually get hits for HVAC repair people and "network engineer" positions, and if I type in "systems engineer" I get all the hits for the computer network sys admin types of jobs. None of those jobs, obviously, is what I'm looking for.

In the aerospace and biomechanics world, it seems if you want to get a job, your best bet is really to be picky with CareerBuilder and then go to the individual company websites.

On a related note, I have an interview on Monday with Millenium Engineering & Integration. Keep your fingers crossed for me, please. :\

5 months of being unemployed and inelligible for unemployment BLOWS.

/tk

[Desnudo]

craigslist is a reliable source of local job positions. Also, the local newspaper's website is often fruitful. Like The Seattle Times runs NWJobsource.com. Less spam type stuff.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

craigslist is a reliable source of local job positions. Also, the local newspaper's website is often fruitful. Like The Seattle Times runs NWJobsource.com. Less spam type stuff.

This is certainly not a knock against you or anyone who peruses craigslist, but doesn't craigslist just look terribly unprofessional to anybody else? It looks like something a 14-year-old put together before finishing his homework. Am I the only one who sees this?

[JeffR]

Originally Posted by Cuckoo

The only address looks to be a generic Park Avenue address in NYC, but they claim to be "expanding into many markets."

That's the big red flag right there. I've never seen that particular phrase used to refer to anything other than multi-level marketing. Legitimate companies give you numbers and locations - "we have X locations in the Southwest, and expanded into the Northwest last year." MLM, for obvious reasons, can't do that, so they vague it up. Their website actually says "5 additional markets", but doesn't mention where, so the solicitation e-mails can say that one of those is your local area.

The other stuff - recently created website, absolutely no clear explanation of what the company does beyond "advertising solutions", etc. - is consistent with that. The e-mails are probably coming from people who get conned into joining up, then are either given a list culled from places like Monster or told to look there themselves to find new people to add below them on the pyramid. They get a standard form letter to use, an e-mail account, and maybe a website in return for whatever they had to pay in "start-up costs."

[johneh]

Originally Posted by johneh

The calls from Amex got worse and worse - 2 or 3 times a week they would leave a VM. Finally one day I was so fed up I called the guy back and told him that they look so hard up for people that it gives them a bad image and I would never let them invest my money, let alone work there.

Guess what - a month later I got another call. This time I called them back and set up a meeting for 8pm one night during the week. I had no intention of showing up but I can hope that I caused him to sit around late at the office for no reason.

I'm thinking next time they call I will set up an appointment and show up in dirty clothes, burp & fart during the interview and act real a real A-hole just to see what they do.

Welp just got another message on my answering machine from Amex - I wish I had the time to actually go there & be an A-hole. Guess I'll just have to set up another 8pm interview,

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by johneh

Welp just got another message on my answering machine from Amex - I wish I had the time to actually go there & be an A-hole. Guess I'll just have to set up another 8pm interview,

Get a friend to go in there, dressed in disheveled clothes and tell them that some guy gave him $10 in booze money and promised him a well dressed guy from Amex would give him a free meal.

SI