Wondering...

[Rick]

I've been looking for a full-time Delphi/Lazarus position for a couple months and I'm finding lots of resume scams - job posts that are just harvesting resumes. Sometimes I call the company listed in the ad and they say they do NOT have a job posting and someone is using their company name to scam people.

Is all this job scamming normal? I'm just wondering what others are experiencing.

[dbannon]

I sure know a lot of it happens where I live (AU). The agencies just want to build up a library of people they can call on when, and if, they get a suitable request.

And the reverse is the same, every time I advertised a position, I'd get a huge number of calls from people asking about the position, keep me on the phone for 20 minutes and then say "my agency has just the right person for that role, let us do your recruiting ..."

I even took to adding "No Agencies Please" but still happened.

I suggest you be careful about ads that appear very general in their requirements, a good position ad is quite specific about what they want you to do, you would normally 'adjust' your resume to focus on that job. The agencies are just sweeping up everything they can find and it shows.

On the other hand, if work is slow, having your resume with every agency in town may not be a bad thing, just don't assume its a good thing !  If they want to charge you a fee to have you on file, walk away.

Davo

[Rick]

No resume submitting for me! I'm a call and talk with someone kinda' person. I'm looking for a smallish company where I don't feel like a number. I want full-time employment, but am thinking about doing some direct contracting, no agencies.

[dbannon]

Rick, you can get that small environment you seek in a big organisation. Last couple of years of my working life was managing a small unit, 12-15 or so people but I reported to a big University. So, the employment had to follow the University's rules but we were quite self contained otherwise. And we did some good stuff !

And places like Unis and big companies must have things like resumes !  It took all my efforts to prevent the Uni's Personnel Dept from "pre-filtering" ...

Davo

[Rick]

dbannon,

Well, they just had a segment on GMA (I didn't see it, but someone told me) about resumes and various criminal activity. In the past, I've gotten interviews at smallish companies before presenting my resume. I don't want problems from submitting my personal information. So, until I speak with someone at the company that can talk tech, I'm just a name and a phone number. It's just better for me.  Also, a great way to know if you're getting involved with a bureaucratic company is, if they won't talk unless you start doing David Letterman's stupid human tricks.