I'm looking for work right now.
So I've got a current resume posted publicly up on CareerBuilder.
And oh God, the spam that brings.
It's kind of amazing how many hiring agencies seem to have taken a look at the scammers who sell penis pills and decided, "Yeah, that looks like a pretty good business strategy."
I'm inundated, every day, with postings for jobs that aren't even in my state. I've gotten ten of them this week alone (and one phone call), and it's only Wednesday morning.
Most of them seem to be coming through one single distributor, or at least one single software kit -- because they follow the same format, and if you click Unsubscribe, all the Unsubscribe pages look exactly the same except for the logo.
Needless to say, they do not actually honor the unsubscribe requests. These are spammers we're talking about.
Of course, the big problem here is that unlike the spambots selling Cialis, I can't just mark these as spam and rely on Bayesian filters to sort the wheat from the chaff -- because aside from the location, these postings are indistinguishable from real job posting E-Mails, of the sort I want and need, because I am trying to find a job. Job spammers have an in that other spammers don't: they're advertising something I actually want, they're just advertising it in a place I don't want it. So I can't filter out an entire class of E-Mails, because the risk of false positives is far too high.
Which leaves me relying on filtering by domain name. Which, as anybody knows, is unreliable Stone Age Whac-a-Mole shit, because spammers use all the domain names they can get their mitts on.
Still, it's better than nothing, and I'll be putting a list of the spam domains I've filtered so far at the end of this post -- maybe it'll be of some help to some other folks out there looking for work. And maybe it'll give these agencies a little bad publicity.
But first, here's a story about the absolute worst, slimiest job spam I've gotten to date.
It's from an organization called Strategic Staffing Solutions, which started out by straight-up brazenly lying to me. Here's a portion of the E-Mail I got, with the rep's last name and E-Mail redacted -- I don't want to rain down Internet mob justice on anybody, even if they are engaging in sleazy tactics; I just want to name and shame the company that encourages this type of behavior.
From: Adam [redacted] <[redacted]@strategicstaff.com>
Subject: data scientist - MO
01/26/2015 02:17 PMHello Thad Boyd,
Please contact me as I have many job opportunities to discuss.
We have 24 locations within the USA.
I have called your phone number about your resume. The phone number has been disconnected.
Would you be interested in this job position? Please send me your resume.
Here are two job orders:
What followed were two job listings that have absolutely nothing to do with my education, training, or job experience.
So, straight into the circular file it went.
And then I thought, you know what? No. That line about trying to call me and my phone being disconnected was low. That's just a gross way to start any kind of relationship.
So I replied to the guy, and decided to press him on the "Your phone has been disconnected" lie.
From: Thad Boyd <[redacted]>
Subject: Re: data scientist - MO
01/27/2015 08:45 AMHi Adam,
I've had the same phone number for ten years, and haven't had any trouble receiving calls that I'm aware of. What number were you trying to call, and where did you get it?
He, of course, completely ignored my question, and responded with this boilerplate:
From: Adam [redacted] <[redacted]@strategicstaff.com>
Subject: Re: data scientist - MO
01/27/2015 09:55 AMHello Thad,
Please send me your resume.
Are you actively seeking work?Please make use of Central Sourcing@STRATEGIC, as they can accelerate your recruiting.
I decided to press the issue one more time:
From: Thad Boyd <[redacted]>
Subject: Re: data scientist - MO
01/29/2015 09:52 AMHi Adam,
Yes, I'm actively seeking work.
Where did you say you got my contact details, and what phone number were you trying to call? I'd like to know if there's something wrong with my phone service. My grandfather is in the hospital right now and I need to know that people can reach me.
(And since he pretended not to notice my question about the phone, I pretended not to notice he'd asked for my resume.)
That last part is true, by the way -- Grandpa's going to be okay but he is currently in the hospital. I brought this up to make a point: lying to somebody about his phone being disconnected has consequences. If I had been gullible enough to believe his lie, I could have wound up wasting a good chunk of my day on the phone with Sprint, trying to figure out what was wrong with my phone service, and worrying all the time that I was missing important calls about a family member's health.
Lying to somebody like that -- what the hell is even the point? You think you're going to build a rapport with me by starting our relationship off by lying to me? Specifically, lying about something that could cause me a considerable amount of stress if I believed you? And how long do you think you can keep somebody believing the lie when you clearly have never even looked at his resume?
Does this actually work often enough to keep Strategic Staffing Solutions in business?
I sent that E-Mail out on the 29th. It's been four business days and I think it's a pretty safe bet that Adam's not going to be getting back to me. Not so much as a "Look, I'm sorry, they make us say that, there's no problem with your phone and I hope your grandpa gets better; is there any way I can still help you?" When faced with the potential consequences of his lie, he didn't take the thirty seconds it would have taken to come clean and apologize to me. He just chalked me up as a loss and moved on to the next sucker.
So I'm pretty comfortable in saying fuck Strategic Staffing Solutions, fuck their sleazy, dishonest recruitment tactics, and fuck the horse they rode in on. If you do business with Strategic Staffing Solutions, know that you are doing business with spammers and liars -- and that if they were so cavalier about lying to me, they're probably going to be more than happy to lie to you too.
Finally, here's a list of domains that have sent me job spam, and I'll probably add to it as time goes on. Please feel free to add them to your own spam filters. And hey, if this creates some negative word association for these domains on Google, I'd be pretty okay with that.
- strategicstaff.com
- enterprisesolutioninc.com
- net2source.com
- colcon.com
- pyramidci.com
- ittblazers.com
- artechinfo.com
- usgrpinc.com
- diverselynx.com
- axelon.com
- h3-technologies.com
- mondo.com
- simplion.com
- genuent.net
- abacusservice.com
- compnova.com
- spectraforce.com
- syscomtechinc.com
- iit-inc.com
- eteaminc.com
- project1.com
- globalsyst.com
- ustsmail.com
- ustechsolutionsinc.com
- rconnectllc.com
- lorventech.com
- talentburst.com
- softpath.net
- waddellcareers.com
- first-tek.com
- quantitativesystems.com
- advantageresourcing.com
- gtt-it.com
- mamsys.com
- enterprise-logic.com
- diversant.com
- fortek.com
- stemxpert.com
- panzersolutions.com
- opensystemstech.com
- itstaffinc.com
- princetoninformation.com
- rjtcompuquest.com
- greenlightstaff.com
- judge.com
- techdigitalcorp.com
- ttiofusa.com