I think I've been conned by an agent!

[chris79]

I had several phone calls yesterday after spending an hour applying for stuff on Jobserve.

Later in the day I had a call from 'Luke at Hays IT' who began by asking my current situation, then asked how the market was etc. He then indicated he had a project role in my area (where I live) and the rate seemed ok and asked if I was interested. Telling me he would send over a job-spec before he left the office for the night, we then got into a conversation about who I had recently had interviews with, blah blah...

Anyway, no job spec came through so I rang the London office of Hays today to speak to Luke. I got through to a Luke but it wasn't the Luke I spoke to. Luke told me he was the only Luke who worked in the London office. He also said there had been a few cases recently of people being called by non Hays personnel...

Thinking back over it now, a lot of the conversation seemed to revolve around previous interviews, and I remember him saying "that's good, it's good you're being selected we can add this to the notes as it's all positive".

Looks like I've just been stung by a fishing agent!

[DaveB]

Don't tell 'em your name Pike!

[Zippy]

Looks like I've just been stung by a fishing agent!

And now you are about to be flamed by people who have seen it all before.

Always, always, always be suspicious when pimps want information from you.

[chris79]

Yeah I'm kicking myself now for being so trustworthy and not quizzing them about the role they had. He didn't even tell me what the role was, how stupid of me... must have got carried away in the heat of battle yesterday with the phone ringing a lot.

[BrilloPad]

Yeah I'm kicking myself now for being so trustworthy and not quizzing them about the role they had. He didn't even tell me what the role was, how stupid of me... must have got carried away in the heat of battle yesterday with the phone ringing a lot.

Dont kick yourself. Let us do it for you.......

[Flopsy]

You may be able to find out who it is (I did when it happened to me). The agent then rang some of my old contacts and touted for business. He even used my name.

If you are on friendly terms with some of your old workmates (the ones you mentioned to "Luke"), they may be able to tell you the name of the agent who has just rung them out of the blue....

[PaulCD]

Sadly this is an all too common sign of the times it seems.

[chris79]

You may be able to find out who it is (I did when it happened to me). The agent then rang some of my old contacts and touted for business. He even used my name.

If you are on friendly terms with some of your old workmates (the ones you mentioned to "Luke"), they may be able to tell you the name of the agent who has just rung them out of the blue....

It's ok he didn't get any references from me, and the convo was around interviews I'd had at a few places recently.. no big deal he'll probably go off chasing after them.

[smiff]

It's an easy test. An agent is lying if they are speaking.

[The Agents View]

Can I suggest you find a specialist in what you do, and invest time in them (and them in you) before you divulge such information again?

I don't like to slate the competition, but companies such as the one above are more prone to fishing for business than those of us who take time to build specialist niche areas, and meaningful, long term relationships with each individual client....... They're driven by numbers - the theory being the higher your numbers, the more likely you are to place people - My personal opinion is that if you check, double check and triple check each person is right, and only work on one role in a month, with one candidate put forwards, that will take the same amount of time and effort, and bring about the same result without all the headbanging, and bad blood between agency and contractor.

But what would I know - many appear to believe everyone who works in this industry is the same......