Reply to: Spoof Jobs

[stek]

Could have been a phishing attempt with a bogus offer of an interview which would be mysteriously withdrawn once you had handed over the references. Did you have a contact name at the client for the interview or was it a bit vague?

No contact at client end and it all did seem a bit quick - initial agent call to interview arrangement less than an hour!

Doesn't matter really - it's dead! Onward and upward!

[saptastic]

CV farming, I suspect. Some agencies advertise spurious jobs, then sell the CVs they get in on to less reputable job boards and agencies. I mentioned some specious 'roles' posted by this guy a while ago, that mysteriously had exactly the same unbelievable job description for just about every town and city in Britain.

But are Noir Consulting for real?? Has anybody contracted through them or spoken to Richard Gibson? If they never even answer the phone it all sounds suspicious to me?

[Wanderer]

within the hour I had an interview arranged for today actually. So I thought I was right, the previous two times my CV mustn't have gone to client. Got email from agent requesting three referees, usual shiite, names, poistion and company they work for. I politely refused with the usual reasons.

An hour later agent contacted me and said interview was cancelled

Could have been a phishing attempt with a bogus offer of an interview which would be mysteriously withdrawn once you had handed over the references. Did you have a contact name at the client for the interview or was it a bit vague?

[Gentile]

Hi Gentile. Funny you should say that.... whats the score here? No one ever answers the phone.

CV farming, I suspect. Some agencies advertise spurious jobs, then sell the CVs they get in on to less reputable job boards and agencies. I mentioned some specious 'roles' posted by this guy a while ago, that mysteriously had exactly the same unbelievable job description for just about every town and city in Britain.

[saptastic]

Richard Gibson of Noir Consulting, by any chance?

Hi Gentile. Funny you should say that.... whats the score here? No one ever answers the phone.

[gdproy]

Richard Gibson of Noir Consulting, by any chance?

Nope, not Mr Gibson, but I will tread carefully if I come across him in future.

[barrydidit]

In my (very limited) experience, the roles I have secured have been from agents phoning me - 'I've noticed your cv on CW jobs and I've got a role you might be interested in' type of thing. I had loads of calls stemming from the CW jobs and Jobserve sites. The stuff I've applied for directly hasn't resulted in so much as an acknowledgement.

Since I've been working for a few weeks the calls have died away. This seems to back up the view that keeping your online CV 'current' will get you noticed. Of course, getting noticed is only the first step...

[jmo21]

Anyway, the killer is I have never been interviewed by this clientco, or any subsiduaries, ever, I am 100% sure! My interview to offer rate has plummeted a bit recently in these hard times but I normally get an offer after an interview so I'd certainly remember any that went badly or died a death after interview.

Maybe at another company and the permie moved?

Or the agent just got feedback mixed up, they just didn't want to interview you from your CV.

[stek]

There was a role about six weeks back spot on for me right on my doorstep, applied, agent called right back, keen, put forward etc, then nowt.

Two weeks later spotted same role, different agent but I broke the rule and applied again on the ground my cv wasn't passed on the first time probably although I could only guess at that. Agent called back, dead keen, CV passed on, then nothing.....

This week had a call out of the blue, different agent, same job again, again I played the innocent this time within the hour I had an interview arranged for today actually. So I thought I was right, the previous two times my CV mustn't have gone to client.

Got email from agent requesting three referees, usual shiite, names, poistion and company they work for. I politely refused with the usual reasons.

An hour later agent contacted me and said interview was cancelled, one of the interviewers colleagues had interviewed me recently and said I wouldn't be a good fit. Well, I may well have buggered it by knowingly going via three different agents for same role but I didn't think I had anything to lose after initial lack of response.

Anyway, the killer is I have never been interviewed by this clientco, or any subsiduaries, ever, I am 100% sure! My interview to offer rate has plummeted a bit recently in these hard times but I normally get an offer after an interview so I'd certainly remember any that went badly or died a death after interview.

So, I may have buggered it, or agent was ref fishing, or clientco is just testing the market for what's there with no role available.

[psychocandy]

Then again on the opposite side of things I seem to see roles that keep appearing with a very specific job spec. You know the ones, long list of about 10 'must haves'. You know the old saying - Van Driver wanted - must have experience of driving red vans.

Seems a lot of clients are still like this and it never ceases to amaze me that they advertise an urgent role and then 3 months later still haven't got anyone. Any half decent contractor with even some of the skills they want would have picked it up the other stuff anyway by now.

Still think there's an attitude from some clients that they're paying top dollar, they need a person who meets every requirement so they get their moneys worth, despite the reality that it aint gonna happen.

I'd worry if I got one of these gigs because they'd be the sort of client who'd want 10 hours a day just to get their percieved value out of contractor.

[jmo21]

Also I have a tip for you all, login to your job site accounts. Agents will search from a pool of active people and you won't come up if you've not logged in for weeks.

In a similar fashion, the more well known tip mentioned on here is to refresh your CV upload every day on the job sites to keep it near the top of the list.

[dogzilla]

This is why I've stopped applying for jobs. Last 4 jobs have come through based on keyword searches by the agent. i.e. They found me.

It's a mugs game applying if you ask me, I've had very few callbacks when I've applied myself. It's pretty down heartening too to apply to loads without a single bite. Instead I just update my CV and make sure it's uploaded everywhere. It's the agents job to find the candidates and the good ones do. Also I have a tip for you all, login to your job site accounts. Agents will search from a pool of active people and you won't come up if you've not logged in for weeks.

[Wanderer]

What is the general consensus on spoof jobs, or suspected spoof jobs seen on the boards ?

They have been doing it for years. Sometimes they don't want to advertise the specific vacancy that they have for fear of other agents getting wind of it so they put out a generic advertisement to get some candidates in. A lot of contracts I've done have not been advertised or I've applied for one which was "gone" only to have an agent quietly offer to put me forward for an unadvertised one. Get a throw away email address and a pre-pay sim for your mobile then fire your CV off to every job that looks interesting. When you land a contract, ditch the sim and the email address.

See also the two references sticky...

[Zippy]

I think you have to accept that it's a fishing trip. Move along...

[Gentile]

Richard Gibson of Noir Consulting, by any chance?