Today I read about a resume posting scam that is new to me.
Perhaps you've heard of it? It seems that an unscrupulous recruiter took
another recruiter's resume and substituted their own name and contact
information. They then posted the resume on craigslist,
monster, and careerbuilder saying that they only
wanted to be contacted by hiring managers and decision makers. When someone bit
on the resume, the unscrupulous recruiter represented
the original resume owner to the potential client company for a 25% fee. As if
this wasn't enough, they then contacted the owner of the resume and offered to
represent them to the potential client for a $500 fee! This is wrong on so many
levels. Sheesh!
Just in case you run into this guy, the substitute name
used was Alok Bhargava. No doubt that name is bogus. The email address used was
softdspace-tabaf@yahoo.com.
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comments
Yes, I saw him earlier today
posted 3/13/2008 at 9:27 p.m. PT by Julia Stone
I thought the comments were so strange, I am glad you posted this. I think I saw it on craiglist, SF earlier today, but I am used to strange postings on craigslist so I didn't investigate further.
Thanks Simon!
posted 3/14/2008 at 12:12 p.m. PT by Elaine C. Kaspian
Although a lot of people thought I was going a bit overboard in my anger about this, I appreciate all of you (especially Simon and the SDRR) for their support.
I know it doesn't seem at first glance to be a big deal, but the career I have built over 20 years is MINE and I hate to think that even one client may contact this jerk and remember the resume that led to it. I have a lot of unique things on my resume that would make it stand out, so that's why I'm very sensitive about it.
If anything, it reminds us that the trust we put in people using the web aren't always the good guys. Plus, it's one more black mark on the recruiting industry when this scumbag pulls this crap. What's scary is he must have gotten it from one of the big boards that my resume was posted on- so he has access to everyone's resume!
I guess this will serve as a wake up call to all of you out there to be careful with your personal info and to take down your resume the minute you get a job.
Thanks again for your support!
Elaine C. Kaspian Sr. Recruiter SmartDrive Systems
wow
posted 3/14/2008 at 1:59 p.m. PT by Sean Mulhern
that's pretty amazing...I would say try to "bullet-proof" your resume with a locked .PDF or something..I would guess most of these guys are too lazy to type everything from scratch if they can't cut and paste..
But sadly, most of the resume "builders" on these sites only allow Word files. It would be a nice alternative to have a "read only" copy, but who would ever think your resume would get hijacked?
I leave out personal info like my address and home phone. Just cell phone and email. I'm glad this guy doesn't know where I live!
Not surprised
posted 3/20/2008 at 7:07 a.m. PT by Michael Glenn
This has been on going quite often where the job postings are free or very cheap. However, when this spills over into the expensive job posting sites, we recruiters get angry when duped by a fake resume. It ranks right up there with Phishing scam emails. Simon, thanks for the post. I know how you feel. Hopefully, these deceptive recruiting practices will fade away.
Reply to Yes, I saw him earlier today...
posted 3/23/2008 at 3:42 p.m. PT by Simon Meth
Hi Julia,
I did some further sleuthing and found multiple instances of Elaine's hijacked resume. If you or any recruiter has their resume posted on the Net, it may be worth a quick search to see if this has happened to you.
Thanks,
Simon
Reply to Thanks Simon!...
posted 3/23/2008 at 3:43 p.m. PT by Simon Meth
Hi Elaine,
You're welcome! I trust that you've got things cleaned up by now?
Thanks,
Simon
Reply to wow and PDF...
posted 3/23/2008 at 3:52 p.m. PT by Simon Meth
Hi Sean and Elaine,
If you post your resume on a public site or anywhere on the Internet, then you may be subject to this form of abuse. Like spam it's going to happen. I recommend that you regularly search the Net to see if it has happened to you so that you can take appropriate action. The only way to avoid this is to not post your resume. Of course, if you ever send your resume to any company you may find your resume posted.
I exchanged email with a candidate I know quite well the other day because I saw his resume posted on a San Diego recruiters site. He was surprised that I found it there and concluded that his employer had mistakenly posted it. For his sake, I hope that it was a mistake...
Thanks,
Simon
Reply to Not surprised...
posted 3/23/2008 at 3:54 p.m. PT by Simon Meth
Hi Michael,
I doubt that "these deceptive recruiting practices will fade away" anytime soon. One of the nice things about blogging is that it's easy to publicize when things like this happen. Maybe that will make a difference?
Well, in all the years I've been on the web (from the beginning) I've never had someone actually take my resume and paste their name on it. I do search my name every so often, but this is the first time it has happened and especially in the WAY it happened. I do NOT post my resume all over the web- only Monster and Hotjobs and SDRR. PLUS, I make sure I select "direct employers only" when I post because I don't want agencies seeing my resume.
This isn't a "spam" problem- it's someone pretending to be me to get at clients. That's what was so upsetting- I'm proud of by 20 years of experience, and some of the companies I've recruited for started out as 10 person companies that I personally recruited to 300 in one year. Those companies are special and in San Diego, mean something. What I worry about is someone seeing the bogus resume and then later after my contract ends here, ignores it because they think it's the same slimeball.
Anyway, not much I can do about it but thank Simon for his help, and congrats to Craigslist for acting quickly to remove it. They're even going to investigate it to see if anyone else's resume was poached.
Elaine
Bad competitors!
posted 3/30/2008 at 12:21 p.m. PT by Career Lander
Exactly, that happens when your resume is posted everywhere and that is why job seekers would have to keep personal information as private, for example at CareerLander we don't show the complete resume to recruiters and information contact, in order to prevent this. Only once they are really interested in a candidate they have to sign an agreement of privacy , they also have to prove that the company is really interested in hiring that candidate.
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