In December of 1999, I was contacted by then Phillips Carlyle International after they received my resume. They wanted me to come in and to sit and talk with them about my career goals, and my job search.
I went to meet with them, and met with the principal of the company Mr. John Plausse. He talked about the current job market, and how companies are filling jobs now without posting them in newspapers. That he called the Hidden Job Market. He said that his company goes around human resources and contacts the hiring managers of companies so that you have a better chance of getting a job with them.
Because of my work situation, I told Mr. Plausse that it would not be possible for me to come to Nashville to meet with him in order to do some of the things that would help me get a job. He told me that my presence is not necessary. He said that they had clients and customers worldwide, and some of whom he had never seen but corresponded through email, fax and mail. With my limited time, we agreed that I would come in and do an evaluation exam and also start working on my resume. The cost for the service for me was going to be set at $3,500.
For the 3,500, I would have them for 4 years to help me find positions. They would do my resume, and do letters for me for correspondence and also speak with some of those individuals in their "Network" that might have positions available.
On that day, I had driven two and a half hours to meet with Mr. Plausse. He asked me if there was any way I could get the $3,500 to him that day. I told him if I could find a job I would be able to make the necessary arrangements to get back to Nashville and bring him the fee for the service. He told me that he was quite confident that by the end of January he could have me in the position that I'm looking for. We just needed to get started right away.
I asked about the contract. He informed me that I would see the contract upon payment of the fee for service. I came back home excited with the notion that I was getting ready to be out of a bad working environment and into a new position within a short month or so. I came home, and spoke with my mother. Being equally excited, we first contacted Phillips Carlyle right away to make arrangements to get them their money via credit card to get the ball rolling fast.
It was not until my first visit to Phillips Carlyle the next week did I even get a copy of the contract. After reviewing it, I became quite concerned that I had just made a very expensive mistake.
I was assigned a career consultant whom I came to Nashville several times to meet. Out of this, I came to a networking session with people like me who were looking for jobs. Through these people, I found that we were basically depending on one another to network and find positions for one another. Out of these sessions, the contacts that I was given were dead ends. They would not respond to emails, phone calls or letters.
I began corresponding with several of the individuals searching for jobs with me who also hired Phillips Carlyle and they too, were quite disappointed because they were not getting results. To this day, all I have gotten is a box of resumes. I have never gotten any interviews through Phillips Carlyle, any new contacts or any contact responses that I have been given by my career consultants. I email them, and I might get a response every now and then.
When I have met with them to discuss this situation, they are very professional and it fascinates me that they don't think they are doing anything wrong. I asked them often that I don't feel that I'm getting a return on my investment. Comments like that are disregarded and they move to telling you more about what can be done. I'm given more contacts and supposed leads, that again turn into nothing.
It's now been almost two years with no results. They said that we would correspond via fax, email or telephone. I've had less than 5 conference calls with them in the two year time that we have been under contract. I've yet to ever receive a fax, and my emails are rarely returned.
I feel that I'm at my wits end and have virtually exhausted a great deal of money that I could have used to support myself or to have moved to another location and found a job on my own. All I have to show for is a disk that holds my resume and references and career path. So basically, those three pages are worth $1,160 each. I hope and pray no one else has to go through what I have. I have tried to put it into words what it has been like, and I hope that I have done a good job.
Michael
South Fulton, Tennessee
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