I was laid off almost 10 months ago. I've been searching, and apparently one of the "company confidential" ads that I sent a resume to was a dummy ad for this Career Network.
When I answered the phone it said, "We would like to speak to you about your recent application for an exciting job opportunity!" That was my first clue that a call center was calling me. Then, as I waited so I could find out what company was trying to contact me, I was switched to another recording and told, "Thank you for calling. Please press 1 to discuss exciting job opportunities in your area. If you are calling from a rotary phone, please hold for the next available operator." Eventually, Laurie came on the line. She was unable to give me any information about the position, but she wanted to verify the "factual nature" of my resume. She told me the phone call would take between 5 and 45 minutes, and she would need to verify my dates of employment, companies, salary, and educational background.
When I asked what company this job was with, as I really cannot imagine a legitimate business asking a CALL CENTER (the unmistakable sound in the background, the fact that a machine cold-called me, etc.) to verify any of that information, Laurie said "that's private". Not confidential, mind you, PRIVATE. I asked a couple of other questions, including, "I've never been contacted to verify that my resume is true, and I'm concerned that you won't even give me the name of the company. Why would they want anything verified before they even meet me." Her response was, "To know if they want to meet yous. This is what most companies do now."
Businesses have HR departments to verify prior employment and contact references. Also, why would they want to verify anything prior to an interview? In short, businesses are as cash-strapped as the rest of us, and I cannot imagine any of them hiring a call center to do the resume vetting for them when there are HR departments, hiring managers, and legitimate employment agencies that will do the same thing. I told her I would call back, and asked for her extension. She said I could talk to "anybodies". I asked for a reference number of a job number. She said I didn't need "any of that stuff".
Don't bother answering when you see the number 678-791-4200 come up on your caller ID.
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