Bernard Haldane Associates, William Tamblyn, Marketing Vice President All the right words, references don't check out! Spammers! Deceptive company West Bloomfield Michigan...
I was contacted by Haldane through spam that I received after submitting my resume to a legitimate job-hunting web site. I've been unemployed for 7 months now, so I clicked the link and registered on jobhunting.com. Within 24 hours I was contacted by William Tamblyn's secretary and she arranged an interview.
Well, I had the interview today... After just a few questions by the VP, he explained that the company offers a guarantee for it's job seekers and that it was for three years, he also said they would setup interviews for me directly with the decision makers, bypassing the HR department, because they often don't know how to single out a good resume. He also indicated that they regularly help place executives making in the $300,000/yr. Range, I was sure that was strictly to impress me. After all if they regularly place executives in that range, they should have no problem placing me in a sub-$100k middle management position.
He then had me do a Myers-Briggs test. When I completed the test, he re-entered the room, explained that I was an E-S-T-J. Said that was perfect for a leadership position, he also said he was also an ESTJ. But I somehow got the feeling that he would have been whatever I was, oh well! Having held sales positions in the past, I recognized the tactic..."finding common ground".
During the interview, he seemed in a hurry to get the next appointment set up, and since they are a "family oriented company" he wanted to make sure my spouse could be there! I thought this was a little strange at this point. About 5 years ago I worked with a leading executive outplacement firm that was paid for by my employer, there was never any mention of having my spouse come in for a meeting.
So, after he set up the appointment and gave me all my homework for the follow-on meeting and the homework for my spouse, I asked if he would mind answering a few questions. Thought it was strange that I had not been asked if I had any questions to that point.
My first question: How are your fees paid? Response paraphrased: Complimented for good question, said we would really get more into that during second meeting, when he noticed that I wasn't satisfied. He went on to explain that they were not employer-paid and how that was always a bad deal for the job seeker, because if I want to make $80k/yr, and the hiring company had a budget of $80k, they wouldn't pay me what I was worth because they would have to pay a fee of $25k to the placement firm. So they collect fees from the job-seeker because it's better for the client that way... Ok, I admit he made a case for this, but I still didn't know how much.
Second question: How much? Response paraphrased: It's tiered based on what kind of position and income you are looking for. For you there are two plans, one is to pay up-front and on is on installments. But for you the best is to pay up-front cause you'll save about $600. So it would be about $3,800 and explained he would need a deposit at the end of our second meeting... Yikes, now I know why he wanted my spouse there for the second meeting! Sales 101: Remove the "I have to clear it with the Wife" objection.
Third question: Tell me more about the guarantee? Response paraphrased: We work with you as long as it takes you to be placed and for up to three years, including after you have found a job... This didn't seem like much of a guarantee to me!
Next question: How do I find more information about your company? Response: We have a web site, although he didn't know what it was, after calling his secretary, he said it was bernardhaldane.com.
So, when I came home, I went to the website he suggested, it seemed about a vague and the VP was, so I did a google search and found that Bernard Heldane has about 50-75 websites, this is search engine spamming, obviously designed to keep searchers from ever seeing this site. I was not able to find a single website that had anything positive to say about this company, other that of course the 50 company sites, in fact everyone seems to agree that this company preys on our the most vulnerable, the unemployed and rips them off! Several state's attorney general's have taken action against this company, the company has settled several cases, without admitting ay wrong doing.
Thanks to this site and others, I wasn't ripped off at a time when I could least afford it!
Mark
W. Bloomfield, Michigan
U.S.A.
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