My experience in 2010 mirrors that of Keith from Round Rock, reported on 3/21, so there's no need to restate what has already been said. There are additional complexities that he either overlooked or was was just too frustrated to write. I assume Keith is also being facetious, because someone named Keith calling from a Round Rock telephone number is one of the phantom callers about a year ago.
First and foremost, Wes tells you that his primary line of business is as a conventional placement outfit. Or at least that used to be the case when I was approached. He takes only one or two promising applicants at a time, leverages his connections to find employment opportunities, and is ultimately gaining his real revenue in future hires that perhaps you contract out to him later. The reality is that they have no jobs posted anywhere, they recruit for nobody, and their primary business is fleecing the already financially disadvantaged. They write it up differently, but it is my understanding the website now presents these "special" placements as the primary line of business.
What few employment "leads" there were coincided with recent posts from the company in other venues. The phantom contacts that Keith reports are not only elusive and mysteriously dedicated to communicating exclusively via Wes, but they coincidentally share the true names of real people associated with that job search. It is truly perplexing when your real job search overlaps with your Wesearch "effort" and you find yourself face to face with someone you swear you have already communicated with... And yet they have no recollection of this previous interaction. Not only did this not help my employment search, it made me appear somewhat psychotic in a face-to-face interview referencing a call that never took place.
One of the things that appears to back Wesearch is their BBB report. Wes actually refers you to it. The company is advertised as having been founded in 1994, but the BBB membership was only made in April of last year. Had I read a little closer, I would have realized the A rating was due to the fact that it only existed shortly before I opened the page.
The company is difficult to research, given its name. I suspect that was largely no accident. It's part pun on Wes's name, and part opaque search term that the lords of the Internet try to show you references to the term "we search, " which appear an droves across many employment references, blogs, etc. From here to eternity. It actually reminds me of the initial Bing commercials. Moms who wear jeans to match their teens jeans?
Google Earth reveals yet another curious thing. Check out the corporate addresses when you have a moment.
If you find any of these things to be alarming, however, all you have to do is contact Wes. While he's frequently "travelling, " and cannot come to the phone, he will reply to your email... Named only as an official looking "Wes" in the Sender line that must look great to a prospective employer (if they actually ever saw it). You will get a variety of reassurances that the process outstrips the Internet job boards. Ask for any specifics or try to back him into explaining anything, and you'll get a great show of many words describing nothing.
Ironically, if Wes put as much time into legitimate employment searches as he does into creating these elaborate ruses to confuse and mislead his clients until after they have forked over their $3,000, he might actually be able to operate as a real business. When you see that email entitled "A Job For You" in your inbox, send it where it belongs: your spam folder.
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