Warning - Recruiters have gone crazy

I have received 8 phone calls and as many emails in the last 4 hours (Wednesday afternoon) looking for a senior Xojo contractor. They started at $50/hr to work on site in PA. After I was reluctant the rate finally escalated to $140/hr. I think I could have gone higher but it got to the point it was crazy and I simply declined.

If you get any calls I suggest you are not shy about your hourly rate. Apparently lots of recruiters are very desperate to fill this job with a major pharmaceutical company.

I suppose senior Xojo skills are hard to find but I am insulted that they started at $50/hr but obviously had more available.

DON"T WASTE YOUR TIME TALKING TO THESE GUYS…
The job DOES NOT EXIST.
I have been contacted over 30 times in the past 18 months, including SEVEN today (3 by phone, 4 by email)

The “major pharmaceutical” company is supposedly MERCK, but guess what… their HR department knows nothing of this position.

Look elsewhere on this forum and you will find other discussions I’ve posted about this very scam.

What I have not yet figured out is what the end-game is, unless it is to solicit person information that is not on your resume’

The recruiters don’t do any research, they just blindly find potential candiates and shotgun the info…

That is one reason they didn’t balk at your $140… I threw $200 out once, and they said “sure we can do that”… yeah right

So now, when I get a phone call, I ask if the client is Merck, and usually they say “Yeah, how’d you know”… so I tell them,

here is the original topic I posted over a year ago

https://forum.xojo.com/33374-xojo-job-at-west-point

[fyi, the city changes, but it is either PA or NJ as the state in all cases)

One recruiter told me that HCL America is the “implementor” and Merck is their customer. They were trying to fill the job for HCL.

Yes in the “old days” a recruiter actually did some vetting of the candidates but now it is just a game to gather up as many resumes as possible and just “throw” them at a job and hopefully one will “stick”.

Well … clearly my $140 was too cheap. ;-))

Yup… that is the scam…
Sometimes they tell me remote work is fine, sometimes they say its not…
but ask them for details… and they “don’t know”…

but feel free to think it will come to something…
When I had a few ask for my SSN #, I hung up immediately… an employer can have the SSN# when I have the job, but never before.

I got a call today from a recruiter in Tennessee for the same position. Also got several emails about it. I can’t relocate to PA anyway so its a moot for me regardless.

Well if they ever contact me, then it’s certain to be a scam :stuck_out_tongue:

Keep you posted. :slight_smile:

Well, I get requests often for ads on my website.
I always respond, that unless they want to spend $5000/month on me, I am not interested.
Keeps them at distance :slight_smile:

For such a job hunter, I would ask for a meeting with client to discuss job.
And let they pay in advance for traveling cost.
Either we would find something like me consulting from home or if meeting ends after an hour, just a nice little holiday somewhere :slight_smile:

I just received an email from this company also. Not sure where they were able to get my details, and it’s likely somewhere on the net.

They asked for a large amount of information (CV, wages, etc) and I emailed them to not contact me.

Thanks for posting this on the forums, as it saves my time :slight_smile:

For anyone using google services for their email, make sure to hit the Flag as Spam button on the webmail interface.
The message gets sent in and they analyze it for key factors and it will help sort out similar messages meant for you or other google users in the future.

Heh. Earlier today we got two separate submissions via the Consulting Request form for this position. I replied back with this:

This was hours ago. I’ve not heard anything back.

I rarely answer my phone if I don’t know the number. If it’s real and important there will be a voice mail and I can call the person back immediately.

Yesterday my phone rang ‘off the hook’ for a few minutes. It was accompanied by a half dozen emails.

Guess what it was about :slight_smile:

I tried calling one “recruiter” back to ask if the client would consider remote work and the guy could barely speak any English. The guy calling from “Windows” about “viruses on your computer” is more polished and professional.

I would say winning the lottery has better odds than this job existing.

My rate is $200 @ hour flat. I’m not a good programmer but I know I’m as good as my lawyer is at what he does.

I get no calls.

If I don’t get one of these calls soon, I’m going to start feeling left out!

give me you number…

Got the call today and told them to eff off …

… then I realzed they had been speaking perfect German …

:frowning:

Hey Gavin… I’d gladly pass this annoying emails and phone calls to you… no, really I would…
I just got another email… wording is almost identical to the others, but the “recruiter” name is changed…

[quote=324968:@Dave S]Job Description:
4 to 5 years of experience in Xojo[/quote]
Damn, that seems very specific. I’m out as I’ve 19 years of RB/RS/Xojo experience.

I’ve a slight tendency to rub people up the wrong way with bluntness. Is that what they mean?

I work alone so that’s no problem.

hangs up phone

I haven’t gotten any of these calls or emails either, and I literally live right down the street from the company that is supposedly seeking to fill this position.

Come on, everyone pads their resumes, you can certainly unpad it.

… or …depad…

…debigulate…?

Merck outsourced their IT department to HCL years ago. So, that part is true. HCL is an Indian company, so I’m not surprised that their recruiters speak terrible English. They are probably not used to talking to Americans. Is it possible that Merck doesn’t know or care who HCL hires? Maybe. If you want to work in the Merck IT department, do you have to go through India? Maybe.

Last time around when they called me, I said “I’m sorry, but I can’t understand your English. Can we please continue this conversation via email?” They guy kept on talking, and I just had to hang up. They stopped calling me. This time around, I haven’t heard a peep out of them.