Aug 21, 2013 04:04 PM
12667 Views
(Updated Aug 21, 2013 04:14 PM)
When I posted my resume on TimesJobs.com little did I know what was in store for me... They monitor the website and make out who has become recently active....then they strike!
It happened like this- I was searching for a job and was naturally updating my profile regularly... I got a call from TimesJobs.com - a guy called Ashish .. said he was from sales team and his supervisor was Puneet. I was bracing myself against some sales talk - I wondered what they could be selling !!!
He said he had come across my profile and had three jobs from three companies who have shortlisted my profile... So I said thanks for the good news - I will wait for their interview calls.... But he said "... no no - this will not work straightforward like that... because yours is a senior profile....
We are constantly in touch with the HR people of these companies and they don't even advertise such posts" ... this should have alerted me... but dumbly I thought I would play along and see where this is leading me to.
I asked "So what do I do other than waiting for their interview calls?" Ashish goes into a hush-hush tone and tells that he can push my profile and selection will be 100% since these posts are not published - there won't be other candidates at all ...." (ha ha... I should have been smarter at this point at least) He also mentions salaries on offer that are above industry-average to sweeten the bait further and driving the hook deeper.
"Okay so what will make you recommend my profile to them?" I asked. He says "... we need a reference number generated by the system that will allow us to process your case further.... Reference number will be generated if you pay for our products like "Resume Improvement", "Resume Zapper".... and then "Job Assist series of products ... all this is not even above 10K for the lakhs of salary you stand to earn immediately..."
Wow - to all who are reading this - this indeed is a strong bait for a jobless person - especially in these times of recession and frustration of futile job-searching. All the time I am thinking - hmmm this is after all TimesJobs.com the reputed "Times of India" people - they may not be a pack of swindlers after all... and also this perhaps explains why my job search was fruitless for such a long while....and what do I lose? around 9K+ one time... and these guys are assuring me a placement...
I feel a great many percentage of people in my similar situation would have fallen for this... and I did too. Once I mentally decided to pay and see what comes of it... this guy guides me to their shopping cart and billing and I transfer them close to 10K via netbanking... for their various products mentioned above !!!! The money is gone in a jiffy ... that's the beauty of internet these days....
Once I pay up.... this guy logs off saying everything will happen like clockwork - you just have to follow instructions you receive on your email....
After that - I tried to follow-up with them.... nothing! So difficult to contact them... they had given me numbers that don't allow incoming calls - only outgoing calls from their call center. Gone is my money, gone is the urgency of the HR people who were waiting for my profile, gone is the "sales team" from TimesJobs.com....I think I am now a little bit wiser... ha ha ha.
After that... I got a couple of calls from TimesJobs- this time from a different "sales team" telling me that although they have my "reference number" they are still not able to proceed with my resume because I do not have a social media profile... which they will develop for me if I purchase yet another product from them costing around Rs.4K " I will be a zombie to do that all over again.... "TimesJobs".... ha ha ha my foot.
What I am now worried... these crooks will read these pages and adjust their tactics to next level and trap many more gullible people...
