In an economic market where everyone, ranging from blue-collar workers to laid-off executives, are struggling to find employment, the weak are getting preyed on by the deceitful.
A Minnesota-based headhunting company, Arthur Group, is being sued by the Attorney General’s (AG’s) office for engaging in fraud. Former employees of Arthur Group confirmed that the company rarely placed any of the desperate job seekers into the purportedly highly-paid jobs, all while collecting thousands of dollars in headhunter fees. Many of the advertised “jobs,” had been inactive for quite some time.
To avoid losing any more money in this recession, scrutinize every job-seeking service out there. You may have noticed an influx in job-seeker resources: resume-building services, interview skills clinics, etc. Before you hire any of these services, especially a headhunter or resume developer, ask yourself these questions:
1. Do they charge a fee? Why? Get a good explanation. Not just the canned: “to cover administrative costs.”
2. Read every fine print of the website. If there is none – ask for it to be sent to you in an email or the mail.
3. Talk to a live person. Better yet, meet with them in-person! Gauge the office location, front reception area, employees, and the headhunter.
4. Ask them to prove their track record. Get a list of companies at which they have regularly placed prospects and at which the prospects have lasted beyond the typical, 90-day probationary period.
5. Ask tough questions. Ask what strengths your resume offers, what weaknesses. Who is your competition, etc?
If you keep getting canned answers, odds are the headhunter is, at best, going to scan your resume into a massive electronic database, where it will join the masses of your competition and not resurface again.
