The week isn’t even half-over, and I haven’t done any real work at all, and already I’m exhausted by an endless stream of requests from “prospective employers,” few of whom appear legitimate.

• Please go online and complete this brief interview process (which I eventually abandon after 30 minutes).
• We represent the employer whose ad you responded to. Please set up your video camera and record a series of videos (which will apparently be used, not by an existing client, but simply to recruit employers to our online employment service).
• Please sign and return this boilerplate non-disclosure agreement (which includes only blank spaces for the unnamed company).
• Please describe the specific marketing strategies which you’ve recommended for your previous employers/clients, and the exact outcome of those strategies.
• Please view this web site and give us (a) five specific recommendations for changes we should make, and (b) five specific strategies you would recommend to grow traffic and sales for this site.
• Please provide a detailed list of keywords you think we should use in our PPC campaign.
• Please demonstrate your skill by writing copy for our ads.
• Please authorize us to conduct a complete background check (including credit check) before we interview you.
• Please provide your social security number, birthdate, and other personal information, even though we won’t tell you the name of our company.
• Please install this special software so we can conduct an online interview.
• Please create an account on our site, and post reviews of five products. Include your user ID in your application. (Or post five messages in our online discussion forum, or view five videos, or whatever — just provide us with value by creating the appearance of becoming an active member of our online community, and trust that we’re not just doing this to build a user base).
• Please install our iPhone app and tell us what tools & strategies you’d recommend to promote it.
• Please tell us how you’d recruit new affiliates for our affiliate program.
• Please provide us with references (and even though we haven’t even told you who we are, we won’t move forward unless you provide us with the cell-phone numbers of your past clients’ CEOs).

You really can’t make this stuff up. (Wait, I did make up one part: I added the word “please.”)

But let me repeat that last one: We won’t tell you what company you’re applying to, but we will not consider your employment application unless you provide us (complete strangers) the private cell phone numbers of the CEOs of the companies you’ve advised.

One Response to “More Employment-Ad Scams”

1. anthony lapine says:

   June 20, 2012 at 4:12 pm

   Although you are quiet on the phone your writen volume is very loud. Good for you