Help me get these companies to stop calling.
December 10, 2010 12:23 PM Subscribe
How do I stop unsolicited telemarketing calls?
I finished my Masters in May and have been on the job market since. As the economy is terrible, I have posted my CV on job sites such as Monster and CareerBuilder with settings such that recruiters can view my profile easily.
A few months ago, I got a call from a guy asking if I would be interested in a job. I could tell from his rushed speech and incredibly unclear diction that this was not an ordinary cold call, but I listened for a few minutes nonetheless. When I finally told him I would be interested in interviewing for a position, he said that I would need to complete a module that costs $800 in order to qualify. Ergo, it was essentially a telemarketing scheme which may or may not have lead to some kind of employment.
A few hours ago, I got another call asking if I would be interested for working with (what I assume is) a consulting firm that has clients such as Oracle. The guy spoke in the same way, and finally said that I would need to complete some forms to get my H1B visa. After I said I am a US citizen, he said he would email me information on the position, and asked I fill out a questionnaire.
I am of Indian origin with an Indian name, and these guys were both clearly Indian (based on their accent and word choice), so I am assuming that is one reason I get these calls. I am also assuming these calls are coming from one or more or the job sites I use.
My question is: how do I get these companies to stop calling without making it harder for companies with legitimate offers to contact me? Please do not write back saying I should restrict my profile settings. This is an obvious option I don't want to exercise as explained above. If you have similar experience or know of a specific way to make these calls stop, do tell.
I finished my Masters in May and have been on the job market since. As the economy is terrible, I have posted my CV on job sites such as Monster and CareerBuilder with settings such that recruiters can view my profile easily.
A few months ago, I got a call from a guy asking if I would be interested in a job. I could tell from his rushed speech and incredibly unclear diction that this was not an ordinary cold call, but I listened for a few minutes nonetheless. When I finally told him I would be interested in interviewing for a position, he said that I would need to complete a module that costs $800 in order to qualify. Ergo, it was essentially a telemarketing scheme which may or may not have lead to some kind of employment.
A few hours ago, I got another call asking if I would be interested for working with (what I assume is) a consulting firm that has clients such as Oracle. The guy spoke in the same way, and finally said that I would need to complete some forms to get my H1B visa. After I said I am a US citizen, he said he would email me information on the position, and asked I fill out a questionnaire.
I am of Indian origin with an Indian name, and these guys were both clearly Indian (based on their accent and word choice), so I am assuming that is one reason I get these calls. I am also assuming these calls are coming from one or more or the job sites I use.
My question is: how do I get these companies to stop calling without making it harder for companies with legitimate offers to contact me? Please do not write back saying I should restrict my profile settings. This is an obvious option I don't want to exercise as explained above. If you have similar experience or know of a specific way to make these calls stop, do tell.
FWIW, I don't think the fact that you're of Indian origin has anything to do with these calls. A lot of companies recruit Indians to do these types of calls for them.
Yeah, Monster is known for freely giving your information away like candy. Even in a good economy, I found them worthless; I'd suggest removing your CV from them, although I don't know what your field is so that may not be an ideal answer.
posted by Melismata at 12:40 PM on December 10, 2010
Yeah, Monster is known for freely giving your information away like candy. Even in a good economy, I found them worthless; I'd suggest removing your CV from them, although I don't know what your field is so that may not be an ideal answer.
posted by Melismata at 12:40 PM on December 10, 2010
From my experience, these go down dramatically once you remove your CV from CareerBuilder. During a recent period of unemployment, I did not have a single contact that originated there that was both non-scammy and relevant to the type of work that I was looking for. I'm not sure why it was the case, but CareerBuilder just seems to be a hub for that crap.
posted by deadmessenger at 12:41 PM on December 10, 2010
posted by deadmessenger at 12:41 PM on December 10, 2010
Make your resume private on Monster. You can still submit it to job openings you see on the site, but recruiters cannot look at your resume and cold call you.
posted by spinifex23 at 12:51 PM on December 10, 2010
posted by spinifex23 at 12:51 PM on December 10, 2010
Got a landline? Screen your calls and only pick up the ones you want to.
posted by Carol Anne at 2:02 PM on December 10, 2010
posted by Carol Anne at 2:02 PM on December 10, 2010
Best answer: DoNotCall As soon as you say to these folks (nicely) that you are registered there (cell phones too!) they will immediately disclose and apologize. You can be very polite and say "Are you certain you are calling about the job"XYZ"? if you are concerned about the legit offerings....good luck!!
posted by ~Sushma~ at 3:11 PM on December 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by ~Sushma~ at 3:11 PM on December 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks Sushma for the tip. And thanks Melisamata and deadmessenger for that info on the two sites. I had a few cold calls that were legitimate from Monster, though, so it's not all shit. I'm in International Development, so leaving something for local candidature isn't an option since I am looking for jobs all over the world. And I don't have a landline nor have a way to tell what is legitimate just by looking at the number.
posted by msk1985 at 9:10 PM on December 10, 2010
posted by msk1985 at 9:10 PM on December 10, 2010
« Older Where is data on taxes by congressional district? | Buying a flat-screen computer monitor Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Rubbstone at 12:33 PM on December 10, 2010