By Tom Sorensen
Managing Partner of Tom Sorensen | NPAworldwide Recruitment
Email: [email protected]
Recruiters or criminals? I’m not sure what to call them.
But whoever they are, they sure give the recruitment profession a bad name.
I know from experience that candidates, even top executives, will share their most private and personal data just because I say: “Hey there, I’m a headhunter.”
Obviously, with my 20 years in Thailand’s executive recruitment space, dealing with the headhunting of top executives every single day, people I and my team reach out to do not need to worry.
Spam number 1, happened to me recently
Out of the blue, I received these messages on my WhatsApp and started talking back and forth. Interestingly, a friend of mine had just days earlier shared a similar story.
Hello. I’m Kanittha from [name withheld] Recruitment Agency in Indonesia. Are you interested in working remotely? Our Thai partner company is recruiting new staff. Can I share more details with you?
We are offering Part-time/Full-time jobs currently. Duration 2-4 hours daily. Earn an income of 4000 – 7000 THB. Full-time income is 90,000-180,000 THB per month.
Our company is worldwide based in Thailand. I am currently in our Indonesia branch however, we are recruiting for Thailand urgently.
Before proceeding further, please confirm if you meet the hiring requirements and have a Thai bank account (for receiving salary). Do you meet the requirements (YES/NO)?
My thoughts when exchanging messages with this person:
Kanittha is a Thai name and not Indonesian. I used to work for this particular company that was given in the WhatsApp message and I did not recognize this approach.
Mentioning “Thai bank account” more than once set off the alarm.
I called the company in Indonesia that was used in the spam message. They confirmed they had no idea about Kanittha and why they would service Thailand when the same company had an office in Bangkok.
I believe it was at this time the spammer looked me up on LinkedIn and realized I was in recruitment and used to work for the given recruitment firm.
They went cold.
Your guess is now as good as mine.
Spam number 2
A recruiter reaches out to you with an amazing opportunity and requests to have your resume.
In good faith, trusting you are dealing with a genuine and honest recruiter, you immediately email your resume.
However, the recruiter emails you back that your resume isn’t ATS compliant.
- An Applicant Tracking System is a software program or app that companies use to organize the entire recruitment process from receiving resumes through interviews, assessments, job-offer, to placement and on-boarding.
Back to the story.
Being helpful, the recruiter sends you a link to a website that will scan your resume for issues and how to make your resume ATS compliant.
On the website the recruiter gave you, you are asked to pay a nominal fee, but just to learn that your resume, no matter how well it is formatted, doesn’t pass.
Here comes the final attack from the recruiter.
You are told that your resume can be fixed and made ATS compliant – yes, of course, there is a price to fix it.
Learn how to spot them before they get you
You can spot them before they get you – of course only if you know what to look for.
When you get a call from someone presenting himself as a recruiter, by all means, listen and talk.
If the recruiter asks for your resume, share your personal email address but ask the recruiter to first email you with their contact details, company name and address, mobile number, and website. Then you can reply to that email.
- Just because someone says they call from a well-known recruitment firm in the market does not mean they do. Many will call and only mention a company name but not their own name.
Or they may give you only their mobile number and not the company’s telephone number. This should be a warning sign.
A LinkedIn profile with no photograph or perhaps instead a logo or another image, could be a fake.
If it’s a photograph, you can right-click it, then Search Google for “Image” to see if there are other visually similar images (i.e., stock images).
How to detect the spammer
If you are impressed by a recruiter’s approach or love the candidate profiles you are presented with, ask to “meet” the recruiter on a video conference call.
Needless to say, but request that the communication is also moved to emails so you can perform due diligence on the recruitment firm and individual.
If you are not familiar with the recruiter or his firm, ask for a signed letter from the candidate appointing the recruiter as the candidate’s agent and representative.
