Glassdoor: Just another modern-day scam

Back in 2010, the Better Business Bureau was exposed as a fraud.

The Better Business Bureau, one of the country's best known consumer watchdog groups, is being accused by business owners of running a "pay for play" scheme in which A plus ratings are awarded to those who pay membership fees, and F ratings used to punish those who don't.

Sadly, the BBB isn’t the only one running this scam.

Back in 2012, I wrote a review of Fidelity Investments, where I had just completed a disappointing three-and-a-half year contract. My review was not flattering and consisted of a one-star “Very dissatisfied” rating. I was shocked when I received an email from GD telling me my review had been automatically rejected for reasons of which that I am still unaware. After some Googling, I quickly learned that GD runs the same scam as the BBB. Companies purchase a special membership package that includes having every negative review automatically removed. This certainly explained how a company as rotten as Fidelity has such a positive rating (currently at 3.9 stars).

Here’s Fidelity’s page, note that it takes quite a bit of scrolling through the reviews to find the negative ones which get lost quite nicely amongst all the positive ones. 

Let’s compare that with the comments about Fidelity on Indeed (or, as I call it, the real world). 

Again, a Google search (just use “glassdoor scam”) reveals what I’ve said here, i.e., GD deletes lots of negative comments for no reason (well, we know the reason, don’t we?).

Dear Rhode Island, do you know where your tax incentives are going?

A few months ago, General Electric announced it would be opening a location in Rhode Island ("where the only way to get a job is to have an Italian last name"). Of course, the state has been throwing tax incentives all over them in eternal gratitude. Oh, yes, this is a whole new beginning for this backwards decrepit little state. Everything's gonna get better and, in true trickle-down prosperity fashion, this company's presence here is going to attract loads of other high-profile employers with awesome pie-in-the-sky jobs! 

Hmmm, why am I experiencing a serious case of deja vu right now?

Back in 1996, Fidelity Investments announced plans to open a huge campus in darling little Rhode Island. This was treated like the second coming, with the state government going ga-ga over how this is going to transform the local economy and lead to so much awesomeness and blah blah blah.

Of course, nothing’s free.

“Rhode Island has been extremely aggressive” in offering tax breaks to Fidelity, said John Bonnanzio of Fidelity Monitor & Insight. That state’s assistance is reflected in Fidelity’s newest addition to the Smithfield campus, a gleaming, high-tech, 550,000-square-foot facility. 

Recall that I worked on a six-month contract at this campus back in 2015 (which I realize now will be the last job I ever have in America). My first disturbing observation during my time there was that the building I worked in (#100) was half-empty, with rows and rows of unoccupied cubicles; I kept expecting to see tumbleweeds circle past me where I sat. My second disturbing observation was that, of the people working in that building, I’d estimate that half are from India.

I wonder if this was what poor little Rhode Island expected out of their deal with the devil.

Fintechies: Another reason to vomit

It’s sad how badly “60 Minutes” has deteriorated from the show it was when I was a kid. I quit watching when it became obvious it had become just another product endorser (like the episode about Amazon using drones to deliver crap). By accident (my mom was watching on her TV and I happened to be passing through the room), I caught a recent show about how "Brothers Patrick and John Collison quit college because they had an idea for modernizing the financial industry they thought needed a shaking up."

Here's the portion of the script that I caught (and it infuriated me):

Lesley Stahl: And I'm hearing "eliminate jobs," I mean we're talking about hundreds of thousands of jobs in the banking sector, tellers and, you know, financial advisors, you name it. 

Patrick Collison: I think in general technology always sort of makes some jobs less relevant, or perhaps, even obsolete, but I will say that the idea that sort of these people will find nothing else to do seems like it's way too pessimistic on the capabilities of everyone as human beings, right? These--

Lesley Stahl: Have you looked at the employment scene right now?

Patrick Collison: I think it'll take a while to adjust, but when you think about just the creativity of people and what they're capable of and the sort of aspirations and dreams that they have, the idea that they're not capable of anything more than sort of performing these automatable clerical tasks, I don't believe that for a second.

Awwwwww, well, isn’t that special. All of us who will be replaced by robots and algorithms in these optimistic times can live off our creativity and dreams and dance barefoot in the woods without a care in the world! And, since he just doesn’t believe that people will suffer from being displaced, that means it just can’t be true!

Oh, dear, what’s this I see in the comments section...

And here’s an enlightening conversation that occurred on Norm Matloff’s blog. It all began with some prick bragging about how many job offers he gets every day with his whopping 3.5 years of experience...

This prompted a response from another reader...

After some back/forth, the prick came back with this lovely observation: 

Aw, he empathizes with us...but, not really. Because it's our fault. We didn't try hard enough! And he apologizes if his offensive comment offended anybody. Hoo-boy. (Does he really believe the smiley face emoticon lessens the offensiveness of his comment?)

The blog owner replied appropriately...

...and the previous commenter also shared a similar statistic about rejected applications -- this certainly teaches me a lesson, apparently one thousand job rejections is standard these days!

What would the brothers Collison say to this person with 10,000 rejections, or to the one with 1,000 rejections, or to me with my 1,500 rejections? Seriously, I’d really love to lock these two little shits into a room full of “unemployable old farts” like myself and see what happens.

Fuck Dr. Phil, or: Why companies advertise fake jobs

Anyone looking for work these past few years is familiar with this phenomenon: Apply for a job, receive a rejection email, and then see the exact same job re-advertised several months later. In fact, no sooner had I drafted this post than a new topic appeared over on the Indeed forum sharing the same observation, "Resumes submitted, Completely qualified, No call, Job reposted:"

Dude, we're all lost here.

I already posted about Oracle's recent fake job posting. Here are a few more examples I've encountered.

Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory advertised for a Graphic Artist/Designer back in early June 2016:

I was rejected. One month later, on July 15, this job appears:

Note that it’s pretty much the exact same job, they only slightly modified the title and assigned it a new job number. Clever!

T. Rowe Price advertised for a Senior Graphic Designer in August 2015:

I was promptly rejected. Here it is again four months later, in January 2016:

Note, again, that while the job description remains identical they did change the job number (from 07422 to 08124), just to “be safe” (*snark*). The saddest thing about T. Rowe Price is that I used to cite their TV commercials as a nice source of 3D design inspiration on the few job interviews I’ve attended this past year. Well, no more. Screw you, T. Rowe Price. (I sent them a little message via their Fakebook page about this job that never gets filled…what a bunch of maroons!)

Gartner advertised a Senior Graphic Design position in March 2016:

I applied and was promptly rejected. Here it is again, posted as of July 11 (although they didn't bother to change the job number):

State Street advertised for a Marketing Production Designer in March 2016. I applied and heard nothing. Here's the ad on StinkedIn. On June 16, they posted it to their careers page as a "new" job (in red):

So, what the hell is going on here, especially in an age where the typical design job gets hundreds of applicants? I’ve seen a bunch of theories about these “ghost” jobs in discussion groups – for example, companies get tax credits for each job they advertise (regardless of whether the job gets filled), or they’re trying to impress their shareholders/competitors with the notion that they are expanding. But I’ve long suspected something else, which this article mentions: 

A company might put up a fake ad to harvest contact information. You do all the work for them! You fill in your full name, your phone number often including a cell, and you give them your email and snail mail address including ZIP code, all conveniently entered into discrete, marked fields. That's a great way to build a detailed database right down to your education and interests, one that can be sold to anyone, cold callers for all kinds of companies, a donation plea for a college or charity, a political campaign sorted by institution and ZIP, even a news site that wants to send out targeted mass emails with links to generate page views.

Remember, folks. We are now in an economy that doesn’t make or manufacture anything. It’s all online junk, and everything that you think is free really isn’t free – do you really think Fakebook is making millions of dollars off of kitten videos? It’s about selling personal information to the highest bidder. Because that’s the only game left in town.

The article closes with:

I saw an afternoon talk show the other day where the sanctimonious host lectured a frustrated job seeker who pointed this out: "Maaaybe it's time to get seeeerious about this and think outside the box: after you fill out the application online why not stop by the company to introduce yourself and add that personal touch?" As if in all the brainstorming done by millions of desperate people over the past four years, no one has ever thought of trying that! The whole reason it's all done online now is because they Do Not want people showing up uninvited. And if you do it anyway, you'll be lucky to get far enough along to creep out a receptionist and generate a call to company security or local police. Crooks will be crooks, there's not much that can be done about that. But there's no reason why legit companies should be allowed to put up fake job ads to bolster their databases and sell lead lists. It's terrible for job-seekers, which is bad for the economy and bad for business. But until there are real, enforced penalties, it's going to get a lot worse before it gets any better.

I'd tell the sanctimonious host (let me guess, it was Dr. Phil? *barf*) that most companies no longer have a reception area, they have a security guard, and if you show up without an appointment you will be shown the door. As far as why is it legal for companies to post fake jobs, I’m still questioning this myself. There are a number of ordinances where I live stating that a car dealership cannot advertise a car that does not exist on their lot. If they’re caught doing so, they face legal consequences. I guess we’ve reached the point where used car salesmen are more trustworthy than any HR department.

Target in Plainville, MA

Being interviewed by a teenager was certainly humbling (I'm pretty sure she wasn't over 20 -- I've since learned that Target doesn't hire anyone over 35), and receiving their to-the-point rejection email even more so. So, this is what has become of the American job landscape, huh? Gone are the days of just getting "any old job" to hold you over until things improve. And when you're an experienced intelligent hard-working individual and you've just been rejected by Target as unworthy of stocking shelves for $8/hour, where do you go next?

It was when I received this email that something "snapped" in me. Enough was enough. I am now preparing to head overseas to what should be an incredible experience. And, I again have a future to look forward to. So, I guess what I really should be doing here is giving the manager at Target in Plainville a simultaneous "FUCK YOU" and "THANK YOU." Not getting this shitty job is the best thing that could have happened to me.

Boston: An arrogant high-tech backwater

ATH posted an entry called “HR Managers: Do your job, or get out,” which lists a couple of examples of bad behavior by HR, including this one:

As always, the comments section is golden:

Let's call networking what it really is

Recently, I was watching a news report about the immigration crisis in Europe. Migrants from Africa (I believe the country was Mali) were being interviewed, asking why they were risking their lives to get to Europe. Everyone had the same answer: "We're looking for jobs." One fellow said he was thoroughly fed up with having to know someone in order to get a job, and if you don't know someone, then you have to know someone who knows someone. 

And, I said to myself, gee, that sounds a lot like America.

It is now a fact that the only way to get a job today is to personally know somebody who's hiring. We call this "networking" today, and there is no shortage of advice columns written by so-called "hiring experts" hammering home the point that it's the ONLY way to get hired today. Go on LinkedIn! Join meet-ups! You gotta know someone to get on the inside track of a company! 

Networking sounds so posh and proper. It was called something else twenty years ago: cronyism.

My mother comes from Macedonia. Over her lifetime, she's seen 99% of her relatives abandon that country for either America (in the 1960s) or Australia (1970s and onward). They leave because they cannot find jobs in their native country. I remember my last trip to Macedonia back in 1990, I spoke to lots of young people who were frustrated about their inability to find work because they "didn't know the right person." This was, in fact, how everything ran in their village. You had to "know somebody" whether it was for a job or to get a leaky bathroom pipe fixed.

Lots of these folks flocked to my hometown of Pittsburgh back when the steel mills were still alive. All were practically guaranteed work in those mills (my mother worked at J&L for four years). The best part of the deal was that they did NOT need to know the right person to get that job. 

America was supposed to be better than that, better than the "old world" that was still ruled by cronyism. This was the place where you could arrive and get a job without the burden of "knowing the right person." 

So, congratulations, America. When it comes to finding a job, you're now no better than Macedonia or Mali or any other Third World craphole. Well done.

The useless telephone interview

It takes a lot of practice to perfect the art of "making an impression" on a job interview. Some good techniques include always keeping eye contact, smiling a lot, and showing a little character and energy by "talking with your hands," not to mention dressing sharply.

Could someone please tell me how you are supposed to do any of these things over the telephone?

I lost count of how many useless "telephone screenings" I've had over the past three years, 99% of them resulting in dead silence (because companies can't even be bothered to email you a rejection email these days). Even worse, the person on the other end of the line was always some cold fish zero-personality HR idiot or recruiter doing nothing but asking questions off a checklist. As I look back on these waste-of-time phone calls, I continue to wonder what could I possibly have done different to "make an impression" here, and what exactly did the successful candidates do to pass through to a real interview (giggle profusely like an idiot? bribe them?). 

Just another mystery I will forever ponder...

So, THIS is "full employment"

The unemployment rate has been holding steady at around 4.9% since January 2016 and has everyone declaring the US as being at "full employment," i.e. only useless losers who just don't want to work are still unemployed. I always thought a sign of being at "full employment" was the average job ad receiving only a handful of applicants. So, color me shocked when I recently stumbled upon this LinkedIn direct apply job from last January...

500+ applicants????? And, apparently, the applicant counter craps out at 500, maybe there were a thousand applicants, who knows?

Well, that job is in NYC. I hear the job market in Washington, DC, is pretty robust. Let's check this job out...

And here's another one, with a mere 330 applicants here in the lovely state of Stinkassachusetts...

In each case, I'm baffled by those who hit the "apply" button when there were already known to be several hundred applicants. Does the 330th applicant actually believe that s/he stands a chance?

If this is what "full employment" looks like today, we're screwed. 

Rejected Round-Up, Vol. I

I thought I’d share some of the many thumb-twittling “gee, isn’t it a shame” stories I’ve stumbled across over the past year (during which time the US is reported to be at “full employment”) in one consolidated post.

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Uber Angst: A Driver’s Nights Behind the Wheel

And there I was—master’s degree, 25 years as a journalist, Pulitzer nominee—wiping vomit off the car seat. The napkins were small and the liquid soaked through to my hands. That’s the kind of moment that makes you question your life decisions.

_______

In search of the missing office minority — the over-fifties

HR departments will soon laugh at the fuss they made over keeping spoilt millennials happy

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Unemployed, 55, and Faking Normal
You know her. She is in your friendship circle, hidden in plain sight. She is 55, broke and tired of trying to keep up appearances. Faking normal is wearing her out.

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Why America’s impressive 5% unemployment rate feels like a lie for so many

Employment statistics in particular have a habit of eclipsing the real story. As any worker will tell you, it is not the number of jobs that matters most, but what kind of jobs are available, what they pay, and how that pay measures against the cost of living. The 5% unemployment rate, other words, is hiding the devastating story of underemployment, wage loss, and precariousness that defines life for millions of Americans.

_______

Is the hot tech job market leaving its veterans behind?
Since being laid off in June from his $90,000-a-year tech support engineer job at Oracle Corp., Beaupre, 46, has applied for hundreds of positions, with no luck...He’s also not hopeful about finding another decent job in tech, and recently accepted a part-time position at Home Depot for $11 an hour.

I really love this observation from someone in the "comments" section who has the nerve to insinuate that, contrary to what Mark Fuckerberg believes, young people AREN'T smarter: 

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Keep this one in mind if/when the market crashes...

Wall Street is gripped by something called 'juniorization,' and it is freaking some people out

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Funny how "Downton Abbey" closed out its run with the "end of the service era in England" storyline, while in America the servant class is growing...wouldn't it be a tragedy if the rich millennial in this video had to fix his own bed every day?

"Hello Alfred" - A New Virtual Butler App

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Not a typo, folks, 35 is when you should start preparing to retire...

Age discrimination in the workplace starts as early as 35

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High Salaries Haunt Some Job Hunters
From the comments: This article demonstrates the fraud of the unemployment rate. Employers would not be able to successfully hire qualified applicants with low-ball offers if the labor market were tight. Employers realize it is a buyers market and rationally attempt to secure the required skill set at the lowest possible cost. Clearly this is evidence that the unemployment rate does not reflect the status of the labor market.

_______

To paraphrase the "massively old" woman in the video, If our average life expectancy reaches 100 years, and women in their 50s are not welcome in the workforce, just what the fuck are we going to do for the next 50 years?

Women over 50? Help not wanted
From the comments: Boy, how exciting for the American workforce - where you are over the hill at 35 and considered "old." Since most people don't get great jobs right out of college, you have about 10 years in the workforce and you are too old. Really is going to be amusing to see how the corporate world continues this trend in their favor.

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1,200+ comments on this one, lots of disturbing stories confirming what I already know...
Over 50, Female and Jobless Even as Others Return to Work

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While this story makes a feeble attempt to paint a nice picture of "road gypsies," I think it depicts a fucking miserable existence. It also proves this America is a crummy place to be simultaneously (1) single, (2) jobless, (3) old, and (4) female (note the 2nd and 3rd stories with married couples aren't as grim as the first one with the single woman)...

Too poor to retire and too young to die

While cleaning restrooms, the smell of urine stung her eyes. “I’ve got a master’s degree,” she reminded herself. “Good thing my old classmates can’t see me now.”

Fuck you, Lauren Holliday, or: Generational warfare and levels of offendedness

"Give millions of dollars to young entitled assholes, provide no adult supervision, and what happens next is predictable." Dan Lyons, "Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble"

A few years back, Salman Rushdie gave a lecture “where he spoke out against a new ‘culture of offendedness’” saying that “people increasingly 'define ourselves by hate.'” 

Speaking to a sellout crowd on the opening day of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the Midnight's Children author said: "I do think that one of the characteristics of our age is the growth of this culture of offendedness. It has to do with the rise of identity politics, where you're invited to define your identity quite narrowly – you know, Western, Islamic, whatever it might be."

He continued: "Classically, we have defined ourselves by the things we love. By the place which is our home, by our family, by our friends. But in this age we're asked to define ourselves by hate. That what defines you is what pisses you off. And if nothing pisses you off, who are you?"

Which brings me to this darling little “review” of "Disrupted" on the Fortune website.  Wow, I never knew throwing a tantrum could get you published on Fortune (or maybe it was just a slow day for their editorial team). 

Unfortunately, the comments section of that page has been removed since the last time I visited it, I’m guessing the author bribed Fortune to delete it as the commenters were not sympathetic to her POV; most of them warned the author that she, too, will one day face age discrimination. Lyons also calls it out on his blog, saying it “kind of made my point for me.” 

I myself am guilty of enjoying reading all the wonderful tales of age discrimination spawning from the brouhaha over this book release, in particular the comments section of his StinkedIn post which confirmed there is indeed something very sick going on in this country. I can't help but wonder if it's just a strange coincidence that the whole thing went down in what I continue to maintain is the shittiest state in America in which to try to forge a career (Stinkassachusetts). Ah, what memories I have of running from one interview to another in this decrepit state where I’d be greeted by a fucking stupid ping-pong table in the receptionist-less reception area (a certain TV personality pointed out that giving your employees a ping-pong table is akin to giving your hamster a wheel -- in other words, you're an idiot if you're impressed by this), and then proceed to be “interviewed” by some twentydumbthing who was completely unprepared and had nothing intelligent to say to me.

Getting back to this "review," I had never heard of this person before, so I decided to check out just what makes her opinion important enough to warrant an entry on the Fortune website…

So, basically, she’s created just another dumb “gig” sitewhere people can fight for scrap work and the lowest bidder wins. (I love how she made sure to put her picture on the front page, strategically placed to show off to the world how awesomely fabulous she is...yep, America continues to dote over the narcissistic millennial!)

Gee, hasn’t this already been done already? 

The only difference I can think of is that none of these sites had stupid selfies of their creators plastered on their home pages.

I tried a few of these sites years ago and was not impressed. The more recent conversations I've had with others stuck in the new "gig economy" is that things have not improved (you basically get to work for peanuts if you're lucky), which leads me to conclude that they still pretty much stink. But, for some reason, her shit isn’t going to stink as bad. (Good grief.)

One final result from a Google search and I had learned enough...

Awwwww, she was offended by a *book* and had her wittle feewings hurt! Poooooooor fucking baby, WAAAAAAAH!

You know what, kid? Your little tantrum on Fortune offended me. Every single time I drove 90 minutes each way only to be treated shabbily and then summarily dismissed by some twentydumbthing “hiring manager,” I took it very personally (I have since sworn to NEVER even speak to a person under the age of 30 in a professional capacity ever again, as they have all proven themselves unworthy of my time or attention). You deserve to be offended by “Disrupted.” I wish more books like this one would appear and offend you every day for the next ten years. I have no doubt I am offending you now as well, though it doesn't come close to the level of offensiveness your generation has dished out on mine and the one that preceded. Now, go ahead and write up a huge editorial in The Wall Street Journal saying “This blogger offends me!” Just remember, kid, someday YOU are going to be over the age of 40. Oh, YES you will! If you think the next generation will treat you any kinder than you treated mine, well, you're even dumber than I thought. And, as I’ve said repeatedly, the best part is it will happen so fast you won’t know what hit you.

Edit: Oh, she’s voting for Trump. Well, that explains everything.

"You are an American if you have a job..."

"You are an American if you have a job. If not, you are a non-person..."

From the comments section of "With so much poverty hidden in plain sight, you have to ask: is this still America?"

Curaspan, and the dumbest job application ever

I stumbled upon this gem of a company when they advertised for a graphic designer. Their "application" consisted of one single page of form fields. Following the basic name/address section at the top, here's what came next:

Good grief. These folks really do NOT want to "waste time" with interviewing anyone! After taking a quick peek at the images on their "Careers" page which doesn't show a single person over the age of 30, it became evident what's going on. Only a millennial would be desperate enough to complete this silly application, and that's exactly who they want.

I'm now going to break down my thoughts on each field...

With the job market as competitive as it is, how did we get lucky enough to receive your application?

Are they trying to be offensive here, or are they just plain ignorant? The job market is far from "competitive," particularly for graphic designers who remain a dime a dozen in the miserable state of Stinkassachusetts (every design job posted directly on LinkedIn routinely gets over 100 applicants -- how is that "competitive?"). Oh, and if it were as competitive as they think, you can bet they wouldn't risk scaring away qualified applicants with such a dumb application!

At Curaspan, we think we're awesome. Describe a time that you worked with an awesome team, and tell us what made that team so awesome.*

Call me old-fashioned but I remember a time when this sort of conversation happened during an INTERVIEW. 

When you start your day at work, what are the top 3 - 5 things that make it on your "to do" list?

What is the point of this stupid question? And, wouldn't anyone's "to do" list depend on what work is waiting to be done? 

Kindle, iPad, Nook or Library? And, why?*

Relevance?

What's it going to cost us? (please detail your current and expected compensation)*

Ah, we come to it at last, the only really important question here! The mere presence of this question reveals this is ALL they care about -- they want someone cheap (a millennial). Remember, only a cheap candidate will be lacking enough in self-respect to complete this dumb application.

In 150 characters or fewer, tell us what makes you unique. Try to be creative and say something that will catch our eye!

Oh for the love of dog, the stupid just keeps coming...

References: Please enter names and contact information:

Excuse me, but nobody with a single brain cell would share the personal private information of their colleagues on a vulnerable website.

Check out the jobs currently posted on their website and you can see the stupid continues. Thanks, Curaspan, for offering further evidence that Boston is "an arrogant, high-tech backwater."