VentureFizz welcomes Chewy.com to its fake job site

I've previously mentioned Boston's premiere fake job portal, VentureFizz, where Boston start-ups post non-existent jobs whilst boasting of hammocks (Formlabs has been advertising the same dumb design job since December 2014), ping-pong tables, and "open" work spaces, all "perks" that are better geared for kindergarteners. For some strange reason, Chewy decided it's a good idea to jump on the "let's advertise fake jobs" bandwagon. They advertised for a graphic designer in the Boston area back in March 2017. Here it is courtesy of LinkedIn's aggregator:

Three months later, here's the same job on VentureFizz:

Seriously, if anyone out there is dumb enough to still fall for this nonsense, then they deserve what they get.

Fake job alert: American Tower

Like so many unethical companies in Stinkassachusetts, American Tower is always advertising for a senior designer. Here's the latest, posted on April 19, 2017:

I first applied back in July 2015, and was met with dead silence. Five months later, in December, they advertised it yet again. Instead of applying, I sent them a little email (addressed to recruiting@americantower.com which, like American Well's, is probably not administered by a human being). Note the part where I mentioned that a recruiter actually reached out to me about this job:

Last July I applied for the position of senior designer via your website (confirmation forwarded below). I am a designer with 17 years of experience in the field, and I met every qualification in the job description. Yet, I was not even worthy of a telephone screening from your HR department. I was also contacted by a recruiter “about an awesome design opportunity in Woburn,” and I told them that if it’s American Tower, don’t bother because they rejected me (the recruiter was shocked by this).

I see now, five months later, that this exact same job is being advertised yet again on your website as well as on LinkedIn. I find this quite strange.

I have begun collecting unemployment and, as a requirement, had to meet with a career counselor at the local job center. I laughed when he demonstrated the job search results on their website’s job search tool which included the above-referenced position in the listings. I pointed at it and told him that I applied and received zero response from you. He suggested I call your HR department and ask why. Of course, I laughed at this archaic advice. But, in this age of quick communication via social media, I have decided to take his advice and reach out to you and ask you specifically why you so quickly and easily rejected my application.

I told the career counselor that you most likely rejected me due to my advanced old age ("between 4-6 years of experience required" means nobody over the age of 30 need apply), but I will give you the chance to tell me otherwise. I await your response which I am going to share with him when we meet again in a few weeks. I’d also love to hear why it’s taking HALF A YEAR to fill a simple design role, especially where there is no shortage of designers looking for work.

Needless to say, I received no response. [This waltz down memory lane also triggers lovely memories of my experience dealing with the state of Rhode Island's dismal and dated unemployment office. I keep attempting to write about it in a separate post, but my shock/anger/disbelief at the level of cluelessness and incompetence in that place continues to cloud my ability to coherently put my memories into words (and it doesn't do my blood pressure any good). Maybe one day I'll summon the strength to document what I experienced and observed there (along with the equally useless/inept "One Stop Career Center" in neighboring Stinkassachusetts).]

Fake job alert: (Fake) Jobs for the Future

This company advertised for a senior graphic designer back in August 2016. I applied, and received a prompt rejection from their "HR generalist." Four months later, in December, they advertised it again. Today (June 5, 2017), I see it has returned to their "Careers" page. Here it is courtesy of StinkedIn's aggregator (as no doubt the one on their "Careers" page will disappear as quickly as it reappears). 

The dippy-looking girl shown as their contact is the same one who sent me the rejection email last year.  I don't know why, but I feel rather dirty knowing that some clown like this was looking at and passing judgement on my background/qualifications.

Fake job alert: American Well

I first applied for a presentations/print designer job at this company back in June 2015. Never heard from them.

One year later (July 2016), they advertised the identical job with the exception being the title which was changed to "Director of Visual Design, Presentations & Business Graphics." Since it was the exact same job (and I was still fully qualified), I foolishly applied. Again, heard nothing. When I saw this dumb job was still unfilled a few months later, I sent them a nice little email asking what kind of game they are playing. I addressed it to jobs@americanwell.com which is given on their website and which, I'm guessing, is probably not administered by a human being as I received no reply (and not even an anonymous snoop on my StinkedIn profile).

I was recently chatting online with another disillusioned Boston job seeker, and he shared with me a comment he made on some local tech site about the dismal Boston job market:
   

I would argue that it's more than a "trickle" of problem-child companies like American Well (note how many "fake job alerts" I share here). The design job I mentioned above has finally been removed from their website. As for the remaining "jobs" shown there, anyone who hands over their personal data aka resume to this fraudulent company is truly a fool.

PureTechHealth: Boston companies like 'em stupid

I recently came across this job posted on Indeed by some company called PureTechHealth.

Based on the skills/experience listed, it's evident they want an *experienced* designer here, someone who knows what the hell they're doing. Yet, take a look at that first bullet under "Desired Skills and Experience:"

One to three years. Wow. So, anyone perfectly qualified with a serious track record of experience in design (that's more than 3 years) get disqualified. Let's call this out for what it is here: Age discrimination. One year of experience = we want a 22-year-old kid for the job. Yeah, good luck with that, guys.

Finally, upon hitting the "Apply now" button and submitting my resume, I get a screen asking me the following question:

Gee, it was manually posted on Indeed, and it is through Indeed that I'm submitting my resume now, so...where the fuck do you think I heard about it? Seriously, are people in Boston really this stupid? (Yeah, rhetorical question.)

Fake job alert: MFS Investment Management

MFS Investment Management has been advertising the same Senior Designer job since at least December 2016. I applied for it and was promptly ignored. Here is one of the ads for this job when it was listed under MAR02184 at that time (they changed ATSs and my application from that time is now gone).

They advertised it again in March 2017, playing the standard game of "just change the job number and perhaps nobody will notice." Too bad I noticed that MAR02184 had turned into MFS-000160004. This is a good time for me to demonstrate how useless their Workday ATS is in this exercise. Here's what I get when I click on the "My Applications" page:

Note the redundant usage of the word "Welcome." Clearly, the first line is meant to include the applicant's first name. Also, that "Status: Under consideration" bit is complete nonsense; anyone who believes that they could possibly be "under consideration" for a job for which they applied three months ago is a nincompoop. 

Finally, when I click on the job number in hopes of obtaining the job description, here's what I get:

????

I'm forced to conclude these people either don't know how to set up their own ATS, or they're just lazy (probably a bit of both).

Fast forward to today, Here we are in June 2017, with the exact same job "newly" posted with a different number, MFS-170079 (full screenshot provided for future reference, i.e., when they advertise the same job again in three months).

Simply further evidence that Boston continues to suck big time.