# Bizarre resume returns **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 25, 2014, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-resume-returns/689236 "2014-05-25T14:19:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-resume-returns/689236/1 "2014-05-25T14:19:57Z")
So for reasons that would take too long to explain, I posted my resume on CareerBuilder. I spend a lot of time sifting the various job boards, partly to locate potential clients and always on the lookout for that killer position that would lure me back to the corporate world. Yesterday, for the first time in many years, I dumped a streamlined version of my resume into CB. Fifteen inquiry/job offers so far (on Saturday of a holiday weekend, yet) - every one of them for some variation of insurance agent or financial adviser. Big name companies - ING, State Farm, other national/internationals. Not junk places. Which would be great except that there is not one word about business, financial, insurance, investment or such experience, employment or interest on my 'zoomay. Not one such firm or company or industry stop even in a different capacity. What’s up with this onslaught of ill-matched offers/solicitations? ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-resume-returns/689236/2 "2014-05-25T14:31:58Z")
Those places pretty much hit up everyone with a college degree, I think. There is a ridiculous amount of turnover in financial services/insurance sales, and knowledge of finance is pretty far down on their list of qualifications. They basically prospect like mad for desperate people. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-resume-returns/689236/3 "2014-05-25T14:38:29Z")
Yup. Last time I was between jobs I had Citigroup or whatever try to recruit me for their pyramid-style financial advisor/sales position. In that case, it seemed like the recruiters were all looking for saps for their own “downstream” crew. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-resume-returns/689236/4 "2014-05-25T14:40:17Z")
That happened to me, too, and the responses were usually in my spam file. Go figure. I also got a lot of responses from places that needed people to work in a call center or forklift drivers, often not even locally. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-resume-returns/689236/5 "2014-05-25T14:49:39Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > […] In that case, it seemed like the recruiters were all looking for saps for their own “downstream” crew. Hey, that’s catchy! “Saps for their own downstream…” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sehmket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Sehmket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sehmket)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-resume-returns/689236/6 "2014-05-25T17:06:55Z")
Yup, I work in tech support, and one of the recruiters at my last place of employment would hit up everyone in our city with a GED and a pulse on CB/Monster/Dice/etc. Some of them take a pretty blanket approach - by sheer numbers, you’re going to hit your goals eventually. Then again, that was the recruiter I found myself hiding from when she brought interviews up to our floor, so… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-resume-returns/689236/7 "2014-05-25T17:17:57Z")
Financial and insurance services hire people at low rates and then expect them to bring in family and friends as clients right away and then dump the people who can’t close other deals hoping to keep a few family and friends who aren’t really pissed about their nephew being pumped and dumped. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-resume-returns/689236/8 "2014-05-25T18:46:34Z")
If I feel like fucking with them, I pointedly ask which specific skill in my 25+ year long IT career track they found would be most applicable to becoming an insurance salesman. Most don’t respond but some do with a sheepish, “Sorry to have troubled you…”. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-resume-returns/689236/9 "2014-05-25T18:46:46Z")
All this makes sense. I guess I have a few keywords that would attract this segment, even if they are being pretty blanket about hitting all newly posted resumes. Delete key works fine, I can report. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-resume-returns/689236/10 "2014-05-26T08:07:39Z")
On the other side, we’re doing a job search and received a resume that demonstrates none of the qualifications listed. None of the other documents requested were sent. It smells of a company that’s paid to promote someone to X number of jobs per week. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-resume-returns/689236/11 "2014-05-26T09:51:22Z")
I guess one of the skills you _don’t_ need to be a recruiter, is attention to detail. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-resume-returns/689236/12 "2014-05-26T12:05:39Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Yup. Last time I was between jobs I had Citigroup or whatever try to recruit me for their pyramid-style financial advisor/sales position. In that case, it seemed like the recruiters were all looking for saps for their own “downstream” crew. That’s not how it works. There typically isn’t a “downstream” in financial advisory. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-resume-returns/689236/13 "2014-05-26T12:23:00Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > That’s not how it works. There typically isn’t a “downstream” in financial advisory. I think she’s talking about Primerica, which is an Amway-style financial services company where advisors recruit a downstream. I myself was once approached at the supermarket by someone trying to recruit me for her downstream; I told her “thanks, but no.” That said, every company has to have a sales force, and managers are compensated based on how many people they have working for them and how much their sales are. They know it’s a very, very high turnover business, so they are not necessarily picky on the overall qualifications of their recruits. The more salespeople a manager has out in the field, the more sales they generate, and the more the manager receives in compensation and other benefits. So, yeah, there is something of a “downstream” involved, but the bottom people typically don’t need to recruit because there may not be a financial incentive for them to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-resume-returns/689236/14 "2014-05-26T12:38:32Z")
Oh, from back in the Citigroup/Primerica union. That makes sense, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-resume-returns/689236/15 "2014-05-26T12:43:24Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Which would be great except that there is not one word about business, financial, insurance, investment or such experience, employment or interest on my 'zoomay. Not one such firm or company or industry stop even in a different capacity. [Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IulvPqb1Eus#t=8m58s), Charlie Day (from It’s Always Sunny) talks about he got offered a job at Fidelity by talking about water skiing. He, literally, almost didn’t go into acting after using his acting skills to trick a recruiter into getting a job. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-resume-returns/689236/16 "2014-05-26T12:54:23Z")
I keep getting “offered” teaching jobs in all sorts of disciplines, even science. I can’t teach science. The schools wouldn’t actually accept me for those jobs; the recruitment agencies are just sending out emails to every teacher. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-resume-returns/689236/17 "2014-05-26T20:21:42Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > Oh, from back in the Citigroup/Primerica union. That makes sense, I guess. Yeah, I think that was it. It was just over a decade ago, and it was definitely a recruitment/pyramid system then. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-resume-returns/689236/18 "2014-05-26T20:34:26Z")
I didn’t know Primerica was MLM. That would explain why they’ve been at pretty much every open-access and student job fair I’ve been to for the last five years. (Yeah, what part of “technical writer” makes you think I’d be a good insurance salesperson?) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-resume-returns/689236/19 "2014-05-26T20:36:24Z")
The potential for success in sales doesn’t always show up in a resume, so recruiters bring as many people in as possible. They will take you on to sink or swim; if you fail, you’re fired and they pick the next one. But there’s no reason why someone with years of IT experience can’t be a good salesperson: it’s a matter of personality and drive, not skills.