I had a job interview on Tuesday with an outfit that seemed very suspicious. Very screwy indeed. (Let’s call them “Company A”.)
As it turned out, Company A was looking to hire someone that could farm out to another firm (which we’ll call “Company B”) as a temporary consultant. Apparently, they had no current employees available, so he needed someone FAST. In fact, he wanted that person to start within three days(!!!), which is hardly reasonable if that person is still employed elsewhere.
During my interview, the manager explained that I would also be interviewed by Company B. He said that if I passed, I would serve for a 3-6 month contract, after which they’d find something else for me to do. I felt uneasy about that, as it seemed like a very vague promise. He didn’t even bother to tell me what other kind of work they do, or how he sees me fitting in. It sounded like he was just desperate to find someone for this short-term contract work, and that he hadn’t given much thought much to what I would do for them afterwards.
Interestingly enough, this manager was the only one who interviewed me, and he only asked one technical question – how to reverse a linked list. (Apparently, this was a standard interview question at Company B.) He didn’t seem too interested in how deep my skills were. This told me that was thinking of me as a short-term worker, rather than a long-term employee. This told me that he might not be serious about keeping me employed after this 3-6 month contract.
What’s more, he wanted me to lie and claim that I was already his employee. I said to myself, “Heck, if he wants me to blatantly lie about this – without even feeling me out first – then why should I believe his promise to have additional work for me after 3-6 months?” Besides, if I’m being farmed out to another outfit, instead of working on internal projects, then I probably wouldn’t have opportunities to develop domain expertise that would motivate them to keep me on the payroll.
I decided not to risk it. The whole situation left a foul taste in my mouth. Eww.
I had a similar interview once. It was with a small company (Company A) whose only function was to provide staffing to a very large, very well-known, international company headquartered here in Memphis (I don’t want to name names, so I’ll call them “Company FDX.”) Apparently Company A was rather like a remora, not doing anything of its own besides riding along and living off the great shark that is Company FDX.
In short, the interview at Company A was brief; I recall only a couple of questions about my skills. We were also in a hurry because I’d arrived somewhat late (the guy gave terrible directions and I didn’t know that part of town), and the two people I spoke with were terrified of being late for the appointment at CFDX. We hustled over there and I spoke with the boss there for a while.
The two parties got into a bit of a fight over me: Company A insisted that their contract with Company FDX required me to work for Company A for six months, as they basically garnished my wages (I have no doubt that their contract did require this). The Company FDX fellow wanted to hire me outright on the spot.
This was a pretty awesome moment for me.
To make a long story short (I know: too late), while they both wanted me in that job, they apparently couldn’t agree on how I was going to get in there, and I ended up staying at the shitty job I already had. Like you, the whole thing had seemed kinda sleazy, like Company A was pimping for me or something.
But a few months later I got my current job, which is pretty cool.
HAHAHAHAH, jackelope. I would never have even caught that.
And yes, it did feel like this guy was pimping for me. That’s exactly how a co-worker of mine described it.
Oh, and regarding SK’s comment…
Actually, I don’t think that was his motivation at all. I think he just wanted to land a few thousand dollars by (ahem) pimping me out.
This wouldn’t be so bad, except that he didn’t do much to assure me that I’d still be employed afterwards. All I got was a vague claim that they’d find work for me. He didn’t even discuss the type of work that they do, except in very vague terms (“turn key systems blah blah projects blah blah consultancy blah blah”). Heck, he didn’t even ask about my skills, except for how I rated myself as a programmer. Sheesh!
Now, I’m not saying that he specifically intended to lay me off at the end of this 3-6 month contract. Maybe he did, maybe not. However, he sure didn’t seem interested in learning if I’d be a good long-term employee.
If you are currently employed, and they are encouraging you to leave with no notice for a contract position, they are encouraging you to leave yourself with a bad professional reference for a position with NO security; there is no security in contract work. No one knows what the contract job market for your skills in 3 to 6 months.
Also, if the hiring company wants to convert you, the application will have a disclaimer that lying is grounds for immediate dismissal.
Every agency I’ve worked through (three) interviewed me for a couple of hours, checked my references, and was honest, but very encouraging, about the potential for future positions.
A company deals ethically with BOTH the company and the contractor. This company sounds like it’s trying to con you both.
But keep in mind, even the good ones ARE pimps; I’m comfortable with that.
Good point about the bad professional reference. I hadn’t even thought about that.
This reminds me of another thing that left a foul taste in my mouth. This contract agency told me that they’d try to arrange an interview for me on Wednesday or Thursday. They did not, however, ask me to keep both those days completely free (which would have been an unreasonable requrest anyway, IMO). They also said that another person would give me a call before they arranged for the interview.
Well, on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m., the manager called and said, “Okay, I set your interview for 2:30 p.m. Please be there early.” I exclaimed, “WHAT!?!?!? I’ve got a job to go to. Besides, didn’t you say that I’d receive a call from whats-his-name first? I received no such call.” I told him that I couldn’t just skip out on my current employer that way, as it wouldn’t look good.
About an hour later, he called and said, “Look, you said that you’re on good terms with your employer. If so, then they can surely spare you for just an hour.” I shook my head in disbelief; I mean, c’mon! Being on good terms with a company doesn’t mean that they can spare you anytime you want. Besides, it’s ridiculous to say that this would only take an hour of my time. A typcial inteview alone would take at least that much time, and probably more. Then there’s the time it takes to drive there, and drive back — not to mention going home to put on my interview suit and gather my other stuff (briefcase, notebook, etc.). No, a typical job interview would kill an entire afternoon.
I was offered a “promotion” at work last week. Basically, I would keep my current job, and take on more responsibilities. So it would be more work, for NO more money, and I’d have to give up my current shift, which I love, for one that I’d hate. But I’d get a new title!
And my boss was so sure I’d jump at the chance that she’d already posted my position to find a replacement.
In my experience with temp agencies (I worked as a temp for six years), you were being interviewed for a 3-6 month contract position, not a permanent position with the firm. The pimp who interviewed you needs to work on his patter; all the pimpImeantemp agencies I worked for were much slicker at taking advantage of me.
However, they never lied about the jobs - if they said it was a three-month contract, it was a three-month contract. Course, most of the jobs ran longer because there are a lot of companies who want a permanent worker without any of those permanent worker hassles (niggling little things like labour laws, benefits, not being able to can them at the drop of a hat, etc.). My, I guess I’m still just a tad bitter about the whole experience.
Sorry, I didn’t see this when I posted - the same thing is happening to me at my current job. I’m working part-time for part-time pay; I’m okay with that, because the trade-off is flexible hours in exchange for less pay. Now, the company wants me to work full-time hours, but they are really dragging their feet on re-negotiating my salary, benefits, and duties. I’ve told them in no uncertain terms that I’m not working an extra hour until the salary is re-negotiated. It’s been three months so far.
To make it even more interesting, the woman I replaced has moved back to Calgary, and she is coming back to do the same job she was doing. Which I’m currently doing. Which they have said I will be moved out of and into a full-time job. She starts a week from Monday - they have 4 business days to get me moved into my new position, or they will have two part-timers doing the same job. Or they’ll fire me. One way or the other, at least it will finally be settled.
Just before my interview, the manager produced a non-disclosure agreement for me to peruse. He then asked me to sign under this section marked “EMPLOYEE.” I tactfully objected, pointing out that this would be inappropriate, as I wasn’t actually an employee of the company.
He said in response, “It doesn’t matter. We can always put ‘POTENTIAL EMPLOYEE’ instead.” He then waited for me to sign. I thought to myself, “Well then, what’s this guy waiting for? If he can make that change, then why doesn’t he do so? Why not print up a new form, or write in the changes himself?” Well, he just kept sitting there, so instead of making a scene, I marked up the changes myself, and initialized them prominently. I waited for him to initialize them too, but he made no such move.
I didn’t think much of it at the time, but in retrospect, it certainly seemed shady. I mean, surely they must have been in that situation before, having interviewed other engineers in times past. Why didn’t they have the proper form on hand?
What’s more, it was clearly a PC-generated form, since it had my full name neatly inserted into the first paragraph. This suggests that they had electronic copies on hand, probably in MS Word. What would have stopped this guy from making a quick trip to the computer and replacing “EMPLOYEE” with “PROSPECTIVE EMPLOYEE”?
I don’t think this was an overt, premeditated attempt at fraud, but it was definitely suspicious and unprofessional.
[sup]Hmmmmm. Now in Memphis, what company could possibly be FDX[/sup][/ul]