Under the guise of fair enterprise, the scam artists are coming out of the woodwork. They prey on the desperation of people who only want to make a decent living, or hell, keep themselves from getting evicted.
With the state of the economy, it's easy to understand the uber-competitive nature of humanity coming out. On one hand, there's hardly any work to be found, unless a PhD wants to sling burgers. They, of course, will be considered "overqualified." I wonder how many people have faked their resume to downplay their experience just to get menial wages and keep themselves from losing everything.
But, what I'm talking about here, are the scams. I, like many other people, am out of work. I'm also trying to figure out how to generate freelance work for my writing service (I hate how that sounds; writing service. Blech). No longer content to pay people what they're worth when they can be exploited (actually, it's always been that way to some extent but now, it's a hell of a lot more prevalent), I see a widening disparity between the parameters of an open position, and what's being compensated in return.
Some organizations disguise themselves as benevolent, take your time (knows they ask for everything but a blood sample) then either never return your call, or (abandon all hope here) they do. Places are increasingly asking for psych evaluations, for Pete's sake! I mean seriously, unless I'm working in a psychologically volatile and isolated position, how is this not demeaning and subjective? I'm thinking here of two places; one dealt with the public, the other supposedly offered book reviews.
The first one was working part time in a real estate office. How many variables can one present? And honestly, a psych eval to qualify for a part time admin position in a real estate office? I submitted an application for this position because, hell, it was walking distance from my apartment. In lieu of the psych eval, I proposed an in-person meeting first. Mind you, the remuneration was not posted. What ensued was pretty damn amusing.
My work history, physical proximity and references apparently weren't enough qualifiers to get me in for an interview; I got an email response first from a male "someone" at the office requesting I fill out the psych eval. A long, detailed psych eval. I swear, I envisioned a cartoonishly sadistic boss seeking the most servile personality to take abuse from. Thing is, with this economy, I actually considered it for a millisecond before dismissing it for the disparate power play that it was. I figured they wanted an honest impression of my disposition, so I stood my ground. No face to face job interview, no ludicrous psych eval.
This, of course, was before I worked for South Florida's version of Miranda Priestly (I'll get to that later).
Thing is, I see that what mostly translates to power in South Florida is maintaining the ability to make someone else miserable. In other words, low pay and perpetually hanging the sword of Damocles over the employee's head. Now, I'm not saying there aren't good people out there, or conversely, that people aren't happy with their jobs. What I am saying is that, by introspective hypothesis, I am an extreme case in asserting my independence and self-worth. I suck at hiding my feelings or displeasure when I see someone abusing their power and, for example, favoring certain employees because of their gender, color, and sexual orientation. Yes, I've been there too but I don't want to get sued for slander; the past employer I'm referring to has created an almost perfectly gender-disparate environment and women know they must beware.
So, tired of bowing my head and following the "herd" mentality, I struck out on my own. Someone told me once that pioneers are always the first to be shot. If you haven't learned to defend yourself, that is. And anyways, at what price freedom? I know what I don't want; namely, a corporation/entity/institution that treats their employee like shit/relegates people to slated positions due to their gender/stands for mindless consumerism/perpetuates oppressive gender stereotypes. Car commercials, in particular, stick in my craw. This is why I haven't forayed into advertising either. Eric Bogosian probably knows what I'm talking about.
So I come across this "organization" advertising writing book reviews on Craigslist. I have actually been very fortunate on Craigslist in finding work, buying furniture and the like. Until now. Usually, when I come across a want ad on this site, I run a check on the email. For example, if it says respond to info@writeher.com, I look for the website www.writeher.com. If the website is bunk and there's no telephone number, I don't apply. I also copy and paste part of the ad and run a search. If I see it come up on multiple job boards I know it's a scam too.
But these guys were GOOD. A philanthropic organization based in California that assist women transition to entrepreneurship. They help single moms. There's a contact on LinkedIn. They have a telephone number. No typos on their website. All RIGHT! They only asked for a rather non-invasive questionnaire. I took it gladly in oh, June? I haven't heard from them since.
I called and left several messages. Nothing, so I started to investigate. In my enthusiasm (I simply couldn't believe my good luck) I ran a search on the contents of the ad itself. And realized how many job boards it had been posted on. They just wanted to get people to take their fucking questionnaire, and disguised it (rather elaborately) as a philanthropic site. I have, however, been getting quite a few calls from a sales number.
I think I'll call the Better Business Bureau. They must have their hands full.
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