It's not just Americans....

   I recently found a new web comic (well, new to me anyway), made I know not where but apparently they speak French, and began catching up on the archives.  The episode at http://www.commitstrip.com/en/2012/12/10/le-mouton-a-cinq-pattes/ is particularly relevant to this blog.  Go check it out.  It's mainly for geeks, but non-geeks will understand what's going on, and why it's relevant -- and then the geeks can subscribe to it.  :-)  Enjoy!

Meta-Tag, You're It!

   In a rather "meta" twist, I am now getting spammed by so-called recruiters who want me to be... a recruiter.  Maybe I'll go do that and have a successful career spamming more high-tech consultants to lure them into becoming spammy recruiters, and they'll spam two friends, and they'll spam two friends, and so on, and so on, until the entire world is spammy recruiters!  Sure, I'll hop right on that, soon as I retire from selling cars.

From:	Drew Mahoney via Monster <letters@route.monster.com>
Reply-to:	Drew@outsource.net
To:	[me]
Date:	Tue, Jun 24, 2014 at 12:56 PM
Subject:	Recruiting & Sales Opportunity MRID#5tevqtk3us2c3azb

I noticed your resume on Monster.com and have a great Recruiting and Sales opportunity in our Virginia office. Outsource is on the hunt for college educated, energetic leaders who are self-motivated and looking for a long term career in sales or recruitment.

Outsource is one of the fastest-growing staffing companies in the country. We place engineers, project managers, and technicians across the nation from our sixteen locations.

In your career at Outsource, you start by sourcing and recruiting candidates for our clients to gain a fundamental understanding of our business and what we do. From there, you will have the opportunity to move into senior recruiting, account management, inside or outside sales, regional sales, regional recruitment management and eventually into regional management or operations management.

Shortly after your hire date, you will be flown out to our Los Angeles Headquarters for a week and a half of training.

Compensation and Benefits:

• Competitive base salary plus commission (you can more than double your base with commission)
• Year-end possible bonus including an all-expenses-paid reward trip. The last two trips have been hosted in Cancun.
• Medical/dental/vision benefits
• Matching 401k plan
• Seven paid holidays
• Vacation/Sick time

If you are a hard worker, play well with others, are passionate about advancing your career and are fun, we want to meet you!

With that said, a career at Outsource is not for everyone. Our most successful team members are able to creatively problem solve, have strong management and leadership skills and are sincerely passionate about personal and professional growth. Why shouldn't you make money AND love doing it?

Please check out our website at www.outsource.net.

If you are interested, please email me a copy of your most recent resume to drew@outsource.net and give me a call at 303-800-8527.

Thank you,
Drew Mahoney
Talent Acquisition Specialist


Letter Value: 9183A9-1D51E

   Thank you ever so much, Drew Mahoney <drew@outsource.net>, for helping narrow down my choice of what headhunters to listen to when they tout a position, or maybe to hire when I need to farm out some work or possibly even bring some employees on board.  It certainly will not be Outsource.  Given their recruiting tactics, I can only imagine what quality of recruiter I'd be dealing with... since they may have gotten there by being stupid enough to fall for spam.

   And OBTW, Drew... I already "make money AND love doing it"!  Almost as much as I love exposing vegetables posing as recruiters, for what they really are.

Beep Beep, Beep Beep, NO!

   Insurance companies aren't the only industry with recruiters spamming me a lot over the years.  Even aside from my actual industry, I occasionally get come-ons from car dealerships.  Of course I'd just love to give up my six-figure income doing work I enjoy, from home, to be a car salesman (right after I'm done with my other careers selling insurance, taking tickets on trains, etc.).

   At least, that's what today's special spotlight subject seems to think.  So, in true spammer style, she throws her crap against any handy wall to see if it will stick:

From:	Jessica Collins via Monster <letters@route.monster.com>
Reply-to:	Jessicacollins@themanusgroup.com
To:	[me]
Date:	Tue, Jun 17, 2014 at 2:17 PM
Subject:	Job Opportunity at Koons Tyson Toyota Scion MRID#5tevqtk3us2c3azb

I saw your resume on Monster.com and would like for you to consider a sales position with Koons Tyson Toyota Scion as a career option. You may not be aware, but people with various backgrounds and career experiences can adapt their skill sets to enjoy a successful career in Automotive Sales.

Our philosophy is to train, coach, mentor and support each person to maximize their potential and skills. Winning teams don't just happen, they are created by skilled leaders who know how to motivate, inspire and guide others to phenomenal success. As a result, our employees are the largest part of our success.

We are looking for individuals with various skill sets that are willing to make a career change and would consider this opportunity. Don’t worry if you do not have Automotive Sales experience, because we will train you! The Manus Group, a professional recruiting and sales training firm, will be assisting our dealership with selecting the right candidates and providing the fundamental training necessary to begin a new career with a solid and confident foundation. Fundamental Sales Training and all materials are provided to you free of charge. To learn more about The Manus Group, your trainer and the success of previous graduates of The Manus Group, please visit The Manus Group Automotive Training and FAQ.

Interviews will be held on Monday, June 23rd but no later than Tuesday, June 24th between the times of 10:00am and 6:00pm. During the interview, additional information will be provided including details on the $7,500 salary while training. Please respond to this email if you would like to attend.

Thank you for your time,


Jessica Collins
The Manus Group
National Recruiter


ALL interviews will be held at: (for directions go to mapquest.com)

Koons Tyson Toyota Scion

8610 Leesburg Pike
Vienna VA 22182


The Manus Group has been retained as a consultant to and a provider of services for Koons Tyson Toyota Scion. Content of this letter and fulfillment of any offers of employment are the sole responsibility of Koons Tyson Toyota Scion.


Letter Value: 90FCAB-65239

   Too bad I'm too honest to sell used, er excuse me I mean "pre-owned", cars.  If I could stoop that low, then maybe I could also stoop even lower, and spam.

   Thank you ever so much, Jessica Collins, for helping narrow down my choice of where to buy my next car.  It certainly will not be from Koons Tyson Toyota Scion, at least if they're still using the services of spammers such as yourself.

Ma Spam Strikes Yet Again

   You'd think that once the recruiting department of a huge technically innovative company decided to get some foggy glimmer of a clue how evil spamming is, and start actually including some way for you to get off their spam list, that they'd do that simple task correctly, wouldn't you?  Yes, you probably would.

   But again, you'd be wrong.

   Here's yet another turd that Ma Spam squeezed out into my inbox:

From:	AT&T Recruiting Team
To:
Date:	Mon, Jun 9, 2014 at 7:54 PM
Subject:	AT&T Is Now Hiring Full Time Retail Sales Positions in Northern Virginia

AT&T Is Now Hiring Full Time Retail Sales Positions in Northern Virginia

AT&T Offers Excellent Compensation and Benefits

AT&T is looking to hire Full Time AT&T Retail Sales Consultants, AT&T Bilingual Spanish Required Retail Sales Consultants, AT&T Bilingual Spanish Preferred Consultants
and AT&T Sales Support Representatives.

You are personally invited to an Interview Event. Please apply online and complete the entire application process before the event.

Three Interviews Days Will Be Held

June 10th in Fairfax, VA (1:00 PM to 4:00 PM)
AT&T Retail Store
Fair Oaks Mall
11794 Fair Oaks – Suite 200
Fairfax, VA 22033

June 12th in Falls Church, VA (11:00 AM to 2:00 PM)
AT&T Retail Store
Baileys Crossroads
5831 Crossroads Center
Falls Church, VA 22041

June 18th in Alexandria, VA (11:00 AM to 2:00 PM)
AT&T Retail Store
3165 Duke Street
Alexandria, VA 22314

To view the position description, benefits, and get the application process completed, please click on any of the following links for Alexandria, Fairfax and Falls Church.
http://attlinks.com/retailalexandriava                         http://attlinks.com/retailfairfaxva            http://attlinks.com/retailfallschurchva
Start with the paycheck: Salary plus commission. AT&T Retail Sales Consultants are paid a competitive hourly rate and can earn additional monthly commission dollars by meeting and/or exceeding sales objectives! Our full time Retail Sales Consultants earn an average of $47,175 in total compensation in the first year when successfully meeting or exceeding sales goals. Our top 10% of sellers earn an average of $55,521 in their first year. AT&T Sales Support Representatives are paid a very competitive base pay!

ØHealth & Wellness Benefits – Vision, Dental, Medical, Group Life Insurance and more.
Ø401k/AT&T Retirement Savings Plan, Eligible employees can choose from a wide range of investment options, with a choice of contributing on a before-tax or after-tax basis.
ØCareer Advancement Opportunities along with training & skill development.
ØTuition Reimbursement is available and discounts to flexible schedule schools like University of Phoenix, Strayer & others.
ØDiscounts on AT&T Products & Services including wireless plans, accessories and smartphones.
ØPartnership programs such as LifeCare, plus discounts on fitness centers, jewelry, apparel & more!

If you have friends or family who may also be interested, Please feel free to share this information with them. We also encourage you to join our Talent Network where you can get all the information you need on AT&T careers. You can sign up to receive updates on the latest job openings in your area and be eligible to win some cool prizes.
Join at http://att.jobs/talent-network.aspx

AT&T Talent Attraction Team
www.att.jobs

Diversity is the AT&T way of standing apart. Equal Opportunity Employer.

---

AT&T Staffing and Recruiting

   I've only bothered to make their email address an actual link, so they can get a taste of what spam is like.  The very last item, "AT&T Staffing and Recruiting", was also a link, in the original.  The destination is a removal script, http://www.netrecruit.net/cgi/RemoveEmail.pl, taking a URL parameter of id.    Now, you'd think that that id would identify me, so that when I clicked on it, I would finally get unsubscribed from their spam.  Wouldn't you?  Of course you would.

   But... oh, you guessed already.  Yes, you would be wrong.

   So what happens instead?  I get:

Email address successfully removed
The email address 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX@gmail.com' has been removed from our mailing list.

   No, not literally XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.  Unlike AT&T, I give half a damn about protecting the privacy of people's email addresses.  (Well, at least innocent people, again unlike the spammers at AT&T Staffing and Recruiting.)

   So now you maybe wondering, "So what?  So they removed your GMail address from their mailing list.  (Or at least claimed to.)  Isn't that what you wanted?"

  You're half-right.  Yes, that is indeed what I wanted.  I just want these jackasses to leave me alone!  And I see how you could possibly think that it was my email address that was displayed to me, and removed from their mailing list.

   But again, you'd be wrong.

   Some of you may be AT&T customers.  I am... at least, until my contract runs out.  You might have gone to their retail sales locations, and had to deal with the "help".  You might think, "What a pack of idiots.  They're one step up from having to flip burgers for a living.  Surely, with the historic technological breakthroughs AT&T has produced, the higher levels of the company, like, oh, say, the people who run their staffing and recruiting campaigns, must be much smarter!"

   But apparently, again, you'd be wrong.

Ma Spam

   You'd think big companies would know better than to recruit by spamming, wouldn't you?  Especially big companies that have been around for almost 140 years.  Well-established big companies that have traditionally been leaders in technology.  Companies built on radical advances like, oh, say, the telephone, and created their own, like, oh, say, Unix, you know, that thing that Linux, and more explicitly GNU, aren't really?  Surely they would know what a Bad Thing spamming is, right?

   But you'd be wrong.  Here's a little gem I got from them recently:

From:		AT&T Staffing and Recruiting <apply.online@att.com>
To:		[me]
Date:		2014-05-25 at 02:05
Subject:		AT&T is Now Hiring in Various Cities in Northern Virginia and Washington DC

AT&T Is Now Hiring Full Time Retail Sales Positions in Northern Virginia and Washington DC

AT&T Offers Excellent Compensation and Benefits
Start with the paycheck: Salary plus commission. Assistant Store Managers and Retail Sales Consultants are paid a competitive hourly rate and can earn additional monthly commission dollars by meeting and/or exceeding sales objectives! AT&T Sales Support Representatives are paid a very competitive base pay!

• Health & Wellness Benefits – Vision, Dental, Medical, Group Life Insurance and more.
• 401k/AT&T Retirement Savings Plan, Eligible employees can choose from a wide range of investment options, with a choice of contributing on a before-tax or after-tax basis.
• Career Advancement Opportunities along with training & skill development.
• Tuition Reimbursement is available and discounts to flexible schedule schools like University of Phoenix, Strayer & others.
• Discounts on AT&T Products & Services including wireless plans, accessories and smartphones.
• Partnership programs such as LifeCare, plus discounts on fitness centers, jewelry, apparel & more!

To view the position description, benefits, and get the application process started, please click on any of the following links for Alexandria, Reston, Fairfax, McLean, Falls Church and Washington DC:

http://attlinks.com/retailalexandriava      http://attlinks.com/retailrestonva      http://attlinks.com/retailfairfaxva

http://attlinks.com/vamclean      http://attlinks.com/retailfallschurchva      http://attlinks.com/retailwashingtondc
If you have friends or family who may also be interested, Please feel free to share this information with them.

We also encourage you to join our Talent Network where you can get all the information you need on AT&T careers. You can sign up to receive updates on the latest job openings in your area and be eligible to win some cool prizes. Join at http://att.jobs/talent-network.aspx

AT&T Talent Attraction Team
www.att.jobs

Diversity is the AT&T way of standing apart. Equal Opportunity Employer.

---

208 S. Akard ST
Dallas, TX 75202

   Yeah, sure, I'd love to give up the six-figure income I get from running my own consultancy doing work I love and have a knack for, to work in the widely-known near-minimum-wage hell of retail sales.

   Congratulations, AT&T.  You not only utterly failed to recruit for your current needs, you lost a potential employee at some point down the road... and, as soon as my current contract is up, a customer.

Update!

Less than a day after I blogged about it, Ma Bell crapped in my inbox again (sorry I forgot to copy in most of the formatting this time):

From:		AT&T Staffing and Recruiting
To:		[me]
Date:		Tue, Jun 3, 2014 at 1:45 AM
Subject:		AT&T is Now Hiring in Various Cities in Northern Virginia

AT&T Is Now Hiring Full Time Retail Sales Positions in Northern Virginia

AT&T Offers Excellent Compensation and Benefits

AT&T is looking to hire Full Time AT&T Retail Sales Consultants, AT&T Bilingual Spanish Required Retail Sales Consultants, AT&T Bilingual Spanish Preferred Consultants and AT&T Sales Support Representatives.

We will be personally inviting only those qualified candidates who complete the entire application process for an interview. Those qualifying will be contacted and given a specific time and location for an interview.

Four Interviews Days will be held as follows:

June 4th in Woodbridge, VA
June 10th in Fairfax, VA
June 12th in Falls Church, VA
June 18th in Alexandria, VA

To view the position description, benefits, and get the application process started, please click on any of the following links for Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church and Washington DC:

http://attlinks.com/retailalexandriava    http://attlinks.com/retailfairfaxva
http://attlinks.com/retailfallschurchva    http://attlinks.com/woodbridgeva

Start with the paycheck: Salary plus commission. AT&T Retail Sales Consultants are paid a competitive hourly rate and can earn additional monthly commission dollars by meeting and/or exceeding sales objectives! Our full time Retail Sales Consultants earn an average of $47,175 in total compensation in the first year when successfully meeting or exceeding sales goals. Our top 10% of sellers earn an average of $55,521 in their first year. AT&T Sales Support Representatives are paid a very competitive base pay!

ØHealth & Wellness Benefits – Vision, Dental, Medical, Group Life Insurance and more.
Ø401k/AT&T Retirement Savings Plan, Eligible employees can choose from a wide range of investment options, with a choice of contributing on a before-tax or after-tax basis.
ØCareer Advancement Opportunities along with training & skill development.
ØTuition Reimbursement is available and discounts to flexible schedule schools like University of Phoenix, Strayer & others.
ØDiscounts on AT&T Products & Services including wireless plans, accessories and smartphones.
ØPartnership programs such as LifeCare, plus discounts on fitness centers, jewelry, apparel & more!

If you have friends or family who may also be interested, Please feel free to share this information with them.

We also encourage you to join our Talent Network where you can get all the information you need on AT&T careers. You can sign up to receive updates on the latest job openings in your area and be eligible to win some cool prizes. Join at http://att.jobs/talent-network.aspx

AT&T Talent Attraction Team
www.att.jobs

Diversity is the AT&T way of standing apart. Equal Opportunity Employer.

208 S. Akard ST
Dallas, TX 75202

   Harrumph, where's that Unsubscribe link?  Oh... there isn't one.  Well at least they should be telling me how to respond if I want to be taken off!  The instructions are... right... there?  Nope, absent again.  (Unlike "normal" spammers, at least recruiters usually honor removal requests.  As you've seen in some of my prior posts, and probably will in the future, there are exceptions.)  But nooooo, AT&T is absolutely sure that one of these days, I'll want to work in retail hell in hopes of making a third of what I'm making now.