A New York man with a part-time job was having trouble finding full time work. So he thought some research might be a good idea, specifically, to find out who his competition is for a particular position he is interested in. So he posted a fake job ad on Craigslist, and received over 650 resumes in response.
This move is not likely to win Eric Auld any friends or fans among the staffing industry. We recently had a spirited online discussion here at Staffing Talk in reply to this piece I wrote on the subject of staffing companies purposely placing ads for jobs that don’t exist to “lure people in.”
According to this post in Lifehacker, Auld created a job posting for a full-time administrative assistant job with a decent paycheck and health benefits for a “busy midtown office” in New York City.
The pay was only between $12 and $13 per hour, a paltry sum for Manhattan for sure, but Auld still clearly underestimated the potential demand for the position.
Four minutes after posting the ad he received the first resume, and they kept coming. A day later, he yanked the ad after receiving a total of 653 responses.
Four minutes after posting the ad he received the first resume, and they kept coming. A day later, he yanked the ad after receiving a total of 653 responses.
Here’s what Auld said about his motivation for the stunt.
“I grew thoughtful, curious, worrisome, and thoroughly impatient— all in that order. I also knew many others in my position who had suffered similar fates. I had to find out more on where I stood in this uncertain job market. I thought that if I could figure at least a piece of that out, then maybe I could improve my job hunting techniques, and, maybe then— just maybe —an employer would actually call me back.”
“I had to find out more on where I stood in this uncertain job market. I thought that if I could figure at least a piece of that out, then maybe I could improve my job hunting techniques, and, maybe then— just maybe —an employer would actually call me back.”
Auld says he did attempt to read each response, but skipped over 27 that contained an inaccessible attachment or had bad formatting or other problems.
Here’s what he said he found out about his competition for this job:
- 147 resumes listed five or more years of relevant experience
- 40% of the respondents have their Bachelor’s degrees
- 3% of of the respondents have Master’s degrees
His takeaway from his fake job ad posting experience?
“Employers won’t notice me by my résumé alone….Am I really going to stand out in a tidal wave of 626 applications? Probably not. What I should do is figure out methods to grab the employer’s attention…”
So is Auld on the right track? He does have a Master’s degree himself, and his part time job is as an Adjunct Lecturer in the Humanities, so he has some smarts and some bona fide academic credentials. Should he be spending time figuring out methods for “grabbing an employer’s attention?”
What do you think of his fade ad stunt? Cool? Funny? Kudos to him for being creative? Or shame on him for being deceptive?
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Idea: create a business model that arbitrates between employer and candidate to make sure both are real. Further offer services like payrolling the employee and doing background checks. Such an industry will keep America great
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This went way beyond reasonable. Many candidates feel betrayed and angry when no one responses to their submissions. Yet he has 650 resumes that he should not have in his possession. What information did he think that he would get by placing the fake advertisement?
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He thought he would get a glimpse at the candidates competing against him for similar jobs.
This may not have been the best course of action, certainly. This does however highlight the challenge recruiters face and hopefully help ease the ill feelings of the candidates that don’t hear something back every time the send a resume. Sometimes, it’s simply not reasonable to try to contact them all.
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He would be a great candidate for a sourcing job. Clearly he is an outside the box thinker.
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My staffing agency will not run an ad for a position unless we are actively recruiting for that job or our ad will say that we are gathering candidates for an upcoming storm season or expected job.
However, I think this story can be used as a tool to highlight the importance of a recruiter’s role for a client. Does a client (Manager or Supervisor) have the time to sort through the high volume of resumes received when an ad is placed? This shows how valuable it is to have a recruiter who understands the particular needs of their client and can bring only the most qualified and skilled candidates to the table.
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The majority of ads I applied to were fake jobs, or rather, recuiters posting “ahead” of demand just looking to build their mailing list. So I am not the least bit offending that this individual posted a fake job because what he learned from it is valuable to me. In a nutshell, job boards are not the way to go. I suggest anyone applying to a job from a board to first cross-check it with the company’s website to see if it’s actually listed. And for company’s just using recruiters…stop! They charge insane fees and are the main source of all the difficulties finding jobs with their fake postings. Really, do we need another middle man in the job process? HR Departments, maintain your job security, go back to reviewing resumes on your own. There are a million people out of work, so you will likely get a viable candidate without having to read through ALL the resumes you receive. And truthfully, us job seeker only apply to “everything” out there because we know we have to because of all the fake jobs. It just creates a vicious circle.
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