The First Job! Consultancy Agencies!

Menace for Job Seekers!

This image is from an article from Times Of India. Dated: 27th June, 2013.

In the past one month I had applied for jobs in more than 400 places. That includes applications to fake firms, useless consultancy agencies, fraudulent job portals, and what not! From travelling to Job Fairs to dropping resume at company door step, from losing money to a fraud to going for a fake interview I did everything. Result: I still have not received any call for an interview or even an aptitude test.

The story didn't end with the t*mesjobs scam. There was more to come. It was 1st June, 2013. In the afternoon as I was having my lunch I received a call from Pin*acle Placements Mumbai.

What follows next was hilarious! On picking up the call I was asked about my whereabouts and details and then they let the cat out. They told me that they were conducting 'Walk-Ins' for freshers on behalf of Audi, Toyota and Ambuja Cements! Just look at their daring stance of bluffing. 

They further furnished me with details about salary which they said to be 20-22 K! And to add to it they said that I would even have chance to go abroad and all other crap stuff which would triggers mini orgasms to most freshers. Though I was not at all surprised by any of their statements. Because I had recently been blessed by t*mesjobs scam! They were literally trying to convince me to attend the interview and repeatedly asking for my confirmation. I nonchalantly agreed and hung up the call.

When I narrated the entire story to Mom & Dad, they seemed to be worried as I was not interested in attending the interview. They asked me to take a chance and visit the place and see what was the fuss all about.

So on 3rd of June, I and Dad were on our way to Mumbai. [I was half-sleepy all the time. After all I woke up at 4am that day!] By 1pm in the afternoon we were at the venue. I was in shock to see that it was some sort of a room hardly 8 x 8', without any windows! I immediately realized that I had fallen trap to another fake! x-(

I was fuming with anger and was contemplating to leave just when I was greeted by a fat guy [with typical Tere Naam hair style, and shirt so tight that he couldn't even button it up properly]. He asks me to follow into the room and takes my resume and throws the age old question at me,"Describe yourself" [He repeated it around 3 times before I could take my eyes off the hot receptionist sitting on a desk next to me]

I started narrating the answer and I had hardly completed 2-3 sentences when he interrupted me. He said something that no interviewee would ever expect to hear.

" Okay, Okay, you have PASSED the test! Now if you want to proceed further you have to pay us rs. 500 against which we will provide you with an online test on behalf of the company or else you could pay up 25% of your salary [which was promised to be 20-22K earlier] and we will place you directly in the company "

I couldn't hold back my laughter and ended up asking, 

" Kaunsi company sir? Audi, Toyota ya Ambuja" [Which company sir? Any of these- Audi, Toyota or Ambuja]

He frowned and replied, 

" Nahi in me se koi nahi, abhi filhal Siemens ke liye opening hai hamare paas. Baaki ko time hai!"

[None of these, we have openings from Siemens at present, the former ones are yet to come]

I changed my stance and asked him sternly,

" Toh phone pe kyo kaha fir?" [So why did you mention about them on phone?]

He tried to defend himself with vague answers as usual,

" Dekho company ke kuch policies hoti hai, unke requirments ke hisaab se placements hoti hai!"

[Each company has its own policies and according to it placements are done]

I had enough of it. We stood up, turned back and left the place while he was still blabbering trying to convince me to pay him. As I and Dad both of us were regretting the decision of attending the so called interview. [Though I was relishing my eyes on the occasional hottie who would pass me on the station, or on the road and so on ;-)]

As we began our journey towards CST, Dad said,

" Is bar toh gad bad toh gya, but next time in sab calls pe dhyaan mat dena aur sirf paper ke authentic openings ko follow karna!" [This time everything went wrong! Don't bother about such calls from next time; just keep following the authentic openings featured in newspapers]

We both learnt a very important lesson that day. Its completely futile to trust job sites and delicious phone calls promising so many things. The best bet [what I feel personally] is to follow and apply to the openings in local dailies and company websites [if any] or to apply through references and attend college campuses as the last resort. [And thus save your precious pocket money]

Cheers!