49
dooter
3y

I work for a company known for its unbelievable perks and benefits. Every time a job opens up, we get thousands of applications.

Candidates are becoming increasingly aggressive to stand out. Hundreds of them (literally) have purchased Facebook ads or LinkedIn promoted posts to get their information in front of current employees.

Others have taken to outright stalking our employees. I freelance occasionally and have a separate website for my freelance business. I receive dozens of calls and emails to my freelance number and email account daily from people who want to “chat about the open position.”

My husband — who has a different last name — runs a small retail shop. He’s had people come into his store and tell him that they did internet sleuthing and found out he was married to an employee of my company, and would he please pass on their resume?

I expect to get these messages on my LinkedIn or company email, but am I wrong in thinking that stalking me out and trying to contact me via personal contact info (or my husband) is way out of line?

Is there a way to sharply tell them that this is not okay? Normally, I just don’t respond, but I have to turn my phone off or it rings all day and it’s really annoying. Would it look weird to put a message on my freelance website that says do not contact me about Company X jobs?

My company is aware of this problem, and has said to forward the names of aggressive or alarming candidates their way to remove them from consideration, but it’s so common, I’m thinking this is a product of being told that if they just showed GUMPTION, they’d get the job. I feel bad for them, but it’s also creeping me out.

Comments
  • 15
    That's creepy.

    But the way getting a job works often does involve outside social contacts. Not exactly creepy cold ones..... but I get the idea.

    Heck I'm spammed cold daily on LinkedIn by crappy recruiters... What you described sounds kind of similar. I wonder if the whole industry has created a really crappy hiring monster where everyone is a spammy jerk.

    One thing I wonder is how to get your name. At a company of any moderate to large size... The odds of picking the right rando employee for given opening to talk to would seem low.

    I wonder if someone inside is giving out names?
  • 25
    Where u workin at, Valve? Can u pass on my resumé?
  • 12
    @localpost

    I RESPONDED FIRST I HAVE DIBS!!!!!!!

    /s
  • 16
    What are some of the unbelievable perks and benefits. Just curious since if somebody is searching the internet to contact your husband so that they have a slightly higher chance of getting hired means that they must be good
  • 10
    Do you work at Tesla?
    There's no other company I would stalk employees' husbands of.
    My dream is to smoke weed with Elon Musk
  • 4
    @SortOth Tesla is known for its work life balance.. or the lack of any.. but yeah if i get one, i will be too proud to care about my life.
  • 16
    At that level of assholeness, there is only one chance to get rid of them:
    State on your website that you indeed add the stalkers to a blacklist (as @jespersh suggested) ensuring that they have zero chance to ever get any job at the company.

    And actually do so - so that there can't be word of mouth of assholes that actually did get hired after stalking you or your family!
  • 8
    I second what @Oktokolo said...

    these needy greedy idiots wont listen to reason or pleads, but they will listen to changes of the game rules...

    everyone going against the rules is out..

    - you get to me through my family contacts? you're out!

    - you contact me about this job via any private messaging or phone? you're out!

    make it, so the only way to get the job is to go through the proper channels...
  • 13
    That's actually fascinating.

    I'm also super curious what the benefits are to inspire Facebook ads and husband stalking... does your company give out free blowjobs every morning to get the blood pumping and wake up your engineering brain?? A dose of heroin for lunch? Free rides home via blacked-out prostitute van?

    ...free sodas?
  • 5
    That's so interesting. As an employee do you feel your job is so amazing that it justifies all of the effort people put into getting hired there?

    Benefits lol. I think people just want the social status of working there.
  • 5
    Does your company have like 3 months of vacations per year or something? I can't imagine going to those lengths to apply to any single company I know of.
  • 2
    "Thank you, I'll make sure you'll never work for us. Have a nice day!" + ban. About 10-20 of those should be enough for the trend to stop.
  • 4
    @dooter if your company can offer such a good benefits package, I believe they could also do their best to avoid this issue.
    For example, are they stating in highly visible places on their website(s) that if any employee gets personally contacted, then that applicant will be permanently blacklisted?
  • 3
    @Alt-Tab I agree. The biggest risk is knowing there’s a problem and not addressing it.

    This traces back the mantra that you have to network to get a job. Networking helps but only if it’s organic and mutual. (Mixers and meet ups are still organic connections, just sort of fertilized to continue the analogy.)

    Stalking someone and going out of your way to contact them through non professional means is not that. And as we can see it hurts. It should be obvious but the work culture is counter that. Problem number 1170 as to why hustle culture is problematic.
  • 2
    Soooooo you hiring?
  • 0
    Have it made perfectly clear on the job adverts that any harassment of employees in an attempt to secure a position will be immediate grounds to be permanently removed from the recruitment pool.
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