Four Unemployment Frustations - Part 3

Before I became unemployed, I would have expected that losing my job would also remove a large number of the frustrations of my daily life. The reality is that while I definitely have less stress in my current state, my previous frustrations have simply been replaced by new ones. This series of posts examines my top four unemployment frustrations. Click here for Part 1 and Part 2.
My third frustration is recruiters offering me positions in Financial Sales.

A portion of the emails and phone calls I receive are for positions in financial sales or financial advising. While financial sales is a real, viable career, the techniques used by recruiters for these positions often look exactly like the ones that are obvious scams. The emails often have the same warning flags as the interview offers I mentioned yesterday. And the phone calls are worse. Here’s an example:

A few days ago I received a call from a recruiter. The number showed up on my caller ID as a man's name, not a company. This number called me every day for three days between 9 and 10 am without leaving a message. So, on the fourth call, I decided that I would have to answer the number to get them to stop calling. The recruiter introduces herself, mumbles her company name, and tells me she found my resume on a career site and may want to set up an interview. She then asks me some very basic questions about my work history and contact details. I resist the urge to tell her that if she has my resume she shouldn't need to ask these questions and politely respond. She does not ask for any details about my experience, except to ask if I've every supervised anyone (again this is on my resume). She then says she wants to set up an interview with her boss, and when am I available. I ask what the position is. She tells me they have a number of positions available ranging from associate to senior manager. I tell her that's not very clear; those are job levels, not job titles. She repeats that the positions are all kinds from sales associates to senior managers. I say, so these are sales positions? She says well some of the positions are management. I point out to her that my experience is in HR. She says, so you're only interested in HR positions. I tell her pretty much. She says good luck on your search.

The experience was probably particularly frustrating because it took place over the phone, rather than by email where I could look up the company name if I had doubts, and deal with and respond to the request at my leisure. Over the phone put me on her terms, and I felt like I had to fight with her to get the information I needed. Imagine if I was a less persistent person and actually let her set up the interview. How much time would I have wasted getting to and participating in the interview?

When I was a teenager, I applied for a similar position with a knife company. They advertised on telephone poles and in the paper that you could earn up to $16/hour without telling you anything else about them. Since that was good money for a summer job, I called the number. The “interview” included a sales demonstration with a group of other applicants, a brief 5 minute discussion with the recruiter, and a job offer. Even at 16 I knew that this was a bum deal. I was going to pester my friends and family to listen to my pitch. They would buy something small because they felt bad for me. Then they would give me one or two names of friends who might be interested, but when I called those people, they wouldn’t be interested and that would be the end of my knife selling career. I turned the offer down.

I suspect financial sales is a similar networking sales technique. The need for constant fresh blood pushes the recruiters to do anything in their power to find candidates. Still, their tactics leave a bad taste in my mouth, and even if I thought I might be good at it, I'm disinclined to even consider financial sales as a career alternative.

There's more to come.  Click here to read Part 4.