There’s a Brazilian song that says, “🎵 Laranja madura 🎶 na beira da estrada 🎶 tá bichada, Zé 🎶 ou tem marimbondo no pé.🎵” A free translation could be, “Fresh orange next to the road, it’s either rotten or there’s a wasp nest on the tree.”
I’ve just received the best job offer ever!
I’m not in the job market but am curious about new opportunities.
A call just like many others
I’m not disclosing the company name, neither the client.
Phone rings.
“Hello, Mr. Tafla. This is ‘Adam’ from [a reputable company]. As you’re certainly aware, we’re the largest recruiting and staffing company in the country.”
I had worked with them in the past; maybe that’s how they found me? Never mind the Indian accent. Never mind it’s a San Francisco area code number. I used to own a similar number, so I know how easy it is to get one. ‘Adam’ continues.
“I’m calling on behalf of a client of ours: [name disclosed]. They’re looking for a professional with your qualifications. I’m sending you the job description. I’ll call you in 10 minutes so you can have time to review it.”
This could be construed as a red flag, but different companies have different methods.
In comes the e-mail. Standard format. Nothing unusual about it. Pay is good. The sender is ‘Javian’ instead of ‘Adam’ but that’s not unusual either. No contact information, though. The client is a famous, traditional, multinational corporation in the Technology industry. They’re located in Silicon Valley but this position would require a lot of travel, so they’re settling for remote work.
The job description is clear enough. I check all boxes but one: I don’t have Product Owner certification.
‘Adam’ calls again. I tell him I’m a good candidate despite the missing certification. He says it’s not a problem; the client could continue the conversation as long as I, at the least, am registered for the class. He then asks me to reply to the e-mail with an updated resume in case I’m interested.
Why is registering for the class enough? There’s a fee associated with it. One way or another, I’m going to spend time on it. Really, the least I could do, at the end, is to pass the certification test. Having yet another acronym next to my name is well worth the effort, especially in the case of CSPO.
As for the recruiting company, it had been quite a long time since I last worked with them, so it made perfect sense for them to request an updated resume. How could they know what I have been doing lately? Next, I respond to their e-mail with an attached copy.
Eventually, phone rings again.
“Hello, Mr. Tafla, this is ‘Javian’ from [the same company]. I understand you spoke to my assistant ‘Adam’. I forwarded your resume to the client and they’re very much interested in talking to you early next week.” 🚩
Unless I’m Albert Einstein and the client is looking for a renowned physicist, I know this can’t be true. It’s just too quick! ‘Javian’ continues.
“As for the training, it can’t be done through Scrum Alliance. The client doesn’t recognize them because they deliver the class and just give you the certificate. Instead, they want you to study and pass the certification test yourself.” 🚩
Scrum Alliance wrote the book on Scrum principles. There have been arguments against them due to their practices, which resulted in the forming of other organizations, such as Scrum.org, whose certifications are widely accepted. For the record, I took the Certified ScrumMaster course and had to pass a difficult test, and have also been renewing it periodically. The Certified Agile Leader course was brand new and, at least at that time, there was no test, but we had to do a presentation during the class.
‘Javian’ continues.
🚩 “The client has a list of certified training providers. I’m sending you the list.”
Because it smelled really fishy, I threw them a bait: asked them how they found me.
🚩 “We found you on [a job search engine].”
Not their database. A job search engine. Do they purge old records after a while? I know for a fact they don’t.
And then comes their email, sure enough, with a list of training providers, none of which I had ever heard of before, and none to be found on LinkedIn. 🚩 Even better: the certification was not CSPO, neither PSPO, but something I had never heard of before. In a past life, as I was screening candidates, I saw plenty of certifications, but not the ones those providers were offering.
I had enough! That’s when I did something I should have done earlier: check their e-mail addresses.
And voilà: the domain is not [company name].com (which is what they’re famous for), but [company name].us instead. Bingo! The website is still under construction, which is odd for the largest staffing and recruiting company in the country. Their domain was just registered last month. Registrant, administrative, and technical contacts are a company in Alabama with a phone number in India, so most likely a shell. I looked up ‘Adam’ and ‘Javian’ online; they don’t exist.
Just for the sake of comparison, [company name].com was registered in 1997 and owned by their parent company.
They called me once more. I didn’t answer. I don’t expect to hear from them ever again.