Scam Business Categories That Should Be Eliminated

 When people have tight budgets and have to prioritize necessities, especially during job transitions, it is often a good thing to reach out for help.  The job market can be unnecessarily complicated, more so now that AI "gatekeeper" screening slaughters most resumes and CVs before an actual person even looks at them.  Along with this is tax liabilities - when you get slapped with a bill from the IRS threatening to levy your assets when you have limited resources, it makes people seek help to make sense of that too.  The US tax code is a cumbersome hodgepodge of frivolous paper waste that, when compiled, is the size of a library in a small town.  That is ridiculous.  The need to survive - securing income, and also mitigating excessive tax burdens - has created a weird niche for a whole industry of "services" that capitalize on people's vulnerabilities.  There are two major areas where this is evident

1. Resume writing services and job search companies

2. Tax settlement firms

In all honesty, these are two industries that don't need to exist, and they are two of the most corrupt moneymaking schemes out there.  The first one preys on the desperation of job seekers who haven't heard anything back from companies they have applied to and have had endless rejection letters.  The second makes unrealistic and false claims about "IRS debt forgiveness," which is rare if it even exists at all.  If you go on a social media platform like Facebook, you will see literally hundreds of ads for both of these rackets (and let's be honest - that is exactly what they are), and it just gets to be a literal headache trying to navigate without those damn ads assaulting your senses at every turn. Let me take the first one, the "pay to work" scam.

Resume writing and career coaching have become big business these days, and you cannot scroll on social media or anywhere else without seeing ads guaranteeing you things about finding work.  They promise to short-list you, put your application material in front of a hiring manager, etc.  A person who is desperately needing work will see that, and thinking it is an answer to prayers, they click on it, and then the big fonts and continuous flipping through screens of repetitive claims finally come to a place where you are asked to fill out details, upload a resume, etc.  You do all of that, and then you click a button.  And - voila! - there's the catch!  In order to get their services, you have to pay them a fee to find you work, and in all honesty when I see that I run the other direction.  When anyone asks me to pay them for the "privilege" of landing that $100K/year dream job, they are lying to you - don't waste your money.  Nine chances out of ten, you will need the money they are trying to scam you out of for basic necessities, as you are probably facing a budget crunch due to your resources coming down to a trickle, and to waste money on a service that 90% of the time will not deliver what they promise is insanity.  A real employment assistance service should never ask you to pay them, and I am going to show you how the correct model works.

The traditional staffing agency (or temp service) generally is not going to charge you to find work for you.  Often, you just submit your information, and a staffing rep will call you to go over your options. Then, they will notify you of potential job opportunities, and you can have the option of accepting or rejecting them.  This is how the traditional staffing industry - made up of firms like Aston Carter, Randstad, Robert Half, and others - has worked for decades, and in my experience I have had some of my greatest successes securing work with them over the years.  Some of these agencies are also industry focused - Ally Educators is one that comes to mind for teachers, and a Florida-based firm called The Legal Registry works within the legal profession - but they operate pretty much the same way.  These agencies are generally efficient and effective at getting candidates short-term work, and they are also honest with you if any issue comes up.  So, these are businesses, so how do staffing agencies get funded?  They are contracted by companies to find talent, and the company pays them a set rate.  For instance, if you are signed up as talent at one of these agencies, and a client company decides to hire for a position you qualify for and sets a rate of $18 hourly to pay you, their contract will stipulate that they then pay the agency around $30 hourly for you, so that the agency makes a profit too.  That is actually a decent business model, and it's also fair as well.  And, as a result, the candidate needing work does not have to pay out money from their pockets, as the companies do that for their own services they receive which includes hiring people like you to do specialized jobs.  The down side, which to these staffing agencies' credit is honest, is that they will tell you up-front that they don't necessarily guarantee placement.  You may even go for weeks or months without a peep from the agency, but if you are still available, at some point they reach out and you have yourself work then.  The virtue of consistency then is something many traditional staffing agencies have, and that can be appreciated.  However, these buzzards on social media that promise things they can't deliver, and then try to charge you for it, are not the same.  So, the recommendation here is to stick with a traditional staffing agency for a more rapid chance at getting some decent work until the full-time permanent opportunity opens up. 

Another thing about this crap was addressed by a gentleman on LinkedIn recently concerning these emails you get.  After some time, when your personal savings are dwindling and you have to rely on maxing out credit cards to pay basic expenses, the job search can get discouraging.  The guy on LinkedIn, who is called Ramon, made some interesting points in a post on there.  He noted the common AI-generated phraseology you get, and these are some I have seen often too:

1.  From Indeed: "Your extensive leadership experience could be a strong match for this role." 

My commentary on this one:  When you get something like this, it is often a job so far out of your field and experience that an actual hiring manager would laugh himself silly if you submitted a resume for it.  I have actually gotten things like this for attorney positions, one time I got one for a phlebotomist, and another time it was a blue-collar gig like a forklift driver.  This is how you can tell a dumb bot generated that crap. 

2. From LinkedIn: "Your background aligns well with this opportunity."

My commentary:  Yeah, right!  Like the Indeed AI-generated spiel, this one is a bunch of BS usually too as a lot of things they list this way have nothing to do with your actual background. 

3. From Glassdoor: "You may be a great fit." 

My commentary:  This one tries to qualify their "assessment" with the word "may," but often what you supposedly "may" be "a great fit" for is something outside your professional demographic.  

4. From recruiters:  "Your experience really stood out to me."

My commentary:  Well great then - do I get the job if I impressed you that much?  Yeah, this is yet another bot and not a real person.

5. The email about something you did apply for:  "We were impressed with your background, but..."

My commentary here:  Here is the problem with that.  If you liked me so much, then why the rejection letter?  While at least they had the courtesy to respond - that's nice at least - they don't have to blow smoke up your hindquarters by trying to patronize your hard work.  

As Ramon very correctly said, none of us are going to get every job we apply for, but the problem is more fundamental than that.  Many of these places utilize robot "gatekeepers" that tend to reject a submitted application before a real person even knows it exists, and as a result, you end up applying to hundreds of positions you know you're qualified for, and out of those hundreds you are lucky to get a dozen responses, and even less will actually invite you to either an in-person interview or a Zoom call to talk more. For all the time a candidate wastes on this - and that doesn't even take into account that there is no real standard for what a resume or CV looks like, so you have to tailor those to every damn thing you apply to - it eats into dwindling resources such as gas in a car, Uber fare if you don't have a car, basic groceries, and in time it affects credit accounts and your living expenses.  Most qualified people who keep getting ghosted or rejected for jobs they really should have are forced to waste a lot of time and energy on superficial junk that won't even be viewed by a human eyeball anyway.  Usually, the useless, stupid bots intercept and auto-reject your resume before even a mail clerk sees it.  This is why personally I have little use for AI.  And, I have little use for so-called "job assistance services" that will charge you a small fortune you cannot afford to promise you jobs you never get.  That radically has to change, and a human dimension has to be restored to the job seeking process.  People have to feed and take care of their families, and cannot afford these stupid games with AI bots when they need income.  Ramon also noted that the hiring process in general has become direly disconnected, and I agree with him 100%.  As he notes, you are supposedly "qualified" but then not selected.  And then it is the guilt trips from people - your resume was not the right this or that, you didn't have a cover letter, etc.  In other words, they say it's your fault for not getting chosen, even if the references you submitted gave glowing recommendations, and your resume showcases the best of your work history.  That means that many qualified people who could contribute a lot are kicked to the curb, and some billionaire executive could care less.  Any rate, that is my perspective on that situation.

The tax services are a whole different level of annoyances.  In recent weeks, I get more than 20 calls a day from buzzards making promises to eliminate or reduce my tax debt, and they promise things that the IRS even says won't happen.  The IRS may reduce what you owe, but it doesn't get total forgiveness unless it's a unique circumstance.  However, those scavengers who prey on vulnerable people facing tax levy letters and other looming threats are not interested in helping you - they are interested in turning a profit at your expense.  It is kind of stupid really, because if someone is struggling with a massive tax burden, then how in hell are they going to pay hundreds of dollars to some scam artist to do something that theoretically is impossible.  I think social media platforms need to rein in those annoying ads, and even communication companies should go after them for calling people 20 or more times a day too.  That is another thing I am sick of when trying to find real answers to issues, and then these people give you a migraine with the scamming and nonsense.  It's got to stop.

I think I have said all that needs to be said for now about these two bogus business schemes, and if there is a way to force legislation to stop them, I am all in on it.  You should not have an additional and unnecessary burden imposed upon you when you are genuinely seeking help, and buzzards like tax remedy "services" and resume-writing firms as well as paid job boards need to be declared illegal for the way they exploit others.  If you need help with finding a good career, often there are free programs at churches and through most state Department of Labor offices that will help you in more realistic ways - they don't guarantee results, but they can give constructive feedback and assessment on your strengths and areas you could tweak.  Your tax revenue already pays for those, so you have a right to use them.  Also, a close friend who has some gift for creating resumes and CVs can do you a better service for less price - they probably need the income too, so utilize them and they will often work out something with you too.  However, please do not fall for those garbage ads on social media for services like this, because they will just rip you off and not deliver anything to you.  This is some practical advice based on my own experiences over the years, and I am offering it for free because it will do more good that way.

Thank you for letting me rant, and will see you next visit.