In the most difficult job market in decades, a bewildering and largely unregulated array of businesses offering employment assistance have left job seekers vulnerable. For fees that are typically thousands of dollars, these companies offer to help the unemployed land six-figure jobs and to cut the job search time in half. However, many of these companies do little more than provide ordinary job search assistance: overhauling résumés and cover letters, giving advice on how to network and helping sort through public job listings.
For example, the New York Times recently reported the story of Edward Bockman, who managed the technology center of an Illinois college before losing his job during a restructuring. Mr. Bockman paid a career management company $5,000 in late 2007 after responding to what he thought was a job posting for professionals looking to earn $100,000 a year. Benchmark Professional Careers told him that a search for someone his age would normally take 13 months but that the company would cut that time in half. Mr. Bockman said he believed that the company was a high-end recruiter, with access to a vast “hidden job market” that gave it connections to positions unavailable to regular job seekers. Only after he began working with the company, did he realize it did not have any special pathways to job openings. His demands for a refund were rejected. Two years later, he still does not have a job, and the company’s $5,000 charge on his credit card helped push him and his wife to file for bankruptcy.
Numerous other consumers have had similar experiences. For example, one consumer paid ITS Corporation $8,250 believing it would help him land a six-figure job in the Denver area, which he said the saleswoman promised. But the company did little more than redo his résumé and advise him to cold-call employers. Another consumer paid the Arthur Group nearly $3,000 for various services, which the consumer believed meant the company would market him for all the jobs to which it seemed to have access. But the company, which purported to have connections to all kinds of employers, rarely placed anyone in jobs, according to three people who worked as salesmen for the company before quitting.
Over the years, several state attorneys general have filed lawsuits after consumers alleged that they had been misled. In the mid-1980s, the New Jersey Attorney General’s office sued several career counseling companies founded by Robert J. Gerberg Sr., whose son, Robert J. Gerberg Jr., now runs ITS. (The elder Mr. Gerberg is a senior consultant to the company.) A judge later found that the companies had violated state consumer fraud laws, “through the use of various misrepresentations and misleading statements to consumers.” The companies were ordered to change their practices.
If you believe you or someone you know has been the victim of a job search scam, please contact us to discuss your legal options.