I am currently trying to hire a cybersecurity engineer. One of the platforms I’m using to source candidates is Vettery, which is a “reverse job board.” That means that people looking for work post their profiles and resumes on the site, and then employers search through the employee profiles for promising looking candidates and reach out to them to see if they’re interested. Vettery, like the other reverse job boards, makes their money by charging employers fees, either on a per-hire or subscription basis.
Recently on Vettery I came across a promising looking candidate. I reached out to that candidate, told them that I was trying to hire a full-time cybersecurity engineer, and asked if they would be interested in speaking with me on the phone about the position. They responded quickly and affirmatively, so we scheduled a time for me to call them.
I was reviewing their profile before the call when I noticed that the most recent position listed on their profile, at a consulting company called Observian, showed a start date of February 2018. Since it’s obviously very unusual for someone to be looking for a new position only a month after starting their current position, that was the first thing I asked the candidate about once I had them on the phone.
At this point they informed me that in fact they were not looking for a full-time position at all. Rather, they were using the Vettery platform to entice hiring managers into speaking with them on the phone so they could pitch Observian’s services.
Needless to say, I terminated the conversation shortly after that disclosure.
Posting your profile on a reverse job board when you’re not actually looking for a job is lying. Accepting an invitation to discuss a full-time position when you’re not actually looking for a full-time position is lying. This is not OK.
I will not be doing business with Observian, and I would encourage others to refrain from doing so as well, if they agree with me that it is not OK for a company to drum up business by lying.
P.S. The “cloud experts” at Observian can’t even keep their web site up:
