Complaint Review: Right Management Consultants-S.J. HRC/PHR

SJ, HRC/PHR, a recruiter with Right Management Consultants, is a Human Resources Specialist and also a Career Counselor. 

As a recruiter for Right Management, SJ frequents different technical job fairs and career expos.

This is the venue in which I met SJ by virtue of seeking new employment.

SJ, HRC/PHR, introduced himself to me as a recruiter with Right Management Consultants and also mentioned that he was a career coach/counselor.

He offered some of his advice and knowledge about the job market and different positions which I could be a good match for.

At this point SJ began to ask me many questions about my salary, job skills and other information which a technical recruiter might ask.

SJ also invited me to network and allow him to "help" me find myself a new job.

By this time, SJ was also beginning to subject me to a series of personal questions which felt like some form of an inquisition. SJ was treating me although I had only known him for 24 hours, as if I had done something wrong to him or I should feel guilty that he gave me career advice, which he insisted upon giving to me.  The advice that he provided to me was along the lines of him forcing it upon me at this point and beyond.  I thought possibly he was just having a bad day, but as time went on, these episodes become more frequent, and intense with respect to some of his questions and comments towards me.

He continued to contact me via telephone and email and attempted to continue this networking process along with career coaching, but what began as days, led into weeks and months of this process. I was still not provided any solid or real employment prospects by Right Management.  SJ continued to inquire into my professional and working history to the point of being intrusive.  

SJ also was asking me many personal questions and bringing up topics which I felt uncomfortable with a professional recruiter attempting to discuss, and was not interested in these topics at all. Again, these questions began to feel like an interrogation of some sort, and I was not sure why this person was continuing to have these episodes of belligerence, criticism, sarcasm and power trips.  All I wanted was a job, and I thought that was what he was there for to provide, was exactly that, employment.

After several occasions of these types of events, I explained to SJ, that I appreciate the career coaching, and advice, but what I actually want is a job, a real employment prospect, not "career advice" or "career coaching", even though he was insisting on providing to me, without it being solicited by me.  While I appreciated his concern, skills, knowledge, and expertise, what I am there for is to find new work, and nothing more.  He was also still trying to make me feel guilty about me having to listen to his career counseling even though I did not ask him to provide that. 

SJ would say things such as:  "The things that I do for you, or after all that I've done for you".  The fact remained that he was insisting on maintaining this posture, even though the only thing that I was interested in was in securing gainful employment, not all of the other things which he was doing.  

SJ still continued to contact me via email, and telephone and wanted to network, "mentor", and have conversations which still didn't have anything to do with me actually finding a job.  SJ behavior was also beginning to become erratic, belligerent, and projected onto me like I owed him something for the "career coaching", "networking", and "mentoring" he was providing.

I had merely approached SJ as a job seeker at a job fair, seeking new work.  SJ, however, had forced his career services upon me by insisting that he provide them, then suggesting through his attitude that I am indebted to him for these services which I had never asked for.  I found this to be very frustrating and unprofessional.

I did not want to be rude to him by asking him to please stop calling me and to leave me alone. The fact is that much of SJ's behavior as a recruiter with Right Management was starting to make me feel very uneasy, uncomfortable, and unsure as to his stability and integrity as a person.  I was also starting to think that perhaps this man has some sort of an emotional or personality disorder which is causing him to act this way, so I should have patience with him.  

I began to realize that SJ was trying to maintain some sort of a foothold in this relationship by his continuing to ask: "Is there anything that I can 'help' you with"?  and "Well don't you need for me to 'help' you with that"?  

I was beginning to feel that this relationship which was begun as a job networking endeavor, was beginning to become a manipulative entanglement with someone who was insisting they provide additional career support services which were entirely unsolicited and unsought by me.  

I was also starting to get the impression that SJ did not understand the true nature of the relationship which existed between us as I approached him as a job seeker, and he asserted himself as a technical recruiter with Right Management.  I was beginning to think that SJ was losing touch with the reality of the situation and was trying to create the scenario according to his terms as he went along.  

I also started to get the impression that he was attempting to solicit other things from me, which I wanted no part of, and he had started this scheme all with his lies of trying to find new work for me.  Which was believable at the time because he was a recruiter at a job fair.

I did find work eventually which was not through SJ and Right Management, I began working that position, yet SJ still continued to contact me via email and telephone.

SJ wanted me to attend job fairs and networking functions with him in order to "help" me to find new work once more.  Communications with SJ began to become extremely time consuming and intrusive as they crossed over into my personal time outside of work, and there was not a clear boundary between what was professional and what was outside of that such as career counseling, coaching and mentoring.  

At this point SJ was either emailing, text messaging, or calling me almost everyday. I was concerned that he was taking up way too much of my personal time and was probably not actively trying to find me any employment.  All I was really looking for was a job, employment, and income, not all of the extraneous things that SJ was proposing.

When I simply asked SJ the question: "Do you have any work for me, when will I be able to get placed into a job"?, then he would avoid the question or change the subject or simply walk away.  I felt that this was very strange as I was under the impression that this was the purpose of our communications and professional standing.  SJ would also call me via telephone and subject me to harassing, sarcastic, and belligerent comments assessing my job skills and my background which I found to be very unprofessional.

I finally sat down with SJ to discuss this topic after this had gone on for far too long, and I asked him:  "Do you have any work for me or not, is there anyway you can find me a technical job or not"?  He had tried to avoid this topic for some time, and he would contact me saying that he had found a job for me, and when I would ask him about it, he wouldn't answer my question or go any further into the subject.

I again asked SJ: "Are we going any further with the job search or not, do you have work for me or not"?

At this point, SJ, replied to me:  "No, I am just looking for friends".  

SJ then further stated: "I just want to find people I can talk to, and people to hang out with".  

SJ used his job as a Right Management recruiter to try to seek out friendships or turn what was supposed to be a professional repoire into some sort of a friendship by lying about finding work for people.  This was an abuse of trust and an abuse of a professional role and job by a Right Management Recruiter.  This individual lied and manipulated over a period of months in order to solicit friendships out of potential job candidates which he said he would find work for.

I found this to be entirely unprofessional, dishonest, and unscrupulous of a recruiter with the Right Management Consulting company to misuse their professional position in order to attempt to foster friendships which were out of the scope of that person's role.  

I do not believe that SJ as a Right Management employee, deserves to be in a position of authority or guidance over anyone's career based upon the behavior he displayed as a recruiter.