Complaint Review: McKenzie Scott - Pittsburgh Pennsylvania

I went to McKenzie Scott because I was unfamiliar with marketing myself after my downsizing experience. I was given a speech by Dennis Johnston about how my resume was only reaching about 10-15% of the job market. They could provide a service that would increase that to 80-85%. This is false information. My phone is not ringing and my e-mail box is filled. All they would need from me was a check and a signature. As I told Dennis I would need some time to consider their fee, he "suggested" very strongly that I provide them the check within a week, as the job market was becoming very volatile, due to the time of year. I was told that a mass mailing would be done for me and the companies massive contact data base would be at my disposal for open positions. In addition my own consultant would interview me, prepare a professional resume, cover letter, and marketing plan. Dennis assured me that after talking with his staff Mckenzie Scott could help as per his quote, "We wouldn't have taken on your case if we felt we couldn't help." A salary range was established and I was assured this would be a positive experience. Not only has the experience been less than positive; I received four (4) phone calls from the 600+ mass mailings sent out by Mckenzie Scott and no interview requests. That is less than a 1% return. I was told that all correspondence, from resumes to cover letters, would be done by Mckenzie Scott on my behalf. Their idea of writing a cover letter consists of three to four sentences as a template and I must complete the body of the letter. The resume and cover letter (I found out later from technical recruiters) would never have got my foot in the door it did not contain the information or the formatting that employers were looking for when searching for an IT professional. It was wordy and gave no factual information about my background. The wonderful data base was filled with dead links (I was asked to report them so that the dead links could be cleared up). Job searches done on titles that I was looking for listed companies all over the country, not just where I was located. The reply to this was that I had to research ALL companies because they may have a job opening with my title in my location, but I wouldn't know until I searched their company website. Taking them at their word, I spent long hours investigating companies and openings with little success. When I tired of the exhaustive searches I formulated my own method of research. It was only then that I became aware that nothing I was doing through McKenzie Scott would have worked for me and that I actually ended up paying a great deal of money to them to help them clean up their horrible data base. Their proprietary links on their private website set up just for me, can be found at upwards of a 70% capacity on Google or other reputable search engines. Their fees are outrageous. There is no justification for the fee they charge and the literature they create on my behalf. What they provide can be found by simply searching the internet. Though their contract clearly states there are no guarantees of employment, their charts and graphs are extremely misleading by showing constant upward trends in career searches that are succesful. Mckenzie Scott does not provide a respectable service, but they DO do it at a very high price. Tony Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

U.S.A.