Be careful! Misappropriation of grey matter! Here is a new testimony about the recruitment consultancy's practices in their search of computer scientists, which are not always fair play.
Here is a new on-the-spot testimony on the recruitment practices that still go on in the IT sector due to the lack of engineers (see article 'Sophia, your attention please, savage laying off'). Here is the story of 'Nicolas Velos' (it is his name of 'investigator') which was sent to the editorial office of Sophianet.com. The person concerned preferred that him and his company remained anonymous. As a matter of fact, the names are not divulged.
'I am an engineer in IT at Sophia for a bit less than a year. A month ago, someone pretending to be a student (...at an IT engineers school of Sophia), who carries on research for the school about the job of engineer (she got my number from someone who knows me to who she asked the same questions) called at my office.
She asked me what I did, about my competences, if I was glad, etc...and asked me if I knew people who had the same career profile as me. I asked her e-mail address to send her one of my friends' phone number. After a bit of research, I find out that the certain M.G. wasn't a student of the school in question. With my colleagues, we agreed to trap the trapper.
I sent her a mail, telling her to phone a friend who was engineer (who doesn't exist) that I called Nicolas Velos (Velos being the brand of the paper punch which is on my desk), I gave her my mobile phone number. She called me two hours later and asked the same questions again, but as Nicolas Velos, I told her I wasn't very happy, that I wanted to change of company and all that.
Yesterday, I received a phone call on my mobile and someone asked to speak to Nicolas Velos...of course, I answered 'yes, yes it's me'. The person introduced herself: 'C.C., recruitment agency'. I acted as an innocent who doesn't try to understand how she knew me and who took the opportunity saying that I was looking for a job. I asked her if I could call her after dinner. She gave me her number. Then, I called her with the all made up chat: 'yeah, I can do everything, I'm a star in everything you like, but I'm not happy where I work...'and she answered back 'I have an offer for you...' and she gave me the details of a job in a start-up in Sophia.
I gave her an invented e-mail address: nicovelos480yahoo.com that I hurried to create on Yahoo's website. Today, she sent to me the details of the job. The recruitment agency is B..., located in Lyon. Those methods are not very fair-play towards the agencies. I just wished to give my testimony, even if it can be perceived as denouncement.'....