As a result of my knee jerk, fit throwing rant about a recruiter who thinks it's  totally neat, fun and wonderful to brag about having 27 profiles on Facebook , 26 of them bogus and phony,so he can get into networks that are restricted to local cities, my email has been a steady stream of people coming out of the woodwork  agreeing that they think it's a scummy, lowlife thing to do. But thank you for letting us know what you are all about.  It's always nice to know who to stay away from.

I am sure his email steam has been full of adoring fellows who think being bogus is totally wonderful if it gets them into places and connected with people that they would not otherwise be able to reach without a little more effort.

People are reporting that there is a career counselor who is coaching candidates to set up bogus  company profiles on Linkedin showing themselves as the CEO or a VP so they will be contacted by recruiters. or companies.  May they be contacted by a bogus recruiter, a big dose of kismet and karma for both of you.

Another person has reported that there is  a recruiter in the DFW area who prides herself on having set up 50 bogus profiles on Linkedin  which she then uses to make recommendations of her services.. oh honey, that is just too pitiful, may you marry another lying narcissist.

And the list goes on and on.  Since the coming of age of the internet (and before albeit it was not quite as easy)  the ease for sleaze, scams, cons, lies and misrepresentations  has become an art form unto it's self.  I have spent 35 years in this industry fighting the crappy reputation that recruiters have earned due to the scammers, slammers, cowboys and crooks.. I shall not stop now calling bullshit on scams, what else would you call a bogus  profile. A fun time avatar?

We scream to the rafters about being professionals, being respected for what we do, building trust with our candidates and clients.  We bitch our heads off about candidates who lie on their resumes, lie about their educational background.  We beat the drum loudly about transparency, authenticity.  We rail because our clients do not have enough respect for us to give us feedback or return our cold calls.  Are we in any position to ask for trust, respect and to be treated as professionals if we think it's fine to set up bogus profiles......for any reason.

Do we then say, well the rules are silly about phony profiles so it's ok and in fact gee that's a cool idea.

I can't control what anybody else does or how they run their business but i can certainly make it known loud and clear that it is my humble opinion if you can't make it as a recruiter whithout setting up bogus profiles to connect with people, if you can't get a real recommendation without setting up bogus profiles then recommending yourself  you should really consider selling used cars  that don't run or sign up for an email scam to con people into sending you their social security number. or consider credit card fraud. Fraud is  fraud. Be it a job that does not exist or a phony profile.

As i said on twitter this  morning.  "A lie, just like a rose by any other name is still a rose and a lie.  So if you need to lie to make a living or be a big shot go for it but be advised, there are a lot of us who think you are scum and the reason our industry has a bad name in a lot of venues..

If your take is that i am being "holier than thou" by calling bogus business  practices bogus.  Thank you for the compliment.  And i wish you 50 bogus resumes  in a row  by some other bogus recruiter just like you trying to find out where your job is  so they can call your client.  You deserve each other.  I loathe your types, you pollute an industry that deserves better. I wish St. Patrick had done a better job with the snakes.  He missed a few it seems.