I Got Kirked
I’ve been following Katherine Koble’s troubles with JL Kirk. It’s the grand topic of the moment in the local blogs. And a few not so local blogs are picking it up ever since Instapundit mentioned it.
I’ll give the short version……… Katherine’s husband was job hunting and they cold called him after seeing his resume online. Katherine and her husband were unhappy with their experience and doubtful the company could/would deliver as promised so they declined to hire them. Katherine then posted about her experience on her blog and an employee of JL Kirk felt maligned in the process and posted a rebuttal comment. Katherine responded to that comment and then received a cease and desist order from JL Kirk’s lawyers. At last reading she was trying to decide whether or not to let them bully her into taking down her post. You can see lots of local reaction at Nashville Is Talking.
In the interests of blogger solidarity I’ve decided to post about a similar experience I had. I don’t like to tell people about it because I hate to screw up and I hate when someone takes advantage of me, and both of those things happened big time. I don’t remember the company name, and it probably wasn’t JL Kirk, but my experience was similar to the Koble’s (except the lawyer part).
I got my first engineering degree in 1995. The entry level job market wasn’t so good at the time so I was jobless when I picked up my parchment. Fortunately my parents are fairly generous and let me live with them during the job hunt. After all that blood and sweat spent designing dams, parks, and sewage treatment plants it was a huge ego blow to be unemployed and living in my parents basement. I went on dozens of job interviews but for six months I earned spending money stacking wood at the local furniture factory and substitute teaching for $25 per day.
So you can probably figure out what my frame of mind was like when I got a call from a ‘placement agency’ that wanted ‘to help me find a job’. Older and wiser heads told me it was shady to pay an agency before they got me a job, but I was desperate. And I had a refund from the IRS burning a hole in my pocket. Now that Katherine has pointed it out, it was really an amazing coincidence that the fee was almost exactly what my refund was.
What can I say, I was young and desperate. After the check cleared I received a list of names and addresses for companies who were ‘definitely hiring in my field’. And I never heard from a single person on the list. I hope they enjoyed spending my money.
I’ll give the short version……… Katherine’s husband was job hunting and they cold called him after seeing his resume online. Katherine and her husband were unhappy with their experience and doubtful the company could/would deliver as promised so they declined to hire them. Katherine then posted about her experience on her blog and an employee of JL Kirk felt maligned in the process and posted a rebuttal comment. Katherine responded to that comment and then received a cease and desist order from JL Kirk’s lawyers. At last reading she was trying to decide whether or not to let them bully her into taking down her post. You can see lots of local reaction at Nashville Is Talking.
In the interests of blogger solidarity I’ve decided to post about a similar experience I had. I don’t like to tell people about it because I hate to screw up and I hate when someone takes advantage of me, and both of those things happened big time. I don’t remember the company name, and it probably wasn’t JL Kirk, but my experience was similar to the Koble’s (except the lawyer part).
I got my first engineering degree in 1995. The entry level job market wasn’t so good at the time so I was jobless when I picked up my parchment. Fortunately my parents are fairly generous and let me live with them during the job hunt. After all that blood and sweat spent designing dams, parks, and sewage treatment plants it was a huge ego blow to be unemployed and living in my parents basement. I went on dozens of job interviews but for six months I earned spending money stacking wood at the local furniture factory and substitute teaching for $25 per day.
So you can probably figure out what my frame of mind was like when I got a call from a ‘placement agency’ that wanted ‘to help me find a job’. Older and wiser heads told me it was shady to pay an agency before they got me a job, but I was desperate. And I had a refund from the IRS burning a hole in my pocket. Now that Katherine has pointed it out, it was really an amazing coincidence that the fee was almost exactly what my refund was.
What can I say, I was young and desperate. After the check cleared I received a list of names and addresses for companies who were ‘definitely hiring in my field’. And I never heard from a single person on the list. I hope they enjoyed spending my money.
posted by W at 2:59 PM
2 Comments:
Bummer.
I went to one as well. At least I went the interview in the fancy highrise in Buckhead.
About the time they said they'd need about $10,000 up front, and I could put it on my credit card or borrow it from my family, I said 'Thanks, anyway. Bye'.
Wow. Mine was nowhere near that high. They asked for about $300. They did a good job of gauging just how much I'd be willing to pay.
Post a Comment
<< Home