The fooling Agency

This blog is dedicated to all the consultancies who fool innocent job-seekers. They promise to provide them the best jobs with best pays, call them and follow-up till the poor scapegoats agree to appear one. And to my utter surprise, even the companies in collaboration with these consultancies act as their right hands.This series of incidents occurred when I was searching for a job. I was in no haste, but obviously dissatisfaction prevailed. One day I received a mail from a consultancy named, “TruGlobal”. This mail had an exhaustive description about some US Giant Media house (though unnamed) and it promised me to provide a lucrative job, with the best pay according to the market standards. Though they did not mention the designation, yet provided detail of the profile that did arise a curiosity in me. The basic idea was working with a team dedicated to Hollywood Movies’ Editing. Sounds good enough to give it a try? Of course!

Though I kept postponing the interview, they were stern on getting me to the company. Convinced by their follow-ups, I decided to visit “Deluxe Digicaptions”, Embassy Golf Link, Domlur. It had to be a two days’ interview. On the first day, there were three rounds!ROUND 1: A generic form that constituted of easy questions which could have been filled by any genuine person with a fine English knowledge and normal IQ. I carefully wrote down all my details and answered all the questions with my best handwriting that I could pen down. Out of ten applicants who wrote along with me, 7 were chucked out! Only 3 of us could make it to the second round. I was amazed! Either I was too intelligent to make it, or the 7 rejected ones were subnormal.
Never mind…I waited for another hour for round two.

ROUND 2: It began at 3.00 P.M. The purpose of this round was to know how adept are we with the US hollywood culture. Questions related to Hollywood history, recognising actors, authors and books and all the stuffs. I liked writing the paper, because by now, I was getting convinced that I’ve come to the right place.

ROUND 3: Watching a documentary and writing sub-titles for the given 25 frames.

I did it all and came back. The other day, I got a call from the consultancy, “TruGlobal” and they confirmed my selection and that I have to appear for the final round. Wow!! I did feel good about it. All set to appear for the final round and collect the offer letter. I was there at the office of Deluxe Digicaptions, Embassy Golf Link, Domlur, Bangalore.

The final round:

A panel of 3 members, in a meeting room ready to interview me. With reference to my resume and test performance, they shooted several questions, the answer of which was given by me patiently and lucidly. Trust me the way they were questioning me, reminded me of the conference round I had taken during SSB selection procedure in Indian Army Cantonment, Allahabad. I was so relieved and satisfied with my interview.
Soon the manager informed me that I had been selected for the post of “CONTENT EDITOR” in their company.
Once over, the manager of the team said, “Rashmi, I hope you’re aware that we are recruiting FREELANCERS”. All shocked and surprised, I replied with a big “NO”. Soon these people started convincing me about their work culture and process, stating that it’s freelance for the namesake. The organisation had several freelance writers coming there and working for them for full fledged 8 hours. The payments were made on daily basis, i.e. some $ per day. If you do not work for 8 hours, you’ll NOT receive the money for that day. To add up, you have to work for the evening shifts, wherein you’ll be provided with one way transportation. You can leave the job anytime you wish. That means, they can chuck you out anytime they wish. So, where’s the freelance? You get me to the work, engage all my work time and give me a freelancer status? Not just that, why didn’t you tell me this when I inquired about the job profile?

Earlier, I had perceived that there must have been some kind of miss-communication, but my perception was gainsaid when my friend got a similar call, and the entire procedure seemed to be the same misleading one until I warned her. When she asked them about the profile and told them that she had an idea that it was freelancing, the consultant of “Truglobal” said that it’s a probation of 6 months in India which US people call as freelancing.

Does anyone have an idea about it?

So, for God’s sake, if at all you receive a call from the “Truglobal” guys, please beware!!