Marnen Laibow-Koser's Journal

I am recommending that people boycott TalentDrive. Here's why.

I received a phone call today from an unfamiliar number in area code 312 (Chicago). I answered, and what I heard next astonished me. As an IT professional, I'm used to calls from recruiters -- but this was an automated message telling me that TalentDrive had just sent me an e-mail message regarding a job opening, and that I should check my e-mail soon. Yes, that's right, they were being both tacky and patronizing at the same time!

The message gave a phone number to call for more information (the same as on the caller ID). I called, and had a curious conversation with someone in customer service (I want to say her name was Courtney, but unfortunately I neglected to verify that). Without attempting to quote verbatim, the call went something like this:

Me: I just received an automated phone call from you, and I found it rather annoying. I'd like to make sure that doesn't happen again.

Her: OK, we can unsubscribe you from our list.

Me: You don't need to unsubscribe me. I'm fine with getting e-mail from you, but I don't want the automated phone calls.

Her: Well, our system sends both the e-mail message and the phone call out at the same time. You can't get one without the other.

Me: Who could change this behavior?

Her: No one can; that's just the way the system works.

Me: I see. In that case, please either connect me to your IT department or let them know that that's very annoying and should be changed.

Her: Well, actually, I'm the one who would make that sort of change. But we can't do that.

Me: You can't make it so that I only get the e-mail?

Her: No. We've addressed this before: other people have called to express their concerns with this, but we can't change it. [Emphasis added.]

Me: In that case, please do unsubscribe me. I have no desire to do business with a company that cares so little about the people it deals with.

In other words, TalentDrive knows that its automated phone calls annoy the very people it's trying to hire, but would rather just shrink its applicant pool than fix a problem it is aware of! With an attitude like that, I will be more than happy to help TalentDrive shrink its applicant pool.

(And by the way, the job TalentDrive had called me about wasn't even close to my areas of expertise. Oy.)