William Baxter Projects review: Employment scam 87

I regret so much about not having read your posts before entering 350 Bay St last Saturday to meet with "William H.G. Kim", a Korean. He followed the same strategy asking to meeting with me and my wife after our first meeting one day before. He asked very little about my past job duties and skills but focused much on so-called transferrable skills and he also hinted that there would be a once-in-a-life career opportunity outside of Toronto. At that time, I guessed the reason he wanted to meet with my family was he wanted my wife's approval of relocating to another province. The next day, the same thing happened: $5000 contract, tons of [censor] nonsense trying to trick me into signing my name... One thing is for sure: they have installed a camera in the meeting room so that they can monitor you while you are left alone talking with your spouse. I know that because we finally decided to leave, the Korean entered before we opened the door.
As an immigrant, I can hardly imagine such classical scams can exist in the heart of this city, preying on vulnerable job-seekers.

I just missed on reading these threads about Nelson Webber and Job Success by a day. I generally do a search before accepting such offers. This time I did not..and here I am after a tiring journey to toronto crossing mississauga and wasting a total of 4 hrs talking to some nut head trying to make fun of my situation with his sweet talk. My story as well is pretty much same as those of the ones above...I was contacted by some Shobie from job success yesterday informing me of receiving my resume through some Nelson Webber, as I was driving I requested her to email the address and other details so that I can see them later...she said no Email...strange. Anyways, I took down the address 350, Bay street for an appointment today at 12:30pm. I reached their office on time (my first impression would be pretty good about their set up) niche waiting area, receptionist and well dressed guys/ladies moving around. A total professional set up to prey on vulnerable people. At 12:30 an matured well dressed man comes out introducing himself as Stephen R. MacDonald a Career director with job success. He very politely takes me to his cabin and makes me feel comforable with all his praises about my experience and career history etc. Then he gives me two sheets of printed paper consisiting of my past experience with my other jobs..like was it boring, lots of politics, promotions were hindered, over worked, employer did not deliver on promises etc. And the other sheet wanted me to fill 5 reasons which I find as a challenge in getting my desired job/career in Canada. I sincerely filled both the sheets and handed it over to him. Just after a glance at the sheet, he was again all praises stating my answers are exactly the kind of attributes they look at people who they want to associate with and help. Anyways, then the strangest part is when he insisted me on getting my wife along for the next meeting. When I said she was away he insisted that we call her on her number at the day we have the second meeting. Anyways reluctantly I shared the number with him and left with another appointment on June 30, 2010. While I was leaving I insisted that I would not be ready to pay any service charges until I get a job and get my salary. To this he quickly said, there is no such constraints as they have lots of work around and if their career consultants finds my skills really saleable that would be a secondary issue moreover, he kept insisting that the fees which I will utimately be asked is beyond my imagination cause the amount is very less (now I know why he said that cause he thought $ 6000 is a measely sum for me...LOL). Now when I returned and finally got to find them in here...I regret being there first place and feel particularly disgusted meeting these guys and even talking to them about my career aspirations which are so personal to me and specially when I am seriously looking for a job and a career. I just hope someone will fix these guys up and get them to pay for what they have been doing so long...I feel sorry for those who actually end up paying to these guys and become a victim. Can no one here in Canada stop them from doing this to the people who are already in trouble because they have no jobs...?

Thanks guys for your warnings, you've just saved me 4 hrs of my time (trip to downtown To and interview).
Couple of days ago I also got a call from this agency (# [protected]), that "one of the directors would like to see me" (aka Mr Fischer). It seemed fishy from the beginning, as they wouldn't give me a straight answer to any of my questions. Anyways, the interview was scheduled for today, so I just phoned in to cancel it, and their response was: "We do not reschedule meetings that were canceled the same day". Good one, eh? And they basically slammed the phone down on me. No worries Mr Fischer, I wasn't going to reschedule, I don't deal with specimens like you.

I got the same call from Susan last week setting interview for today. She said "Director wants to talk to you" (sound like Matrix movies). Someone has to report these guys. I will look to see what I can do.

Thanks All.

Yesterday, Friday, I got a call from Job Success. A lady named Suzan called and left her number. I called back, and she informed me of the job interview for me to have on Monday. I asked what type of position, and I was not given a direct answer, except that I have good qualification. Anyway, after reading the background of this company, I will not go to Toronto, as it is a little bit far from where I live. I thank people for posting complians against companies, agencies, or even government services (police, etc.), whom some people abuse the system very well.

I truly thank you all for posting your messages, now, I feel, I am a little bit protected. God Bless You all.

Thank you very much for your posts guys, same thing happened to me.

Few days ago I got an email from Nelson Webber:

MS.______
Your resume has come to my attention and based on your experience and
qualifications I feel we may be able to assist you in your job placement.
Since I don't specialize in your area, I would be glad to forward your resume to my local affiliate.
Please confirm by return email to nelson@webberservices.com and attach your resume for me to forward.

Good Luck,
Nelson Webber

Today I got the call from Diana saying she wants to book an appointment for me with someone called Steven Fisher. She didn't clearly say company name, but because I have posted my resume on several job boards I thought I will check them online (on my phone display they appeared as Jobsuccess, [protected]). When I asked if I should bring a portfolio she said I only need my resume.

Thank you very much for saving my time guys, I won't give the even a courtesy call.

I too first received an email & agreed they could forward my resume.

Ms.
Your resume has come to my attention and based on your experience and qualifications I feel we may be able to assist you in your job placement.

Since I don't specialize in your area, I would be glad to forward your resume to my local affiliate.

Please confirm by return email to nelson@webberservices.com and attach your resume for me to forward.
Good Luck,
Nelson Webber

Well, Susan called me yesterday & left a message to call them to set up an appointment. Something made me enter this phone number and thank all of you who took the time to comment. You make the world a little saner. Needless to say, I will not be calling Susan to set up an inteview.

Hello, I am in Hamilton and did get a very strange email from a Neilson Webber, and I questioned him and he wrote me back asking for my resume.
I have now been called for an interview at JOB Success, 9th floor 350 Bay St., I have checked out their website, and I do not believe company exists, it is a scam, I am going to cancel my interview for tomorrow. Thank you to those who have made these posts...
USUALLY recruiters tell you about the position and are quite serious before having you come in for an interview.The Phone number I was given was [protected].
THIS is just terrible...

Same thing happened to me today, Susan called said that she had my resume from Robertson Agency and arranged a meeting for tomorrow at 9.00am at 350 Bay Street Level 9, I thought it was odd that I had to attend a meeting so I googled Robertson Agency and the address, I found this forum. After reading the above I won't be attending the interview. Thanks everyone, there should be a law against scams like this!

I also got the email below and replied saying that I wouldn't mind. Our Famous "Susan" called me and scheduled an appointment. Thanks for putting these commnents. Isn't there anyhing we can do to stop these kind of schisters?! The people who are looking for job are already under stress. These kind of "people" are wsting their time and money. Some people travel hours to go to their offices.

By the way does anybody know any reliable recruiter for Enginering and technical managerial positions?

THanks.

Dear Ms. *******

I came across your resume and was impressed. While I don't work in your area, some colleagues of mine do and may be able to help you with your job search.
We are part of a network of agencies that work strictly on behalf of high-quality management and executive level professionals. Would it be alright if I forwarded your information and suggest they call you?
If so, just reply to nrobertson@robertsonagencies.com with attached resume. Let me know and good luck!

Sincerely,

N. Robertson

These comments are all quite remarkable. And unfortunately resemble the experience incurred by Haldane Group years ago - by none other than Murray N (can't apell his last name!), who I worked with. Nice guy but totally ineffective. used to work at Dominion Stores peddling meat.
I received the same emails as noted above, the same call today from a Susan and set an appointment to meet with the infamous William Kim. Needless to say, that won't be happening. Thanks all for great comments exposing these shysters for what they are.
theblare

I got the same kind of email:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Robertson Agencies
Date: Thu, May 13, 2010 at 12:34 PM
Subject: Career Search Assistance
To: @utoronto.ca

Dear Mr. Yousuf

I came across your resume and was impressed. While I don't work in your area, some colleagues of mine do and may be able to help you with your job search.
We are part of a network of agencies that work strictly on behalf of high-quality management and executive level professionals. Would it be alright if I forwarded your information and suggest they call you?
If so, just reply to nrobertson@robertsonagencies.com with attached resume. Let me know and good luck!

Sincerely,

N. Robertson

Today, just about 5 minutes I got a call from a lady from (my caller ID said JOB SUCCESS [protected]), who asked if I could come in for an interview at 4pm tomorrow at 350 Bay Street, 9th floor, downtown Toronto. with a copy of my resume. She said I didn't need to prepare anything else. She said that she had recieved my resume from N. Robertson. I decided to google "JOB SUCESS 350 Bay Street" and this forum came up! I became a little suspicious when I simply asked it it was JOB SUCESS was a 'job placement agency' and she replied saying "lets just say that its an International executive Career Transition blah blah Company" - I tought to myself that a company cannot possibly has such a long and hard to remember description. Job seeker beware.

I got a call last week from Susan to meet with her associate today at 350 Bay street, 9th floor. I googled job success to get the address of their office and luckily this website came up. Thank god I saw this board as I was going to waste my time and parking money like many others.

Wow, what a bunch of bottom feeders. They don't even bother changing anything up...It seems they are using the same jargon, not even hiding their tactics. I got a call last week asking me to come in to 350 Bay St. 9th floor with a resume to meet with "Susan", and a contact number of [protected]. I asked the person some questions right off the bat to "feel" her out if this was legit or not. She couldn't answer any questions stating that she was just an operator who makes appt's. I found that very odd. In any case the appt. was scheduled for Monday morning, as I was free that day I took it as an opportunity to go downtown and spend a day, I was going to humor them and spend the hour trying to find out what they had to offer. The funny thing is I slept right through until about 1pm on Monday. Guess I missed the whole thing, seems it was a good thing. I hadn't even printed a copy of my resume the night before...guess my instincts were right. Also no phone calls or anything that I had missed an interview. Beware

I got the exact same e-mail. I checked out the website and it was a single pager without a number or any other contact information other than an e-mail. Thanks, I'm not going to even respond.

Dear Mr. ____

I came across your resume and was impressed. While I don't work in your area, some colleagues of mine do and may be able to help you with your job search.
We are part of a network of agencies that work strictly on behalf of high-quality management and executive level professionals. Would it be alright if I forwarded your information and suggest they call you?
If so, just reply to nrobertson@robertsonagencies.com with attached resume. Let me know and good luck!

Sincerely,

N. Robertson

I wish I have read all this info before I lost 3 hours and forty dollars in parking fees.
I was a little bit suspicious when I asked to Mr. Stephen R. MacDonald (probably not a real name anyway) some questions that he could't answer. I am not going to post that questions here because I believe he can read this post and i don't want to make him better in his scam.
But I wanted to write here just to advice somebody else.. DONT GO THERE... RDG CAREERS and JOB SUCCESS are the same scam. Dont waste your time and your money, this people deserves a criminal investigation, I don't understand how they can have this kind of "business", taking advantage from desperate people. Shame on you RDG and JOB SUCCES.
ric_art_res@hotmail.com

Thanks for your comments - I too got the exact same email as above, from nrobertson, and was set to meet with Mr Stephen Fisher at 350 Bay on Monday at 10 until I did my research and found all of you! I called back to Job Success [protected]) and canceled my interview, saying that after having done some research, I did not want a company such as theirs representing me. The receptionist was very accepting of it - she must be used to it! - and just said ok, thanks and hung up.
I appreciate the advance warning and ability to save my time instead of attending and listening to the pitch!
Good luck to all ;-)

My story mirrors most of those above as well (robertsonagencies.com and then a call to meet with Susan). I have an appointment which I'm not going to keep. I hope they call and ask why I didn't come so I can make up some excuse and make another appointment which I also won't show up for...

Thank you for the info. you saved a trip and taking a 1/2 day off work. The funny part was that, the "Director" was available to meet me any day and any time this week and next week.

I received this email just few days ago and then it was followed by a phone call yesterday May 5th, and she introduced herself as Diane and the phone number is [protected].

Dr. Mr. ******

I came across your resume and was impressed. While I don't work in your area, some colleagues of mine do and may be able to help you with your job search.
We are part of a network of agencies that work strictly on behalf of high-quality management and executive level professionals. Would it be alright if I forwarded your information and suggest they call you?
If so, just reply to nrobertson@robertsonagencies.com with attached resume. Let me know and good luck!

Sincerely,

N. Robertson

Susan also contacted me. I just went this morning to meet William Kim. They want to meet with me and my husband this same week. After leaving our meeting, I had a very bad taste in my mouth, and decided to do some more research (wish I had run into your comments before!) Thank you very much, you have saved me from a bad time- feeling more stupid-. I really had the feeling that something wasn't right.

Although I didn't go to the second meeting, I believe it would be worth it to report them somewhere. Does anybody know how to do that?

Can´t believe this guys are trying to make money out of our needs of finding a Job !
I have same story, email, phone calls and appointment, however it did not smell well and decided to investigate and see what I have found !

Same street address, phones and names.

Thank you for saving me time and money.

Hi Thanks, to all of you guys who posted their comments.
I got exactly same e-mail last week from N Robetrosn. When I tried to check the company website it is just one page and nothing else, was strange but anyhow I sent my resume as I am looking for job. Today only got a call from Susan that they got my resume from N Robertson and one of the director wants to meet me. I have an appontment set up but now after doing my research and reading all your comments I am not going there .

Hi, thanks for all your comments. I just got a call from a lady named Susan and supposed to have an interview with her boss tomorrow. Luckily I did my research and saw your comments.

Many thanks for reporting this, you just saved me precious time and nerves!

I have exactly the same case as bleedingblu.

Received an email:

I came across your resume and was impressed. While I don't work in your area, some colleagues of mine do and may be able to help you with your job search.
We are part of a network of agencies that work strictly on behalf of high-quality management and executive level professionals. Would it be alright if I forwarded your information and suggest they call you?
If so, just reply to nrobertson@robertsonagencies.com with attached resume. Let me know and good luck!

Sincerely,

N. Robertson

I got a call from Diana... with the same phone number that bleedingblu got for Susan [protected]
:)

I am not going to see her...

Hello All,

Thank you for this valuable information once more. I also received a call this morning by Susan who made an appointment with me to meet with a Mr. Fischer at Job Success. The phone number she left to call was [protected] . The interview is to be at 350 Bay Street in Toronto. I cancelled the appointment, after mentioning that I had read negative public comments about them. She was not surprised, and cancelled it.

Hi,

I received the same e-mail from nrobertson@robertsonagencies.com with the same wording as above.

It seems that it is also a scam, however, no one has called me (yet).

Did anybody else have the same experience with robertsonagencies.com?

They phoned me wednesday morning, some Susan or Christine, asking for an interview. I am actively looking for a job, and I couldn't remember if I had talked with them before or not, so I just asked the lady to e-mail me the address. This was odd, because she said she couldn't. I took note of the address and on thursday morning I was at their office.

The guy, who is said to be "Steven Fischer", presents himself as the Vice-President. At this moment I started wondering if this was a small group trying to look big, because no VP will deal directly with people. The guy offered me two jobs, and asked me if I would like to work downtown, this kind of BS. I was really not interested in his questions, but if he had a job for me, ok, let's proceed.

Then he asked me to come back "with my spouse" (who has a nice job) the next day. Ok. I came back, but without my husband. Then he told me he could only proceed with my husband, because financial decisions are to be taken by the both of us.

"So... you mean you are going to charge me?"
"It's an investment"
"I see..."
"Bring your husband tomorrow" (Saturday)
"We're not available this weekend. Why don't you call me next week?"

Then, I blocked his number on my cell phone.

And I hope he dies from an awful death.

I received an email from what appears to be another questionable source - the wording is very similar to the william baxter emails. I could not find a website for robertson agencies - what recruiter doesn't have a website? And if they were attempting to at least appear reputable, I would expect them to provide their first and last name in their email signature.

Dear Ms. *******

I came across your resume and was impressed. While I don't work in your area, some colleagues of mine do and may be able to help you with your job search.
We are part of a network of agencies that work strictly on behalf of high-quality management and executive level professionals. Would it be alright if I forwarded your information and suggest they call you?
If so, just reply to nrobertson@robertsonagencies.com with attached resume. Let me know and good luck!

Sincerely,

N. Robertson

Exactly the same as bleedingblu above. Email from nelson@webberservices.com and call from Susan at Job Success. Will not be going!

Wow... Thank you for this post. I got the same call today from some lady saying I was referred to her by Nelson Webber from Webber Services ( website doesn't exist ).

Your resume has come to my attention and based on your experience and

qualifications I feel we may be able to assist you in your job placement.

Since I don't specialize in your area, I would be glad to forward your resume to my local affiliate.

Please confirm by return email to nelson@webberservices.com and attach your resume for me to forward.

Good Luck,

Nelson Webber

I booked an appoint for tomorrow morning at 10am but after reading this post, I don't think so. I won't even give them a courtesy call. I hope she calls back so I could book another time and not show up.

She told me to go to 350 Bay St. and ask for Susan [protected]

Thanks again for saving me the time.

I had the same experience today and a Susan called me saying that they got my Resume from Robertson Agency and met this famous William H.G. Kim. Same like everyone, same questions and also wanted me to bring in my wife. You know what's worse than a ###? A ### who openly looks, smells, and feels like one. To pry on people's hopes and aspirations in this way is more cruel than anything else, BUT THAT COULD BE FORGIVEN IF THE GUY DIDN'T TRY TO INSULT OUR INTELLIGENCE with his Carpetbagger approach.

Thanks everyone for sharing this although unfortunately I wasted 2 hours as well.

Thank you for sharing your stories regarding RDG! I received a phone call today from a woman calling herself Shobie claiming that they had seen my resume on careerbuilder and wanted me to come in for a face-to-face interview with the director. She called the company Job Success. Thank goodness I googled the address she gave me 350 Bay St. 9th floor and saw this discussion thread or I would have wasted time and money meeting them. She also gave me the number [protected]. It angers me that they are trying to take advantage of the vulnerabilities of sincere job seekers like myself. Thank goodness for the info-sharing power of the online community...

Thank you all for posting these details. I, too was contacted by Susan last Friday to attend a meeting with Mr. Fischer today. You have saved a lot of my precious time and money which, otherwise, would have been wasted on this outfit - and God knows what might have become of my savings had I gone through with it.

The same thing happened to me this morning. The phone number was [protected]. I spoke to some called Susan and would meet with someone called Mr Fisher also. Needless to say I will not be going based on these reviews

Thank you for this valuable information. I received a call this morning by a receptionist who made an appointment with me to meet with a Steven Fischer at Job Success. The phone number she called from was [protected] and left a phone number for [protected] . The interview is to be at 350 Bay Street in Toronto.

She could not give me a reference at to which application I had applied to which set off alarms in me so after a fruitless search I stumbled upon this forum. You have saved me time and frustration by sharing this info. I don't think I'll be keeping the appointment.

I got my email Feb 2nd from Christine Whitman, found it suspicious and replied asking what company the person worked for but provided no other information. I never received a reply.

Yesterday (Feb 24) I got a message from Diana at Job Success (phone: [protected]) asking me to call her regarding my resume, which she had received as a referral from Christine Whitman.

I did a reverse look up on the phone number to discover it was unpublished (what legit recruiting agency would have an unpublished number?) so I googled 'Christine Whitman' and 'scam' and found a wealth of information, including this post.

Needless to say I won't be returning the call. I will, however, be sending this information to Marketplace and encourage anyone else who hears from these people to do the same. This scam has been going on for a couple of years and I would bet less suspicious people than me are falling for it. What I'd like to know is how they can be stopped.

"Susan" from "Job Success" contacted me today and invited me in for an interview. She indicated they had received my resume from someone called "Christine Whitman". Because I'm in the midst of an intense job search and have exchanged emails with many people, I couldn't readily recollect who Christine was and agreed to the interview. When I asked for further information about the role they were considering me for, Susan indicated that details would be provided in the interview. Having worked for 16 years in the recruitment industry myself, this set off alarm bells. I vaguely remember replying to an email that I received from this Christine person, so I immediately went searching for it. When I found it, I remember at the time I received it that I found it odd that it came from a gmail account (torontoexecutives@gmail.com). Here's what it said:

I recently came across your online resume because your skills and experience matched those of many of the successful candidates we have worked with in the past. I would like to pass your resume along to people in my organization that work with motivated professionals to find and secure the best position in the area. We make job hunting more efficient and productive.

If you are dedicated to advancing your career, please respond back and let me know. If you have recently updated your resume and would like to include a copy that would be helpful as well. Once they have reviewed your resume, and if they feel they can be of assistance to you, they will contact you to schedule a confidential interview to further evaluate your skills and help you find the position and income you seek.

Again, they will only contact you if they feel they can be of assistance to you.

Warm regards,

Christine Whitman
Career Consultant Administrator

***If you are no longer in the job market or wish not to be contacted again in the future, please reply and let me know and I will not send you further emails.

I also googled "Job Success" and initially didn't find a thing so I then tried the address which is 350 Bay Street, 9th Floor and got many hits reporting this scam. Needless to say, I cancelled the interview.

From an experienced professional in the recruitment industry, I can tell you it is illegal to charge candidates a fee for placing them. While you can charge for "career coaching" services (ie. career transition, resume assistance, etc), it sure doesn't sound like this company is providing those type of services.

Hopefully, you'll do your homework before they waste your time.

I reside in Atlanta, and have a Toronto telephone number and a listing on Workopolis.

I got a call asking me to "come in." They would not tell me who the were or what they did, and referred me only to their Job Success web site (which just looks awful).

Obviously, they are scouring resume boards.

Any company masking itself like this is not ethical... apparently, they are these guys: http://www.rdgcareers.com.

Typical scam where they "prepare" you for your job search. Avoid.

Anyone thought of calling CBC's marketplace? would make an excellent under cover story.

BTW - I just called that number [protected]), spoke to 'Susan' - who sounded delightful (butter wouldn't melt..) and she assured me they are 'Legit' - I advised her that based on 'Public' comments, I would not be pursuing any partnerships with them.

Extremely annoying that they're in operation today - preying on the vunerable.

I have received 3 phone calls from RDG Careers. After googling them, it confirmed that they were indeed one of these so-called career firms that prey on naive and somewhat desperate job seekers. After telling them I was not interested in their "process", a few weeks later I received the exact email cited above from William Baxter Projects. I responded stating I had no interest in the RDG Careers "process" and not to contact me again. I received the exact same email again this morning. My response was as follows:

" As I stated in my previous response to you;

I am not desperate for employment and therefore NOT willing to waste thousands of dollars on the RDG Careers scam.

Do NOT contact me again or I WILL report you to the Better Business Bureau.

Perhaps you should google yourself - I certainly did. "