Prudential’s Scam

Edit [5 Nov 2011] – There are a few comments that are wondering about the motives associated with this post. I’d like to clarify some things in a format that is easily understandable:

1. This is a personal blog. It logs whatever I feel like writing at that time. So, read it or take the advice with a pinch of salt. If I have helped you save your time, I’m glad. If you feel happy about your experiences with this agency, feel free to write about it.
2. Your comments may take some time (up to a few months) to appear. The sole reason is because I rarely log in. Whatever comments you readers decide to post is completely transparent, and you are free to share your views and experiences.

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I received a call on 22nd February 2011 from Grace (98374814) for an interview appointment. She marketed herself as a representative fron Holborn Consultancy, a recruitment agency under Prudential. I mentioned that I was not interested in financial advisory positions, but she emphasized to me that they were a recruitment agency and have many openings.

I called Holborn Consultancy’s office on Wednesday (23rd February) asking what kind of openings do they have. A malay guy replied me with a vague answer, “we have many different types of openings.”

On 24th February, I went down for an interview. I was asked to do a personality test, then somebody came in to talk to me. He introduced Holborn Consultancy as part of Prudential and that they have openings for 4 positions only. All positions are for Prudential, two of which is management trainee and financial advisory. I forgot the other two.

Of course I rejected the offer as I wasn’t interested in such job scopes at all. Then I left the office after he evaluated my personality traits for me.

I then called Grace to complain about this dishonesty. When I advised Grace to review their recruitment strategy, she retorted that they’ve been doing it this way for years and there’s no need to! Can you imagine the number of fresh graduates that have been cheated into working for Prudential like this? Lying and misleading people like this will only waste the candidate’s time.

And, she had the gall to argue to me, “You’re not qualified anyway!” after I told her off. Such a horrible behaviour from Prudential’s recruitment agency. What a disappointment.

Is this dishonesty something that should be left on it’s own? No. The young ones should be warned of agencies like this. Let this story be known.

Common Practices

It’s sad to know that Holborn Consultancy is not the only such agency. Holborn Consultancy and other recruitment agencies for Prudential do have a similarity that you can be aware of.

1. Firstly, they would set up an appointment with you through a phone call, explaining that they found your contact from monster.com or JobStreet.
2. Then they will SMS you the location and meeting details. Note here that they will never use email even after you request so.
3. Typically, they will give bad service as they are going through a long list of phone numbers everyday.
4. They will not have a credible website to their name.

Be careful of such traits if you don’t want to waste your time. I hope I have helped to clear up some things for you.

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Tagged: career, fraud, grace, holborn consultancy, job, prudential, scam

Posted in: »Life Experiences