Job Spam: Farmer's Insurance
Posted by Greg Bulmash in Job Hunting, tags: farmer's insuranceSeems like every time I update my resume on Careerbuilder, I can expect three groups to contact me: franchise consultants, people pushing MLM opportunities, and insurance companies looking for people to become agents. The most consistent of the ones in the third category is Farmer's Insurance.
Whether or not I mention a sales background on my resume, whether or not I express an interest in sales, Farmer's can be relied upon, like Clockwork, to send me a recruiting e-mail.
"Based on my initial review of your resume, I believe you may be an excellent fit for our Career Opportunity in sales..." Like how he capitalizes "career opportunity"? At least it's not in all caps. Still, what about my resume made him believe I'd be an excellent fit? I've e-mailed that question to the sender and I'll let you know what he says... if he responds.
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I'm actually really amped to wait for the response on this. I hope you get one!
Hey, remembering my favorite blog by you... maybe even my favorite blog EVER (What? All caps is contagious) ... did your wife see "Good Hair"/is it out in your city?
Here is what I got. Not very satisfactory.
Here is what I got when I asked what about my resume compelled them to litter up my inbox with their unsolicited email. By the way, I didn't update my resume, I just logged in. I wouldn't dream of doing business with Farmers. If this is how they recruit, maybe they use a dartboard instead of actuarial science, too.
-----Original Message-----
From: RXXXXXX [mailto:rXXXXXXXX@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, July 08, 2010 3:47 PM
To: xxxxxx
Subject: RE: Regarding your Monster Resume
Thanks for your input.
Hi Greg-
I've been reading your blog and have to say upfront am entertained by it and respect you as a writer/blogger. Having put that out there, I wanted to next address this particular post because I happen to work for Farmers Insurance as a recruiter and have for several years. Yes indeed, you've got a real live Farmers recruiter responding to your blog!!
I do actually give answers to people "offended" by my contacting them to possibly become an insurance agent. Although I know other Farmers recruiters do not take the time to respond, I feel I have the integrity to stop what I'm doing and explain to each particular person "why" we are "bothering" them.
Farmers is actually expanding across the country and not because we are "desperate" at suckering people into becoming agents as I've read in various places online. We are in fact a conservative, quality company that spends an immense amount of time searching for individuals qualified enough to actually represent us, in order to help us keep up with our expansion. It's that simple.
A huge percentage of people in our working class in this economy have been laid off after being in their same familiar industry for 20+ years. I spend time talking to people on the phone all day about what's taken place over the course of their career and many of them are looking for something completely new- some out of desperation and realization their industry is shutting down and they've been booted out; many out of anger and revenge for what's happened to them. When you put your info out there on a job board, you're giving "permission" to have potential employers look you over and contact you. We don't always look for "sales" on someone's resume- if they've been a manager, a business owner, in marketing etc in the past, these are strengths required to have your own insurance agency. Here is an example of an email I sent to a guy last week, responding (and rather offensively) to his protest to me contacting him:
Dear Scott,
In answer to your question, we look for people that have impressive resumes, regardless of whether or not they have a background in insurance or sales as we train. We look for managers and especially executive directors such as yourself. Anybody that says they are a "cost conscious procurement leader with a track record of implementing company best practices to deliver results", would certainly be deemed an asset to customers in need of insurance.
You won't be bothered by us anymore and more importantly, should consider the fact that we actually looked at your resume and thought you might be a good match, a complement.
Best to you in your career search,
Natasha B
District Recruiting Director
for Farmers Insurance
He did not come back at me, unfortunately (usually they don't), as I would like to hear a response.
I know to the general public we come off as annoying but I wanted to post on your blog that Farmers is NOT an MLM or a SCAM, we are a legitimate, established company with a more aggressive expansion role than others. We've been in business for 83 years and I'm proud to say I work for a solid industry leader. Thanks for letting me speak my peace.
Happy blogging,
Natasha
Natasha,
Thanks so much for your reply. I want to address my core complaint which is not the contact, but the method. It seems like you're alligators waiting at the place in the river where Zebras cross, because every time I update my resume, the first responses are from multiple insurance agencies and Farmers is usually the first of the agencies. Even if you're not coming on to everyone with a pulse, it feels that way because of the consistency and speed with which the insurance agencies, especially Farmers, jump on new or updated resumes.
Imagine it this way. There's a company that makes an amazing coffee maker and as part of an ad campaign, they've got robots that put flyers on car windows, and there's one patrolling the parking lot of your local supermarket. Every time you go to the store, the robot puts a flyer on your window. The robot doesn't look to see if you went into the store or the Starbucks next to it, has no idea if you bought coffee, and has no opt out mechanism. Even though you don't like coffee and you're never going to buy that coffee maker, you've got to remove and dispose of a flyer every time you go to the store. How long would it take before you were harboring thoughts of taking a golf club to the robot?
I'm not threatening you with violence. I'm just saying that the inevitable, unwanted recruiting letter from Farmers is like a toll you have to pay for updating your resume and it gets really tiresome. And when it's so constant, and so predictable, and there are lots of other less reputable companies doing the same thing (check my blog for Robert D. Sells & Healthmarkets), it's very hard for you to avoid picking up the stink of that sewer.
My dad was probably making this up, but he used to tell me a story about a guy he knew who would walk up to women in bars and ask "wanna screw?" He'd get turned down a lot, but for him it was a numbers game. If he asked enough women in a night, he'd eventually find one who'd say "yes." The way you execute your recruiting campaign makes a lot of us feel like you're that guy and we're just part of your numbers game.
As you're a salesperson, I'm sure you know that the real trick to getting someone in your pocket is making them feel special. It's the "reality distortion field" effect that has been attributed to Bill Clinton. Love his politics or hate them, if you met him in person, he could make you feel like a room full of a thousand people just disappeared and you were getting his undivided attention, that for even just a brief few seconds, you were the center of his universe, and it made people go weak at the knees.
If you ever want to talk about how your campaign can go more Bill Clinton and less "wanna screw" guy, I'm always happy to chat.
I recently posted my resume on Career Builder and I am not exaggerating, it was less than 10 minutes before I had an email like the one above from Farmer's Insurance, and not long after that my phone was ringing.
Greg. I agree with you..I feel like the zebra, and it is tiresome. I have had the same thing happen on other career sites. I am a firm belieiver that if it sounds too good to be true, than it probably is. Farmers would not being doing this if there was not more money it it for them than the people they are soliciting.
I have had an experience with that sleaze outfit (aka Farmers Insurance) that goes one better (or should that be one worse?) than yours.
Frustrated by so much spam from insurance industry recruiters, I put a message at the head of my résumé saying explicitly that I was not interested in either sales jobs or jobs in the insurance industry. The result of this was an immediate increase in the volume of spam from Farmers trying to get me to become an agent (i.e. a sales position in the insurance industry).
One year on from that experience, Farmers is still spamming me several times per week. Apparently Farmers spams anyone who has a résumé on Careerbuilder, no matter what that résume says. More than likely, the spam is being sent by an automated bot.