Bait and Switch: Reflections on Outsourcing and Name Changes

For those of you who are uninformed, I also do technical writing. I get emails and phone calls from recruiters all over the country for jobs...well, all over the country. They pull my contact info from the IT resume databases that are online, shoot me an email and/or give me a call, and hope for the best.

Within the past four hours I have received three emails for the same position, each one more personalized than the last. The final one was from a guy we'll call Josh Brady*, personalized with my name, his phone number, and a plea to call him since the position needs to be filled ASAP.

(for this particular position, since it's a state government position, your name can only be submitted by ONE recruitment agency or else you're disqualified for a YEAR from being submitted again, so choosing the right recruiter is key).

I figured, what the hay, and called, and got his voicemail. And got a surprise.

Josh Brady sounded like his name should have been Jakinpur Bhaddisatva...and I know his mama didn't name him Josh, and I doubt seriously that his father's last name was Brady (unless Dad rolled out during "Josh"'s formative years and Mom was the primary influence).

*sigh*

We all know that US companies, in the never-ending quest to keep a tight bottom line, have been outsourcing certain services overseas to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc. because they don't have to pay as much to workers there in order to get the job done. I've noticed that when I contact customer service for a company (even via chat) names have been Americanized, perhaps in a pithy attempt to lessen the backlash from people such as myself who want to speak to someone AMERICAN, and who resent the whole outsourcing movement.

(we resent the whole H1-B visa thing too, but that's another story for another day).

I can't front: I did choose to contact this recruiter because his name sounded American. Yet and still, I didn't appreciate the bait-and-switch when I heard his voicemail message. I mean, if you're not American, that's cool; it is what it is. But faking the funk is unacceptable.

I may just give one of those other recruiters a chance, because they didn't try to misrepresent themselves.

BRING JOBS BACK TO THE USA!!

Thanks for stopping by.

T.

*names changed to protect the shady