R.L. Stevens & Associates Executive Career Consulting Rip-off! They have my money and they're not going to turn loose of any of it despite their inability to deliver on the propaganda they eschew. Louisville Kentucky

I am a medical device and financial executive located in the Southeast US and with over 20 years of successful experience and in both service and manufacturing environments. Until recently I had never been in the position of having to look for employment as it had always come to me. With the advent of a new investor in our small emerging medical company, I was displaced.

While slogging through my contacts, networking and pursuing normal channels in the market, I was contacted by RL Stevens who began a hard sell pitch on their "unique" services. I initially declined. After about four months, I opted to reconnect with them to again see what they had to offer that was different. In my desperation I did not listen close enough. So several months ago I paid the RL Stevens group out of Louisville Kentucky approximately $7000.00 (precious funds at that point) to provide services in career counseling and assist me with their "unique" approach to the job market.

I almost immediately (within 10 days) became very disillusioned with the services because no one had even bothered to contact me and I had completed most of the initial assessment data forms. I then sent a letter/email requesting a termination of the agreement. That did not happen. The hard sell came again with profound apologies and excuses. At that point I made a mistake and should have stuck to my gut instinct.

What I received was a very apologetic telephone call about 10 days after they had received my payment and another sales pitch by a sales woman professing how "Christian" based and "honest" they were and asking for another chance and professing their superior ethics. I should have listened to the old adage of 'he who protesteth too much' but I was (am) desperate.

I was assigned a very nice young lady that never understood my background, experience and who generated a lot of useless information. She consistently demonstrated a lack of broad knowledge sufficient to deal with an executive with multiple industry and high levels of experience. She worked very hard at spinning her wheels and going nowhere and providing little value.

She reformatted the three different resumes that I had paid to have written into a single document that was later described by one of her own associates as insufficient and far to verbose. Despite her rewrite, I had to expend quite a bit of time correcting errors and cleaning up the language before it was useable. It's reception got less favorable response than the versions I had been using.

Despite this I continued to attempt to "do the program as prescribed" and as assured would work. Nothing new or unique was offered that could not and had not been found in such books as "What Color is my Parachute", Networking for Significance" and similar articles found on a number of web sites. All of this had been tried and fairly well exercised in my geographic focus area in the Southeast.

However, the RL Stevens approach was one of disguising your search in a cloak of dishonest "reasons" for meeting with senior executives and potential employment sources. I was not comfortable with this and repeatedly attempted to extricate myself from the agreement with even a partial refund. Of course that never happened.

I was and remain uncomfortable with lying to gain access although I did attempt the approach. Indeed one CEO who knows me expressed his disappointment at my attempt to shroud my reasons for our meeting. At that point I decided that honesty as opposed to the deceitful RL Stevens approach was the best policy and thereafter did not utilize the entry approach that RL Stevens insists its clients use. It is basically an unethical and very misleading approach yet they insist that it is necessary.

The initial representative also produced their highly touted "plan" which was to be a custom and innovative approach to the market. IT WAS BOILER PLATE that really read like a ninth grader had put it together and had almost NO specifics. It was filled with generalities and broad statements that could apply as well to a Krispy Creme counter person as to a mid level manager. It was NOT AT ALL suitable for a senior executive.

The purported innovation was a rehash in a different format of all of the redundant reading and advertisement material the firm provides after they have your money. It was inexpensively produced (and it shows) and you have several of their people repeating basically the same things in various formats. Nothing new or innovative is found in the information provided and the networking is siimply common sense. I repeatedly expressed my disappointment both orally and in writing and suggested we settle up and part company with at least a partial settlement. Guess what? They have the money and they are not going to turn loose of any of it despite their inability to deliver on the propaganda they eschew.

Some of the employment opportunity data sent to me was so garbled it was useless. Other data had hospital contacts (which were former customers) in such nearby locations as Anchorage Alaska... a mere 5000 mile from my current location and about 4000 mile from anywhere I would consider relocating. Alaska Regional Hospital does not have operations in the Southeast and they are not in the medical device market and do not do buiness outside of Alaska.

The "plan" was basically a rehash of all that I had been doing with the exception that they now demanded that I mislead contacts as to why I was calling upon them. Despite my objections to the inferior plan, the company insisted that it works. I am living proof that it does not always work and that not everyone fits into their neatly defined box. The misleadiing access path was the purported "new approach" and something I could not do in good conscience and continually expressed my disappointment that lying to get to executive level contacts was not in my nature or repertoire and not a good business practice.

My repeated complaints resulted in a very confrontational teleconference meeting with a lady in the home office whose "career consulting advice" consisted of more of the same and the suggestion that I expand into broader consulting on my own. Not a good choice with someone of my background or personality type. This is not the type of consulting promised and inferred in all of the RLS material or conversations and the process does not work if you demonstrate an ethical approach.

I was subsequently reassigned to a gentleman who spent hours repeating the same mantra that is found in their tired ads and despite my requests for a workable solution to the career search effort, did not provide any value. He insisted that seeking "information, ideas etc..." from executives was the way to go and whatever it took to get in was basically fair. I was even asked at one point "do you think that the emoployers play fair". While that is a vaild question, it is not a justification for a dishonest approach.

He even became quite hateful when I described my disappointment to him and pointed out the weaknesses in their model in an email. I was suggesting we assume a different path or approach that could then be used to evolve an improved model that might work with older and more highly experienced executives. It was not in his interest or within his ability to think outside of the mantra and the nice little box of the firm. He did rewrite my resume again and it was an improvement the third time, but still required me to finish making it consistent as he used a combination of bullets and paragraphs that were inconsistent (that is even contrary to the advice the company offers).

After several weeks I tired of his redundant and highly repetitive telephone calls that wasted time insisting that I basically lie to get interviews and establish contacts. This was and is totally unacceptable and I soon terminated further contact and ask for a refund. His response is that they have provided the advisory services and covered all points in their agreement and I am not entitled to a refund. Never mind that they did not deliver a professional service on honest and professional terms and that their process does NOT always work. I have now engaged an attorney and will be spending more funds to recover at least a portion of my initial payment.

RL STEVENS IS A HUGE RIP-OFF AND PROMOTES AN APPROACH TO THE JOB MARKET IN A LESS THAN HONEST AND FORTHRIGHT MANNER. AS AN EXECUTIVE WHO HAS HAD THOSE CALLS AND MET WITH JOB SEEKERS USING THAT APPROACH, I RESENTED THE METHOD OF ENTRY AS IT WAS NOT ETHICAL OR APPROPRIATE AND I NEVER HAVE PROVIDED FIRST CLASS CONTACTS TO THOSE WHO USED THAT APPROACH. IT IS OF QUESTIONABLE ETHICS AT LEAST AND HIGHLY DISHONEST AT WORST. MY EXPERIENCES WITH THIS FIRM IS THAT IT PROMOTES THIS REPREHENSIBLE APPROACH AS A UNIQUE JOB SEARCH METHOD... DO NOT GO THERE...IT IS A RIPOFF.

Dennis
Knoxville, Tennessee
U.S.A.