Heidrick Partners Employment recruiter scam Washington, District of Columbia

On February 13th, I received 6 unsolicited e-mails from Michael Clinton with the emploment recruiter Heidrick Partners for A Help Desk Technician position with a local client in my area. In the 1st e-mail, Mr. Clinton claimed he received my information from one of Heidrick Partners employment partners. The other four e-mails involved the steps in the application process.

Step #1 was a request for my work history.  Step #2 was instructions to link to and complete a pre-employment questionaire. Step #3 was a link to and complete an employment assessment. Step #4 was a link to and submission of contact information for 2 references.

I complied with step #1 by submitting my resume and a cover letter. After completing the pre-employment questionaire in step #2, I received a confirmation e-mail. After clicking on the link for the step #3 employment assessment, the page suggested purchasing a study manual to prepare for the assessment. Yes, I purchased the manual. The manual contained legitmate information but none of the information was current. The assessment contained 100 questions on the non-current information. Unusual in the length of the test and the material. I also complied with step #4 and submitted the reference information.

I began to suspect a scam after consulting with a friend in the HR field. The friend reminded me that no legitimate recruiter ever requests a job seeker to purchase anything. After completing the 4 steps, I obtained Heidrick Partners telephone number from their website and attempted to contact Mr. Clinton to verify receipt of my compliance with his requests. I could not make contact on several attempts, as the automated phone system after not knowing "my party's extension" requested my name then told me to leave a message as my party was unavailable. I did not receive any return phone calls.

I sent several e-mail requests for confirmation as well. After a few days, I received a repeat copy of the first e-mail. Then a couple days later, I received a repeat copy of the step #2 e-mail requesting me to complete the pre-employment questionaire. I now firmly believe that this is a scam. If anyone reading this has established a connection with Heidrick Partners, terminate it. Do not purchase anything or pursue anything further. You will receive nothing in return and will be scammed like me.