Texas Headquarters for Employment

I was so thrilled to get a call from this mystery company after only a few days into my job search. I met with a gentleman who sized me up and told me all the things I wanted to hear. But then he said the following, «…now, there will be some costs associated with our services but those will be offset by the position we find for you.» He didn’t specify the amount. I immediately disengaged but stuck around to find out if there was anything they could do for free. He asked, «do you have 10 minutes or so to fill out some paperwork before you leave?» That 10 minutes turned into 45 minutes, filling out surveys and answering personality questions. They paid parking for only 30 minutes of the 1 hour and 15 minutes I was there. They sent me home stating I’d have more paperwork to do. They sent me an email with 7 different Word attachments, all needing to be filled out. I filled them out and sent them back. They scheduled a follow up meeting for the following week. I discussed all of this with family and a friend who used to be a professional recruiter. The overwhelming advice was to not pursue this any further. These people are professional salesmen who know exactly how to sucker someone into spending money they don’t have on information they can get for free off of Google. I came to Unilocal and saw the almost unanimous testimonies from everyone about the illegitimate nature of this company. I sent a message to their office canceling the meeting and never heard back from them again. You’d think that if they were truly interested in your business, they’d reply with questions about why you cancelled. It’s almost as if none of it ever happened. I’m so glad I dodged this bullet.

Got a call from Josie today regarding THE, telling me how great an executive search firm they are and wanting to schedule an appointment. I asked how she got my contact information and said she wasn’t sure but likely from a recruiter. This is an outright lie since I don’t use recruiters and I see that many other people are getting the same calls, obviously from information found on job search sites. Reluctantly I agreed to a meeting but said I would be doing the research and cancelling if I didn’t like what I found. 27 one star reviews on Unilocal was enough for me so I left her a message and told her I would not be attending any meetings, take me off their list and do not call back. The tactics they use to lure you in are unscrupulous at best and borderline illegal at worst. Even their website is deceptive by omission of legitimate information. I will be filing a complaint with the Texas Attorney General’s office as soon as possible.

I am giving this company one star for spiking my interest enough to come in for a meeting!
Being on the hunt for a new and exciting career, I agreed to a mysterious meeting at their posh little office in downtown Austin. The «Judge» is a really nice guy but I began to get that ominous feeling inside for the following reasons:
** You are made to feel as if you are «special» and will be «considered» for a red carpeted second interview. Hmmm…
** It was requested that, if I did make «the cut» for a second interview, that my spouse be present. After all, career endeavors do usually affect our spouses… Okay, I was skeptical but tried to think outside the box.
** Though my inner intuition spiked throughout the visit, I did try to suppress the feeling that the company’s objective was nothing more than a well rehearsed sales pitch. Though the Judge and I made small talk about our personal lives, I felt that the company’s purpose was secretive and not so forthcoming about the true process.
Folks, I am sad to admit that I did work on the packet that he sent home with me. The packet was thought provoking, which has made me think harder about what I want to do for the rest of my life.
They did email me and also called to request the second interview. I politely declined.
I liked the Judge — a lot, actually. But I also like these reviews and I am very (VERY) thankful that I followed my gut and put my researching hat back on.
My advice: Believe in your self and learn to self promote. It is free. :)

Received the same call as the rest of the Unilocalers here!
I went to one meeting — they paid the parking — and I am glad about two things
1) That I went and became suspicious
2) That I referenced Unilocal
Don’t waste your time. Red flag — one after another

I was called this morning by this waste of time and the pitch seemed familiar then my bullshit detector went off so I read the Unilocal reviews and I remembered I interviewed with these scumbags 6 or 7 years ago. Same scam. Same hustle. No thanks. Don’t waste my time or contact me again. Pigs. Don’t give them your time or money.

Why isn’t this place shut down yet? First red flag, my husband was asked to «bring the wife in» for the next meeting. What the actual #$%^? Second red flag, «THE» is the name of the company. These people feed on people who are ready to invest in themselves and look at a career change with people who CLAIM to have amazing contacts and find executive positions unheard of at any other placement or recruiter. Unheard of is right. Once they got our GIANT check (yes, we are idiots, looking back), it was nothing more than a basic resume scrub 101, and was very junior. They act like they work at the executive level but it was humiliating. And to think that one guy there portrays himself as a local celebrity and previous judge is really snake oil at its best. We usually do our homework and on this one we feel like fools. Don’t let the nice office on Congress fool you, this place should be deemed illegal and needs to be shut down. As a matter of fact, maybe that should be our mission. I’ll start the letter writing campaign to the governor’s office today — although his autographed photo is probably already on the owner’s wall. UGH!

My husband was contacted by «THE AustinTX Jobs» after posting his resume on Indeed. They said they would like to meet him to talk about opportunities in the Austin area. Making the effort to go to their office, my husband was quickly told they could get him a job 20% over market rate (red flag #1), they would help find the right job for him (his interests and desires), and that he would be required to pay them a $ 4000-​$ 8000K service fee (red flag #2), 50% of which was due up front.
No reputable search firm will ask you to pay them to find you a job. Good firms make money based on what the employer/​company side. I quickly told my husband to let them know he is not interested and not to put his resume forward at risk of having his reputation tarnished by this fly-​by-​night firm.

I knew how they work, so I emailed them and asked if they would work on contingency. I said I wouldn’t mind paying their fee if, and only if, I got a job from their efforts. No reply,

Complete scam. All of the positive reviews, and even their own website, tout that they have a perfect rating from the BBB. Well if you put any weight on that then you downright don’t understand what the BBB does or it’s basic purpose for existing (they’re not even a member, so touting their BBB rating tells you how far they’re stretching to find any positive to display for themselves).
This company couldn’t be a bigger waste of time, money and energy. Do yourself a favor and google «job hunting tips» and clicking on any of the first 1,000 entries will save you the thousands of dollars that people pay this company to give them the exact same advice. They bring you in to a salesman, who you will never speak to again after you’ve handed over your check, then hand you off to one of their two «career counselors». I can honestly say that the gentleman that I was paired with, who had worked there for over a decade, doesn’t even have the ability to spell common job-​related words, and has an equivalent grasp of English grammar of that of the average middle school student. I have been doing volunteer tutoring for 20 years and can say this with absolute certainty.
They provide zero knowledge of the Austin job market, don’t know the first thing about the VERY strong majority of the major companies in the area, and when it comes to connections at those companies (the reason I hired them) they have just next to none. I came from out of state and, even as someone with a tiny LinkedIn network, I have significantly more connections to local companies than these people who do this for a living. When you try and glean any piece of information from them about local industries or companies it’s like talking to a machine, and they immediately revert to their script with no ability to have a regular human conversation. Any thoughts you have on your search will be completely ignored so that they can go right back to their script. On numerous occasions, within an hour-​long meeting the counselor, he would say the exact same thing to me, verbatim, with no realization that he was just repeating something that he had already said. (If that statement were of any value so be it, but it never once was.) It was akin to my conversations with my grandpa with a serious case of Alzheimer’s, except with more repetition and less direction.
I can’t state more bluntly that these people will not provide any competent adult with advice that could assist them in any way. If you have ever applied for a job before then you already know more than you’ll ever get from them, and you’ll save yourself from dozens of hours filling out century-​old personality tests and other completely useless exercises for any adult with the ability to think and/​or communicate in the most basic way. It pains me that the lowest rating that can be given is giving them 1 star because they certainly don’t deserve such high praise.

SCAM.
I asked repeatedly during the phone call if it was a sales or commission based firm and if they charged a fee, I got a solid «no». When I showed up for my interview after paying $ 10 for parking, I spent 30 minutes being told I’m an «extroverted introvert» and I was literally given a *Meyers-​Briggs* personality test to take home with me so they could build a «career profile.»
I’m an IT analyst, I’ve always found jobs through head hunters and recruiters. This place is a Scam. No recruiting agency charges the employee for its services. Not one. Avoid.

Got a call from them today. Apparently, something about my resume caught their Executive’s eye! All I have to say is… FINALLY, there is someone out there in a position of power who recognizes my true potential.
In fact, when I asked what would be a good time to come in and talk; the receptionist told me first thing tomorrow morning. This Executive must be chomping at the bit to take me under his wing and turn me into his protégé. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it at that time so she said she would call back next week to ‘check’ on me. It’s only Tuesday, so this must be a pretty busy executive if he couldn’t find another time during the week.
I hope I haven’t missed my chance to get in on the ground floor of something. On the other hand, her commitment to ‘check on me’ does sound rather nurturing.

I was contacted by THE the same way most of these people were. They found my resume online and contacted me. They told me they could help me find a job paying from 75−85k with benefits and bonuses and perks etc. They really talk a good game, and then they hit you with how much money it will cost you.
To be perfectly honest, I really did like what they had to say… of course though, I am supposed to have liked it, that is how they reel you in. If they really could land me such a high paying gig though and get their costs covered by the company that decides to employ me, then they shouldn’t be asking for such an exorbitant rate up front.
I may even have been willing to pay a small monthly fee if they really could return on their «promises» However, I a not going to give someone money I don’t have to find a job. Obviously if I am looking for a job I am not in the market to give them 5 grand.
I would really love to see what they can do, but my assumption is, if they really could do what they say they can do, then they wouldn’t need to charge such insane up front prices.

THE Austin 515 Congress Austin
This company wants to charge you between $ 4000 and $ 8000 to give you career advice you can get on the internet. They look at your resume, they make you fill out endless forms and surveys about what your interests are. They help you look for the job you really want even if you are not qualified. They lie and tell you they can get you a six figure job. They do not have any insider information that you couldnt find by searching for a companies HR mailing address and you could hire a resume writer for a couple hundred. Here is what they teach you and I give it away free.
Get a resume writer to proofread your resume and help you fix it $ 200
Join LinkedIn and connect with people in your career field FREE
Put your resume on Monster, Careerbuilder, Indeed, AustinATXjobs, etc. FREE
Get in contact with a head hunter who gets paid by the employers, not you FREE
Apply to every job you are remotely qualified for and be patient (4 – 6 months) FREE
If you find your dreamjob online, rewrite your resume by adding some keywords and skills from the job listing and apply with a good cover letter FREE
There I saved you $ 4000 and countless hours of meaningless coaching.

Thanks all, there are so many negatives that when THE contacted me I merely replied to their email with a link to this thread…
:P

Saw the listings that HCI was back in the guise of THE. My experience was about 5 years ago while laid off. I went to their downtown office for the slick dog and pony show. After getting more details on how they operated, figured out that you have to do all the research and legwork yourself. The only advantage is they MAY have some inside contact beside HR, but you won’t get that unless you pay their hefty service fee. BTW, they offered to cut in half ($ 8K to $ 4K) after my first refusal.
But as they tell you at any of the FREE Workforce Solutions classes, you should NEVER have to pay for a resume or a recruiter! And if you want an inside contact, use LinkedIn.

Yep same issue that many are complaining about here. I also fond it ironic that people on here have nailed the script they used on me as well. In working with many recruiters over the years, the unorthodox approach raised my suspicions and that is how I found the reviews here on Unilocal.Thankfully I didnt cost me any money or time.
I found the fake reviews that Unilocal expertly caught and filtered our amusing. Very obvious they were done by employees of the company. Also dont put any credence into a BBB rating. You spend 2500 dollars to become a member and just «answer» every complaint you get and that is good enough for the BBB and they give you an A rating. This is coming from someone who has setup the BBB for 2 companies

Very Clever.
Most search engines like Google, or Yahoo, etc, filter out common words to help you get better results when you do a keyword search. The most commonly filtered words are small articles like, the, is, at, which, and on. Logically, MOST companies WANT to be found, and would never use one of these words as the sole name of their company. But if you want to hide from review — -if you DON’T want people to learn more about the company before engaging them — these words make a perfect business name.
Sigh — I pity the folks that work for this company and the shame they must feel everyday for building up the hopes of unsuspecting people, people in need of a job, and deluding them into thinking they caught some senior execs eyes, then conning them out of their limited funds. Has to be a sickening commute home, thinking about the role they have accepted. I suspect nightly drinking is involved to block the uneasiness of what is hopefully a temporary job.
There are legitimate career coaching agencies and head hunters out there who do not have need to hide the services they provide and they openly and honestly discuss their fees and who is responsible.
I just got a voicemail from THE, probably because I updated my online resume. Fortunately, I am currently employed so not in need of their services, but I decided to research them anyway because it felt deceptive. I was not surprised to see these reviews, but must say, I give them points for exceeding the typical deception by selecting such a silly, but very hidden company name. Bravo THE; or should I say THE company formerly known as BHI?

This place is terrible. I fell for it something like 20 years ago when I first moved to Austin, luckily I wasn’t in a place then where I could pay the fee. They call you, they pretend they are interested in interviewing you, then they make you dress up and park downtown. From that point on it’s a thousand forms to fill out (the «interview» takes hours) and high pressure sales of the type that only timeshares are generally guilty. Don’t waste your time or energy. They WILL come at you every time you reactivate your resume on Monster, Dice, or other sites. Every single time, like clockwork.
The tell is that the person who calls you won’t answer a single question, they press to get you face to face at all costs.

I got a call from this company today about having an interview. When I sent them an email asking who paid their fees they said that they try to get the employer to pay. This is a RED FLAG. All legit employment agencies or temporary agencies have their fees paid by the employer.

SCAM — SCAM — SCAM!!! Do not waste your time like I did. These people found my resume online and presented themselves as a standard recruiting agency. They asked me to come in and foolishly I did without researching the company first. The worst part is how stupid I feel for not recognizing the scam sooner. I wasted 10 hours of my life meeting with these con artists and filling out paperwork so they could «create a profile» for me only to have them ask me for $ 6,000. Here’s my favorite part of their whole pitch — after you pay them… they still don’t help you find a job. They just offer you access to databases that give you information about companies and their employees. Avoid this place like the plague.