Is this company (Blue Sky Recruiting) a scam?

[Lady Cam]

I applied to a recruiting company called Blue Sky Recruiting only to have my application denied and then a few weeks later I got an email suggesting I take some online safety courses to secure an interview. Foolishly, I went ahead and spent money, had an interview but didn't land a job. I noticed that this company is still posting for the same positions and I really can't figure out why I was not offered a position. The company does not accept phone calls. Guess this should have been a warning sign.

Can anyone shed some light on this company?

[Angus Black]

[Lady Cam]

Yes, but I was hoping that I was not the only one to fall for this scam.

Hopefully, others will see this post and they will not hand over money so quickly to land an interview with this company.

[zXChobitsXz]

Taking 5 minutes and researching them from their site and their locations, it wasn't hard to figure out they're full of it.

For one thing, they claim to have been around since 2002, yet their copyright for their group name is from 2012.

Their offices are all located in retail space type buildings, ie they just lease out spaces, they are not an actual established company, they do not have an actual head office or anything. More than likely, once a certain space eventually becomes found out as a scam, it will disappear.

Thirdly, their business registrations in carlottetown are from 2011.

Then there are the ridiculous things they claim on their website, kind of like "Since 2002, members of our senior management have been pioneers in the areas of Remote Camp Recruiting Analytics (RCRA) and Field Staff Resource Optimization (FSRO)."

They condense down these ridiculous "fields" into official sounding labels and names, when of course, they are complete BS pulled out of someones ***.

Then there's the constant references to filling Alberta jobs in the big lines on top of the site on many pages, yet in the actual little blurbs on their site, they constantly state filling jobs across Canada.

What is more than likely happening is they just take money from applicants, and claim you didn't get a job and just keep repeating that again and again.

They, of course, are exploiting some sort of legal loopholes to stay out of trouble.

Lastly, the fact they say in their fine print that anyone hired would have to provide their own transportation/lodging and various other things, is the last red flag. Any legitimate job that is looking for people across the country will provide expenses for moving and lodging at the very least.

Hopefully someone is able to expose whatever it is they are doing there and get actual proof and shut them down.

[BSR Inc.]

November 25th, 2012

Before addressing some of the points in the preceding posts, I would like to clarify that Blue Sky Recruiting does not and never has charged any mandatory fees relating to securing employment or interviews. I would also like to clarify that we are a recruiting agency that is licenced by the Government of Alberta, which is the province where all of our recruits are sent to. Currently, all of the companies we recruit for are headquartered in Alberta, although some of those companies do operate in other provinces and territories as well.

Relatively speaking, we maintain exceptionally high standards when choosing recruits on behalf of the employers that we service and so I can understand it can be both difficult and frustrating for an applicant who is not offered a job or an interview initially. These high standards have cemented a level of trust with our remote camp partners that allow us to recruit independently on their behalf and send staff directly to them without the applicant needing to be interviewed by the employer first. We also understand that people come to us with a variety of perceptions and misperceptions about the remote camp industry. For example, many people have heard that remote camp employers will “fly” them home and back. This may be true of some remote camp employers, but my experience over the years is that very large public and private remote camp companies (the type we generally recruit for with more than 300 staff) will not do this for front-line field staff except in unusual circumstances. This confusion may stem from major resource companies transportation policies where flying staff home and back may be more common. I find it ironic that lodging was singled out as a potential flag. If you read our website, you will note that our recruits are promised free accommodations after 3 or 5 days (depending on the time of year) following their orientation. This advantage is not currently offered to the recruits those companies hire themselves and has been negotiated by us as part of our contract to the benefit of our recruits. To my knowledge, it is only offered to our recruits and “timely placement or free accommodations provided” is a mandatory requirement of every agreement we have ever made with any company we have ever recruited for. This arrangement is done to ensure that the companies we recruit for have a vested interest in placing our recruits in camp with minimal delay.

The majority of our recruits are offered a position within 7 days of their interview. A minority come from subsequent reviews of applicant files that are done over the course of the year and who were denied an interview or those who were interviewed but not offered a job initially. Although these reviews are conducted regularly on a smaller basis, there are traditional times of the year where more reviews are done on a larger scale. The latter is currently the case. For example, this week alone, well over 50 people who were previously interviewed but were not offered a job in the last 12 months, are being sent an offer to start work in January in anticipation of the traditionally busiest recruiting month of the year for the industry. We choose this time of year to do larger reviews because companies tend to want to wait until November and December before firming up on the level of their winter commitment and because the number of new applicants tends to drop off significantly at this time of year as the holidays approach. Most of those being contacted this week are being offered 2 or 3 different companies to choose from, as is typically the case with all new recruits.

Over the course of the next 2 weeks, we will be taking steps to further clarify our recruitment process on our website and make it more transparent and pro-active. Although we would appreciate a chance to do this rather than have you air your concerns publically, we do understand that you may want to have your voice heard sooner. In this case, rather than make potentially libelous public accusations, I would like to suggest that you contact us directly at one of the e-mail addresses on our website so that your inquiry can be addressed with regard for privacy on both sides. All inquiries will be responded to. If you do not find the satisfaction you are looking for, please contact the Calgary Better Business Bureau office if you would like to inquire about Blue Sky Recruiting or register a complaint about either our advertising or recruitment practices. One of the things that the Calgary BBB will soon be able to do for those that inquire is to verify that our company does have contracts and agreements with several remote camp/maintenance companies. We will be forwarding our confidential paperwork to them this week and they will be able to validate (i.e. contact the actual companies) and confirm that these contracts and agreements are for hundreds of people to be sent to them, that a very significant portion have already been received and have already started working, and that numerous recruits sent by us have arrived every single week without interruption since at least the middle of July. The few months prior to July were sporadic which is typical for springtime in the industry. Prior to that, the winter was very busy with recruits arriving every single week to begin work. As we agree and abide by BBB principles, the Calgary Better Business Bureau will also have the authority to ensure that our advertising and other information that we provide to the public are a fair and honest representation of the facts.

Having the required safety tickets allows for faster placement if an interview is successful. People who have had their file reviewed, have the minimum required safety tickets, and then have a successful interview, are often contacted within 24-hours with an offer, and usually by Friday or Monday at the latest. Obtaining commonly recognized industry safety tickets also demonstrates to us which applicants are serious about safety and obtaining employment within the remote camp industry. Furthermore, some of our clients have confirmed with us that they have camps where each of the safety tickets requested are required for all of the positions we advertise for. Other clients we have told us that their preference is for as much safety training as possible before arrival. Applicants and recruits are free to obtain any required or optional safety tickets from many different sources and our current instructions also provide suggestions to obtain these certificates from their local employment agency at little or no cost. They are also free to not submit any safety tickets and wait for further reviews where these may not be a prerequisite for an interview.

In the past, our recruits have demonstrated lower than industry average injury and WCB claim rates. Every recruit sent from Blue Sky Recruiting is currently required to have certain safety tickets at a minimum as part of our commitment to safety. Although our recruits are considered above-average in many important respects by the employers we service, our goal is to always improve our standing with them and for Blue Sky’s recruits to always be seen as both the best and safest employees in the industry.

In closing, I would like to say that although these posts were both unfavourable and a surprise, I look upon the issue as a chance for Blue Sky Recruiting to improve its communication with our applicants and recruits.

Thank you,

David Zember, President
Blue Sky Recruiting

[Lady Cam]

BSR Inc. may be a valid and fair company but I still feel scammed having spent $124 for an unsuccessful 5-minute interview.

BSR: Obtaining commonly recognized industry safety tickets also demonstrates to us which applicants are serious about safety and obtaining employment within the remote camp industry.

If this is necessary to determine the seriousness of future recruits - then what was the purpose of developing Remote Camp Recruiting Analytics (RCRA) and Field Staff Resource Optimization (FSRO)? Surely, these advanced recruitment practices would have eliminated the “not so serious applicants” and saved you time and some serious applicants like me money. Now, the $124 I spent on my training may not be a lot of money but if your analytics were more accurate I would still have this money in my pocket today.

BSR: Applicants and recruits are free to obtain any required or optional safety tickets from many different sources and our current instructions also provide suggestions to obtain these certificates from their local employment agency at little or no cost.

I read the original email twice this morning and could not find any mention of the local employment agency option.

BSR: Over the course of the next 2 weeks, we will be taking steps to further clarify our recruitment process on our website and make it more transparent and pro-active.

Please include some statistics of numbers applying for the various positions offered, number of successful applicants for each position, and numbers seeking additional tickets to obtain interviews, success rates of applicants who seek the suggested tickets, etc. This might be the information that would let candidates like me know that we stand little chance of obtaining employment even after getting these tickets.

[zXChobitsXz]

Guess the President didn't care enough to address your reply there.

Sorry to hear you wasted the money there TC, but maybe those certifications will come in handy in finding another job.....small silver lining, I know.

Try making a formal complaint to the BBB though, here's the link -

http://www.bbb.org/calgary/business-reviews/staffing-technical/blue-sky-recruiting-in-calgary-ab-75176

[lhirtz]

Contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) and describe your experience at

info@antifraudcentre.ca

I suspect the company that is selling the safety certificates is also part of this devious plan......Remote Site Safety

[maddog7667]

[Maechen]

[kylleg]

i do think myself this is a scam i am extremely fortunate that i read this before i paid for my certificates again and got scammed again. i have already paid for these certificates back in 2009 going through another agency trying to get to the patch (which they never got me there - im out $210 now) the certificates are now according to BSC there not acceptable because there older than 12 months. bunch of BS.... i just got know though the people that got there safety review email and there interviews which position did you apply for and how many years experience did you have. aswell if it was for 2nd cook then do you have your food safety handleing as BSC says also require ....

[Maechen]

[iron2002]

[Lady Cam]

[zXChobitsXz]