Update After posting an angry late-at-night email to the recruiter at Global Crossing, he dug up the original information on the position that they’d sent to Adecco. That, unlike the description that Adecco forwarded to me, did mention that the applicant had to be a US citizen.
I got my offer package from Global Crossing, and filled in the paperwork and mailed it back, and now they call my recruiter up to inform me that the position is only open to US citizens. I guess it was just too fucking much bother for them to mention that in the job ad, or tell that to the recruiter, or tell it to me in the phone screen, or two interviews or the offer letter. I quit my existing job, and turned down another offer from another company for this, and now I’m going to be out in the cold. The whole reason I was changing jobs was to get more stability in my life, not less.
Words cannot express how mad I am right now.
Update: To answer some of the questions in the comments, yes, they know I have a green card. It’s not good enough. And no, the offer letter has such legaleze as to make it impossible for me to have any legal recourse.
I feel like writing the hiring manager to congratulate him on his masterful use of an offer letter that actually offers nothing, because that means that at least he will know how he’s going to feed his family next month.
Seth says:
Do you have any recourse given that they made the offer? Offer + acceptance = contract.
(If they mailed it to you, would charges of Mail Fraud stick?)
September 17, 2008, 15:20 GMTJen says:
Oh, hell, Paul. I’m really sorry to hear this. Righteous fury is definitely called for here.
September 17, 2008, 15:20 GMTrone says:
Jesus, what a fucking disaster.
September 17, 2008, 15:26 GMTbeable says:
That is beyond shitty.
September 17, 2008, 15:30 GMTAndrew Warinner says:
Is it a work permit thing? You could point out that you have all that. If not, what Seth said.
September 17, 2008, 15:37 GMTWill says:
Wow, that’s some stunning motherfuckery on their part. Sheesh, it’s not like programmers are sometimes born outside of the U.S.
September 17, 2008, 16:01 GMTStephen Harris says:
What was the reason given for “citizens only”? I _thought_ employment law as per “Immigration and Nationality Act” didn’t allow that distinction except in special cases relating to Federal jobs.
Hmm… http://www.dol.gov/compliance/guide/aw.htm
The INA protects U.S. citizens and aliens authorized to accept employment in the U.S. from discrimination in hiring or discharge on the basis of national origin and citizenship status.
September 17, 2008, 17:28 GMTPaul Tomblin says:
They’re a telco. The job was an internal web app for provisioning telco switches and other equipment. The page for the security check mentions the NSA. Who wants to bet the requirement for being a US citizen is because I’d have been exposed to information about their warrantless wiretap fuckery?
September 17, 2008, 17:48 GMTVicki says:
It’s good to know that the INA may protect Paul, but this employer has phalanx upon phalanx of lawyers available and they’d be happy to drag this out in court until we lose everything we have.
And this is a small town. Get litigious, and see how many job offers you get then.
September 17, 2008, 17:48 GMTNotgruntled says:
I’m betting that it has something to do with technology export restrictions. Yes, it’s silly, but no sillier than being technically an international arms merchant if you carry your cell phone overseas.
I just filled out a bunch of paperwork for a job, and actually read some of it. There are all sorts of limits on what information you’re allowed to share with any foreign national; no exceptions without going through legal, and your supervisor, and the sundry Gods of Olympus for permission.
Just guessing here, but my guess is that they limit the job to US citizens because you might have occasion to speak to someone who might know something about some form of encryption that is illegal to export (even though it’s available everywhere in the world with a phone line). The requirement is a combination of CYA and avoiding paperwork and hassle.
There is, of course, no excuse for failing to mention that US citizenship is a requirement. It’s not as if non-citizen programmers are thin on the ground. I’m betting that they apply an “I know it when I see it” standard for when to raise the subject of citizenship, and since you aren’t a brown person, have an Anglo given name and surname, and don’t talk (all that) funny, it didn’t come up.
September 17, 2008, 18:57 GMTRebecca says:
If you had to get a Secret clearance, that should have been brought up early, not late, and yep, if they needed someone with a Secret or better clearance, that’s pretty much limited to US citizens. NSA wouldn’t have had you anywhere near their stuff without at least a Secret clearance.
All our job ads tell what kind of clearance people need. I can’t imagine that any sane company would not bring this up early since any number of things can prevent people from getting interim clearances (basically, having any mental health counseling in the last five years).
September 17, 2008, 22:47 GMTTotty says:
Hi.
Sorry to hear that.
Hows Global Crossing working with Adecco? I assumed you applied to Global Crossing? Does it say in the contract that Adecco is the actual employer?
I’m really a newbie to the employment habbits outside europe.
Best of luck
September 23, 2008, 14:21 GMTPaul Tomblin says:
Totty: Adecco is the recruiter. Like every recruiter, they try to hide details from you so you don’t just apply to the job directly. In this case, it appears that they sent me a job description for a completely different job - either they stripped all the detail out of the original turning it into something almost but completely unlike the job that was offered, or Global Crossing had two positions open and they got confused about which one they submitted me for, or submitted me to both positions but only told me the details about the one. Another possibility is that Global Crossing screwed up and took my application for the first job, said “hey, he’d probably fit over here”, and didn’t bother to check that minor little extra requirement.
Either way, I’ve probably destroyed any chance I had of getting into Global Crossing with my reaction to the news, and I’m definitely going to avoid having anything more to do with Adecco in the future.
September 23, 2008, 18:05 GMTTotty says:
Oh, now I understand. Adecco is around here mainly understood as an employer for “temporary employees” meaning a few weeks or (very rarely) a few months. Nowhere near the years you worked as some kind of “temporary employee”. What Adeeco here and over there have in in common is the “zero-benefits”-part. They don’t even pay interview travel costs, which is by law the default, if they don’t tell you otherwise beforehand. I usually deny any invitation stating “no travel cost reimbursed even if is public transport second class”. If they don’t have 100 Dollars, how are they going to pay 3 (or more) thousand Dollars per month?
Plus, the work as “temporary employees” around here is usually exactly the work the permanent employees deeply dislike.
But, on the other hand, besides obvious “fishing openings” (as I call very general descriptions about open positions) the “target company” can often be easily guessed because several keywords (in the very same order, even if it is in unusual combinations) from the job descriptions are googl’able and are than found on job inserts from the target company directly. Adecco and other “temporary employers” sometimes search without being asked by the “target company”. The profit margin is huge, around 30%. So just posting an job insert in the hope of someone suitable “going in the net” and than calling the “target company” saying “by freak accident we have some match for you” is profitable enough.
Sometimes I bother to send my application in PDF to the “target company” but this has not helped me so far. Maybe I’m too expensive, maybe they just want to see who is on the market, maybe to “googl’able target companies” are really really cooperating with the “temporary employers” - theres no way to know.
This all, of course, helps you nothing. I just wanted to tell you, that is is not milk and honey outside your continent, either.
September 24, 2008, 12:26 GMTSeth says:
Sending a resume to (HR at) the target company is unlikely to help: the person who gets it is probably the one who works with the recruiter. (Kickbacks? Who knows. Probably nothing provable, just “business entertainment” and the like.)
If you can reach the actual manager who’s doing the hiring, you have a much better chance of a favorable response. If it’s something other than a cold call (e.g. a current employee saying “I know this guy who’s looking”) your chances go way up.
September 24, 2008, 14:15 GMTTotty says:
Yes, I was thinking about Kickbacks, too. Somekind of cards for sports events and the like.
September 24, 2008, 14:33 GMTOn the other hand, with the “temporary employers” putting in 30% of the workers achievement (in money) the “target company” can pretty much offer any salary when making an offer of her own, when (I mean “if”) the need for a more permanent employment arises. The need for a more permanent employment is, of course, greatly overrated when talking to the “temporary employers”, meaning “first work a while for peanuts, maybe the target company makes a better offering someday” (of they find the next person working for peanuts “just a while …… “)