Recruiters, a scam?

[heyhomes]

I'm currently a manager at a major transport hub and have recently been looking around for work. I've registered myself on most of the main online jobsites and applied for a few positions.

I've had a few phone conversations and meetings with recruitment agencies, and most of them have been very keen to find out my current salary, job spec, how many people I'm in charge of etc. As soon as they get this information they seem to disappear or cease responding to communication. I just got off the phone to one guy who really wanted to give me a phone interview so he can 'get to know' me in greater detail. He seemed very keen on finding out my salary details and asked me over and over again why I was looking for work, not accepting the answer i gave him.

I've got a really strong gut feeling that there is something dodgy about this agency, and I don't think that I'll be accepting the phone interview.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this? I might be worrying over nothing, or perhaps they are just after my details so that they can sell them on, or perhaps there is something more sinister going on.

[heyhomes]

Zoon said:

Did they tell you their company name?

Yep, I won't say on here though as they are probably legit (going by the professional looking website). I suspect that they are just far more interested into getting into recruitment for my organisation than actually finding me a job.

[heyhomes]

Zoon said:

Did it end in "art" by any chance?

Nope, had the word pioneer in the name :-)

[heyhomes]

bigandclever said:

Because in a week they'll phone up your boss and tell them they're sorry to hear you're wanting to leave but they can get him a better, cheaper replacement with no bother. And they've already trawled any social media contacts you have.

I reckon you hit the nail on the head there.