Thousands of people have already applied for work at Volkswagen's new Chattanooga plant. Tomorrow, 100 applicants will attend an invitation only hiring event, as the automaker looks to fill 50 positions. But, a word of caution surrounds the application process.
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Yesterday, someone posted a link at WDEF.com "Tennessee Volkswagen Jobs." We checked into the website, which seeks personal information from Volkswagen applicants. It doesn't ask for your social security or drivers license numbers, but it's not affiliated with Volkswagen, and some say, that could be a problem.
Gidget Knight, VP of Chattanooga's Better Business Bureau, says "I'm not saying don't do business with them, but I would be leary of them."
Two weeks ago, tnvwjobs.com went live. The website claims to be building a database of people interested in finding employment in Chattanooga with Volkswagen. The site offers to submit your application to potential direct and third party employers associated with the V-W plant. All job seekers need to do is submit some personal information.
Knight suggests applicants using sites like this to "look for a privacy policy and what kind of information they're looking for and what they plan to do with the information they get." BBB officials say without such a policy, your information could be sold without your knowledge to other companies for telemarketing or direct mail purposes.
VW spokesperson Jill Bratina says tnvwjobs.com is not an official Volkswagen recruiter. She says right now applicants who want to make sure their information gets to Volkswagen, should do that directly with the automaker at: http://www.vwgroupofamericacareers.futurestep.com/ [2]
[2]The person who registered tnvwjobs.com used a company that protects their identity. No contact information could be found on the site, either. Mark Campbell, owner of Manpower, a reputable employment agency, says "if there's not a phone number or an address associated with that website then it's a good idea to back away from it immediately, cause you don't know where that information is going and who's hands its going to turn up into."
Campbell says recruiters need to get to know an applicant, to place them in a job they'd be comfortable doing. "Whenever we hire someone we have an applicant process that goes to an interview process and through an assessment process and a formal interview."
WDEF News 12 made several attempts over the last 24 hours to contact those behind tnvwjobs.com. The one reply we received came from the company protecting the website creator's identity. It basically said without a court order, they would not release that information.
More coverage of Volkswagen at:
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