I recently received an invitation from a former colleague of mine to connect with him on a platform called Remote; the website states it will be “Connecting 2 million+ professionals with remote and freelance jobs using artificial intelligence” and it continues to refer to current buzzwords and phrases such as “The power of the network effect” etc.
My experience, however, is quite different!
The main issue is the requirement to complete 80% of your ‘Profile’ before you can access the job search functionality of the platform. This ‘completion’ requires you to part with sizeable amounts of personal and professional data along with your LinkedIn contacts – which you are encouraged to action quite quickly through a combination of prompts to complete your profile and ‘oversized buttons’ directing you to this action.
With regards to the LinkedIn connections; I now understand why my former colleague sent me an invitation to this platform – or in actual fact, he didn’t as it was automatically done for him. He (like me), probably wasn’t aware this action had happened until (like me) he started getting friends and colleagues messaging me asking me what the Remote platform was and why had I invited them.
Having completed every section of my ‘Profile’ with details and adding my social media channels AND adding my LinkedIn connections, my profile complete percentage was STILL (!!) only 70%. Where did this elusive 10% come from I started to wonder…
…so, I emailed the Remote team back on their ‘feedback‘ email address. See below:
The response? – Nothing!
So, I went onto Twitter…again – Nothing!
Then I permanently deleted my account. A pretty definitive action wouldn’t you agree? – well, clearly, the Do Everything AI Bot @ Remote.com called Kira Roboz didn’t agree as she sent me this email (after I’d instructed them to permanently delete my account).
And what did she want? – you guessed it – more data from me!
With the increasing number of SaaS propositions being created for the talent acquisition and recruitment market, it is quite frustrating when you encounter a proposition that – on the face if it – appears to offer credibility by association (connecting you with fellow and former colleagues and friends). However, in truth, it’s simply an exercise in data collection to enhance the proposition and offer very little value in return.
So, the question I pose is it Remote.com or Remote.con?
Addition to original post:
A friend and former colleague highlighted to me that Remote.con (*the name I will now use) appears to have started its mass data-gathering fraud in the USA last year; she sent me a Medium post by New York Time journalist, K.J. Dell’Antonia, who wrote about her experience of Remote.con and how the platform accessed and contacted her network without authorisation – or at least without making it apparent that was the intention.
Read the full post here: Why You Shouldn’t Accept My Invitation to Join Me on Remote.com (Because I Didn’t Send It)
I’m very happy to hear from anyone at Remote.com to discuss this initial opinion I have formed of their proposition. Equally, it would be great to hear from anyone else that has used the Remote.com platform and had a different or similar experience to me.
glennnetworks 