Conspiracy Theorists- Can you explain this ‘eerie’ job ad?

I checked if this was posted but couldn't find it my apologies if it has!

LINK

CONSPIRACY theorists, don your tinfoil hats. Cue spooky music. This is a weird one.

Someone in the US has been repeatedly posting the same mysterious job ad in publications for more than a decade, and no one can work out why. It claims to be seeking a “research associate/personal assistant” to work for one of Wall Street’s “most successful entrepreneurs”, for a cool starting salary of $US90-$110,000.

Not too bad. Unsurprisingly, the ad has attracted a fair share of attention and countless hopeful applicants over the years.The listing has appeared regularly in high-profile publications including the New York Review of Books and The New Republic magazine, as well as on websites such as Craigslist and Monster.com, since at least 2004 and possibly earlier, undergoing only minor changes over the years.

The (possibly) original text from a 2004 issue of The New Republic read:

“Research Associate/Personal Assistant: New York City — Highly intelligent, resourceful individuals with exceptional communication skills sought to undertake research projects and administrative tasks for one of Wall Street’s most successful entrepreneurs. We welcome applications from writers, musicians, artists or others who may be pursuing other professional goals in the balance of their time. 90K-110K to start (depending on qualifications). Resume to: [email protected].

Here’s the ad as it currently appears in the New York Review of Books:

It gets weirder..

The only problem is, it’s quite clearly bogus. So who is spending all this money?As blogger John Ettorre, who has been tracking the ad since August 2004, noted: “Just think for a moment about how much has been spent on all these ads in national pubs over the years. It’s a staggering number, perhaps now (I’m guessing a little) well into six figures.”

That was in 2008.So what is it?
Theories range from simple resume farming to statistical research to a secret plot by Google. No one knows.One sleuther on the Mr Ettorre’s Working With Words blog claimed the ad was a research program being run by New York hedge fund D.E. Shaw.Huffington Post journalist Carol Felsenthal wrote about it back in 2011 — she had sent the ad to her daughter in 2006 and saw it again in 2009.The people who could possibly answer the mystery, The New Republic advertising team, told her: “We cannot provide you with any further information regarding this ad or our client.”

As another blog poster wrote last year: “It is almost chilling to think that this ad has been circulating since 2004. Very eerie.”

My personal opinion of this is that it is some kind of data collection or possible spy operation! seems really suss whatever it is !

Anyone else have any ideas what it could be? I can not believe how much they would have spent on this so far! surely scammers do not have that kind of money!

a reply to: Shana91aus

That is weird.
Thanks for sharing.

I'd also go with data collecting.

But who is collecting the data and for what purpose?
That's what I'd like to know.

the obvious question - amazingly unanswered :

has anyone sent a CV - real or ficticious - and got a reply ?

a reply to: ignorant_ape

Are you volunteering?



I am just guessing there could be some generic response like. ' Thank you for your application. If you fit our criteria, we will contact you. Do not reply to this email.'

Could be scammers or terrorists taking the resume information . They are building false identities. It's not uncommon for someone to mimic another's resume or steal information from another's resume.

a reply to: Rainbowresidue

Me too! and really a resume is a lot of peoples career and professional life in a nutshell and they hold a lot of personal info, surely to have the funds to circulate this ad for such a long time it is someone that has money that wants these resumes, for the bill to have reached possibly 6 figures they are obviously really valuable too someone. I just can't understand why.

a reply to: Meldionne1

True, but if they had that kind of money why would they need to do that in the first place?

a reply to: ignorant_ape

I bet a lot of people will now, I assume people would have tried to contact them like press etc to get a statement on why they keep posting the ad but obviously haven't received a response, I wonder if the email matches up to anything else through searches,

a reply to: Shana91aus

Weird is an understatement, looking over various blogs etc, it appears no-one ever receives a reply when they answer the ad.

I urged her to send her resume, although I did so with trepidation because there's something about the ad that borders on the creepy. Her impressive resume would prompt, at the least, an interview, and possibly an offer.

We both knew that if she found that job she would make less than a third of the low end of the amazing salary promised.

So she answered the ad, but received no response--no acknowledgment of receipt, no "sorry, but" email.

www.huffingtonpost.com...

Some suggest it is Repligen Corporation doing the ad, I assume due to the "rgen" in the email address, but I fail to see the connection for a personal research assistant for a wall st guru.

Maybe there are successful candidates and they are contacted but never heard from again (alien food, satanic sacrifice, hunting games, other LOLs).

Either way, 10 years looking for an individual with such talents and offering the same package leads me to conclude that it is data-mining at it's core.

I just emailed the address - I'll repost if I get a response (which I doubt)

originally posted by: Shana91aus
a reply to: Meldionne1

True, but if they had that kind of money why would they need to do that in the first place?

They do it To make more money.....I'm not sure what the price of a black market resume would be....but let's say your willing to pay $3,000.00 for a resume ....and they sell 15 resumes per month , which would be a low qty. but this is all over the world, not just in the United States.....$3,000x15=$45,000 per month....times 12 months per year =$540,000 per year......and you'd need new fresh ideas and updated technical terms and credentials as the years passed on ...so you keep,gathering peoples resume info to help you freshen up your resumes....so assuming your still selling 15 resume a month over the course of 11 years you have made $5,940,000.00 . Almost 6 million dollars and probably more than that because I'm probably guessing low on price of resume and qty per year.......suddenly those advertising prices don't look so expensive , do they......so for the continual advertising over the years...you must invest money to make money.regardless if it is illegal ,black market, or on the up and up.

They're still trying to hire for my old job. (shout out to Bill Maher - who might be asleep in the next room)

a reply to: Shana91aus

Spies post messages in newspapers. Probably drop box contact info.

Great thread Op.

I rarely post but this one got my attention.

As every one is stating, this is very creepy indeed.

A question that crossed my mind, why is the ad targeting artist, as well.

S&F

a reply to: Sublimecraft

Yes let us know if you receive anything back! I was thinking of making an amazing resume that no employer could turn down and sending it and seeing if I get a response, but it seems to be that no matter how good your resume is you won't receive a response.

Yes re thinking that I think that weird is an understatement too , its really mind boggling though, im trying to find what I can about the email but not finding much! I will keep digging.

Thankyou for the link, very interesting.

a reply to: Meldionne1

But if someone is going too pay $3000 for a resume then why wouldn't they just set up their own ad for a lot less than that and fish for their own resumes? I would have thought that it would be illegal to do that and collect peoples personal information without their consent but obviously not if who ever these people are keep getting away with this and they obviously need not fear getting busted over it because this so called entrepreneur has been getting away with it for over 10 years.. I guess it could be a possibility but it doesn't add up for me, well none of it does really.

Sounds like a poor way to gather information. There are so many better ways to do it.
I have been contacted by a "headhunter" in the past, and it's kind of an unnerving feeling. After that I knew how kids feel when they see a cargo van and a creep with a bag of candy.

Serial Killer ad

a reply to: Shana91aus

Perhaps they are fishing for certifiable data to be used for fake passports?

It maybe be collecting data on how many people are gullible enough to answer a bogus ad.

sounds too good to be true.

Probably is.