Bogus calls from unscrupulous headhunters are continuing to be made to optical practices despite a warning from the General Optical Council.
Last month the GOC issued a warning to practices following a spate of calls from recruiters. The callers, pretending to be from the GOC, duped receptionists into supplying details of the professional staff on site. The callers were then targeting optometrists as candidates for jobs elsewhere.
The GOC has repeated its warning to practices to be vigilant and this advicehasbeen supported by the optical recruitment business.
Scott Liversidge, managing director of Flame Health, said the whole recruitment business was being tarnished by calls from shady operators who use underhand tactics to get to staff.
'The credit crunch is driving people to do desperate things,' he said. 'The only way to stop this is to report them and not deal with them.'
He said as many as three operators had targeted the optical business and were ringing as many people as they could. 'If they call 50 people and only hook one it's worth it to them. There's being pro-active and creative but this is just unscrupulous.'
He urged practices to screen calls to professional staff and only deal with reputable or known recruitment agencies.
Hesaid it wasn't a question of stopping people from moving jobs, more a question of being aware of shady operators. People will want to move and find work and there were professional regulated companies ready to help staff.Liversidge said he has 15 years' experience of optical recruitment, is a member of his professional body and his firm is accredited to ISO 9001.
'In every walk of life work with someone who is a professional. You wouldn't have your eyes tested by someone who wasn't GOC registered,' he commented.