Elliot has a unique problem in this recession. He tells Consumerist that recruiters claiming to represent the insurance company AFLAC have been calling, emailing, and otherwise harassing him and other people he knows who are looking for work. He doesn’t want to work for AFLAC. How can he make them stop calling?

I, like many others, am looking for work. As part of that process I have a resume out on a few sites, mostly the higher end sites, but also monster/careerbuilder. This has led to a near hourly assault on my phone and email from AFLAC representatives. Now, I have a sales background, so I understand why my resume would be attractive to them, but at least 4-5 times a day I get a call from someone calling themselves either the “Regional Manager” or “Regional Recruiter”, often from the same exchange.

I have turned them each down repeatedly, not always pleasently any more, and yet I still receive the calls. By my count I have identified at least 19 different people from the company that have called or emailed me in the last month, and when I ask them to stop I am told “If you don’t want us to contact you then you shouldn’t post your resume” or “we have no way to tracking who someone else in the office is calling” or, my favorite “You need to put that on your resume if you don’t want us to call.” I have even sent a letter to [the] SVP for HR, hoping for some response.

I have heard nothing but more calls and emails.

While it is an annoyance to me, the reason I bring this to your attention though is my father and best friend apparently are receiving the same treatment. Although retired, my father has a resume posted because he likes to do some temp work from time to time to make a little extra spending money and keep himself busy. He has never worked in sales in his life (or insurance) and states quite clearly on the posted resume that he is looking only for a temporary position. My friend is a teacher and is looking for a part time summer job. Again, he has no background in sales, finance, insurance or any other job history but teaching. He too receives multiple calls a day from the AFLAC recruiters.

Can you file a Do Not Call List complaint against a company that’s not trying to sell you anything? The fees for small claims court might be a hardship while out of work, but wouldn’t it be fun to sue them?

E-mails are easy: if you use Gmail, set up filters to direct anything from an Aflac representative straight into the trash. Phones are harder. Any other suggestions for Elliot?

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