Hi Howard, In North America, it is common practice for public companies to advertise for positions to trick their stock holders/market into thinking that the product/project timelines are on target. I haven't seen much evidence of this in Australia but I have seen companies that advertise for tech writers but then have a change of heart. For example, project managers may, start a hiring process for contract tech writers based on assumptions that their timelines are correct. But when reality sets in, the hiring process is put on hold. If the design and development side of the budget becomes inflated, there may be no money left to pay for adequate documentation. So they utilise other means to 'document' the product. We all know what these means might be. Cheers -----Original Message----- From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Howard Silcock Sent: 02 July 2003 09:32 To: Austechwriter Subject: [austechwriter] Bogus positions and similar traps Has anyone out there had experiences of applying for positions that turned out not to exist? Or have you any stories of companies that advertised positions because it seemed like a good idea, or because an agent twisted their arms, then realised they weren't prepared to take someone on after all? More importantly, has anyone any tips on how to be prepared for these traps, or even how to get back at those who set them? ************************************************** To post a message to austechwriter, send the message to austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx To subscribe to austechwriter, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "subscribe" in the Subject field. To unsubscribe, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe" in the Subject field. To search the austechwriter archives, go to www.freelist.org/archives/austechwriter To contact the list administrator, send a message to austechwriter-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx **************************************************