This handsome devil is Carlos Gil, CEO of a dime-a-dozen job-search site called JobsDirectUSA.com, which would've remained unknown to us had he not spammed us with an announcement for his "Jobs Tea Party" event at the Capitol this Friday, the 6th. However, the fact that this guy's organization spammed us with an invitation to an event cashing in on the whole "Tea Party" hype led us to save that email -- instead of shit-canning it, as we normally do with spam -- and do a little rooting around on the 'Net, starting with some casual Googling for Carlos Gil. Lo and behold, ask and ye shall receive, in the form of Carlos' Twitter site:
* Name Carlos Gil
* Location Jacksonville, FL
* Web http://www.carlosgil.us/
* Bio I'm a 26 y/o CEO from Florida. Last Nov. I lost my job and turned to online networking. Today, I run JobsDirectUSA.com & host Pink Slip Party networking events.
The URL in his bio redirects to his company, CXG Group, your standard-issue, garden-variety Web 2.0 marketing and consulting (and spamming, apparently) startup in Jacksonville, Florida -- as we recall, one of the spam capitals of the USA.
Here's the standard blather from his "About" page:
Seven years ago Carlos Gil, a Florida native, was selling shoes as a part-time job at a mall in Fort Lauderdale. Since then, Carlos has spent the last several years working in Branch and Client Management positions for Fortune 500 corporations such as American International Group (AIG), Citigroup and Regions Bank. After years of hard work, dedication and professional development Carlos Gil is now the President and CEO of CXG Group LLC based out of Jacksonville, FL...
Wowie zowie, that's some Horatio Alger story, there. Our boy went from Al Bundy to AIG middle management...not that big a jump, really, when you think about it.
With a little more casual Googling, we found Carlos' current Facebook page. We say "current" because he's apparently had two Facebook accounts closed down, but he doesn't say why, though it could be due to an effort to pick up as many "followers" as he could in the shortest amount of time.
Checking out the Facebookers he's a "fan" of, we find:
"American Free Enterprise", which is, in turn, run by the Web site Free Enterprise America, which is a "project" of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who's just recently filed a SLAPP lawsuit against the Yes Men for parodying their Web site, and who are about as Teabagger as you can get without coming right out and saying so.
Still, it looks like a few job seekers weren't entirely thrilled with one of Carlos' cheesy job fairs:
JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Hundreds flocked to a downtown hotel today looking for something that's hard to find these days -- a job.
But many that turned out said they left even more frustrated. There were long lines, and that meant a lot of competition for companies' attention at the Northeast Florida Fall Career Expo at the Omni Hotel.
"It's very hard; you can see by the line and the people," said Juan Figueroa, a job seeker.
And one job seeker didn't like what he saw once he got to the front of the lines. "I'm not impressed with it at all, not a lot of jobs. Mostly schools and that type of thing," said David Pugh.
Pugh is one of more than 1,000 people who attended to look for some kind of job. Unemployed for a few months now, career fairs are only one technique he uses to get ahead. "It's pretty difficult. I do apply every day and get on the internet."
But some tell us that despite the competition, meeting company officials face to face is key. "It's going great," said Davalyn Williams, a student. "I'm just looking for a job while I'm in school."
The event was organized by Carlos Gil of jobsdirectusa.com who said participating companies were ready to hire at least 100 people. "Last year I lost my job...I decided to pay it forward and help as many folks as possible find jobs," he said.
There's no word yet how many people actually wind up with a new position today. The Expo continues until 8 p.m. at the Omni downtown.
Now, we don't know about you, but here at the TW, we instinctively roll our eyes whenever we hear some dweeb use trendy catch phrases like "pay it forward".
Oh, but wait! There's more! Seems Carlos has been reported to the FTC for spamming invites to his "pink slip parties". D'ohhhh!
Check out the discussion board at Carlos' Facebook site, where you can see him spin it 'til it pukes:
Carlos Gil A guy named George Metcalfe from Bank Atlantic e-mailed me that he reported me to the FTC and his "huge network of colleagues in Orlando" because I sent him several invites to attend a Pink Slip Party/Mixer. My response to him is, "If helping people find jobs is a crime in this day and age so be it!"
And, check out one of the replies:
Marvin White Don't be discouraged by that, if he's taking time (which he won't) to do all of that, why couldn't he just say "no, I won't be attending" or "please remove me from your list." Let him be, people that enjoy wallowing in negativity are too conditioned to even try and combat. He'll destroy himself eventually with his negativity. Keep pushing!!
October 10 at 3:50am
...to which our boy Carlos replies:
Carlos Gil He actually DID report me to the FTC b/c he sent me the e-mail confirmation with a case# but I am NOT going to sweat it. The FTC has bigger fish to fry and bigger cases to be worried about (such as: child porn, illegal downloads, fishing schemes) than some guy who is putting together events for the unemployed and sending mass invites. Like I told him, if it's a crime to HELP the jobless than so be it...I could care less what Metcalfe or any other party crasher has to say
October 10 at 8:18am
Yeaahhhhh! If spamming is a crime, then so be it! So, take that, ya' filthy Marxist public-option-healthcare-supporting scum! (oh, and btw Carlos... we got the pdfs, we got the screen shots)
But, wait! There's EVEN MORE! Check out this Facebook discussion thread containing this reply to a Twitter-spamming complaint from a Personnel rep at Capitol One:
Carlos Gil How is this for rudeness, an HR Rep from Capital One Tweets "Anyone else getting CONSTANTLY spammed by #JaxCareerExpo? I have a job and we're not hiring, now leave me alone!" Excuse me Sarah Brown but several thousand people living in Jacksonville DON'T have a job which is what my organization is trying to get you and yours to wake up and see so perhaps your company will do something about it.Needless to say, we're hoping to attend Carlos' "Jobs Tea Party" on Friday so that we can ask him about the spamming complaints and a few other things -- such as whether or not he's only concetrating on finding new jobs for unemployed fellow bankers and other "professionals" -- or, as we call them at the TW, "yuppie scum" -- or if he plans to help find work for all those people who lost their jobs building cars and computers and TV sets when their companies moved to Mexico, Asia, or anywhere else where labor and job-safety laws are lax, and where they can get away with paying substandard wages for sweatshop labor.
September 17 at 10:18am
Oh, and this late word just in! Looks like Mr. Big Shot Young Entrepreneur has had another Facebook page shut down:
Carlos Gil Being a serial social networker has its consequences, Facebook shut down my latest account which had only been up for a little over a month. Below I have posted my newest Facebook profile.P'ahh ha ha hah. When it rains, it pours, huh, Carlos?
October 29 at 3:15pm
