They're out to grow their own business, and tried to use my professional network to do it. I understand that as a recruiting company (and they did find me on LinkedIn), they need to carefully vet candidates they submit to clients. I tolerated the suffocating amount of communication leading up to the interview. However, when they discovered that a former employer of mine was a client of theirs, they would not stop hounding me for my manager's name. Called me and texted me several times a day for this information. My manager had left the company, and they insisted they speak with someone still active in the company or I would not be moving forward. My reference informed me that it was a sales pitch, not a reference call. That's a despicable way of doing business. They then wanted the name of my manager at my current organization. I said absolutely not, and demanded to be removed from their database and any positions I was being considered for immediately. Do not make the same mistake of subjecting yourself or your network to this scum.