I am a former intern in the Arizona division under Jane Kim. I would say I am partially still a supporter of the program, for the very small percentage of students who truly qualify for it. I feel it is important that future employees of this company be properly hired. Not only would this benefit the students hired, but also the homeowners, who as of now face the risk of a mismanaged job and unnecessary stress. The recruitment process simplifies and excludes a multitude of information vital for a critical decision.
This company thrives on the element of surprise. They recruit and hire students, usually within a week or two, culminating in the signing of a lengthy contract that most cannot even begin to understand. What lets this company call its recruiting process "selective" is the massive number of students they never have a chance to call, whose names they received in ambiguous class talks (where the name of the company is never once mentioned). The fact is that close to 50% of students who are interested enough to make it to the first interview are hired. I encourage you also to think about the fact that this company has been around 20 years but has to hire an entirely fresh fleet of employees every single year, with little to no name recognition on campuses. Also, in the Arizona division, College Works Painting is not endorsed by Arizona State University, the University of Arizona or Northern Arizona University. Both Arizona State University and the University of Arizona are in the process of banning the company from illegally recruiting on their campuses.
One of the selling points College Works promotes is that the average intern runs a $70,000 business and makes $12,500 in profit. While this is possible, the facts are definitely distorted. In reality, the average business in Arizona tends to be closer to $15,000-20,000 in revenue and $3,000-4,000 in profit, for the 15% of students who actually finish the program. On top of this, there is over 85% attrition. This means that most students who start this program are not even included in the stats. The high attrition rate points to the ambiguity of the recruiting process, since the vast majority of those students quit. So yes, it may be possible to make $12,000, but you most likely will not even cover minimum wage (excluding the money spent on gas and cell phone) and may end up losing money once personal expenses are added in. The company blames the failure of students on their "not being cut out for the program," but in reality it comes down to Jane Kim's hiring process and poor management skills.
Jane Kim is at the head of this mismanaged division. Most of the problems stem from her and her lack of leadership. Aside from the Arizona client who wrote on this site, numerous others know the struggle it was to work with her. There are currently petitions going around the University of Arizona and Arizona State University informing students of this. From unreturned phone calls to rescheduling appointments, other people are hardly ever first in her mind. On the intern end, she is known to consistently lie and bend the truth. The most prevalent lie stems from her falsifying the amount of success students should expect. She encourages a hostile work environment with her employees, favoring certain individuals over others. She also discriminates heavily against the people she interviews. In her interview feedback she has made demeaning remarks about candidates, including comments about a candidate's nationality, marital status, lisp and intelligence.
Jane explicitly tells her recruiters to find people who "look the part." This means steering away from girls, people with lisps, overweight people, etc. Not only is this highly illegal, it is also incredibly unethical. Recruiting in Arizona has been all about a "numbers game" and has no focus on quality. The weeding out happens while interns go through the program, at the students' expense. Jane seems open to feedback but in reality only does things her way. She has an excuse for everything and is vastly disliked by most of the other company heads (generally because she is quickly watering down the College Works Painting name).
Know that you will be working 30 hours a week in the spring semester and 50-60 hours a week during the summer, guaranteed. A lot of students do not anticipate the reality of working that much. Take a good look at your schedule and realize what working that much actually means. You will be knocking on doors to solicit your business (a lot of students are never told that). You will be working until June or July before making your first profit check. Make sure you can actually last that long while not only not receiving income but also having high gas and cell phone expenses simultaneously. Lastly, if you decide to take this position, you need to be 100% confident you will not quit. Quitting has little value in this program besides lost money and effort.
All I can suggest, whether you are an intern or a homeowner, is to tread extremely carefully. There are fairly good salespeople involved, so sometimes it is easy to get lost in their pitches. Remember to look at the facts and always do your research (meaning talk to people NOT on the company's call list).
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