I am ashamed to admit that I followed a craigslist ad for a marketing job, but it was a great scam. Their ad on Craigslist was pretty vague, mentioning only that it was an entry level "business-to-business" sales position and that they offer fast-track career advancement into management positions. Sounds good, right? I checked out their website and it seemed fairly legit too. The management team all looked young, attractive, and smart. Even better.
So not 12 hours after I apply they send me an e-mail asking for an interview. I know to become a little wary of interviews offered right away, but I went with an open mind. Their offices are in one of the nice, large office buildings on the outskirts on King of Prussia and their office was flawless on the inside. Glass doors, nice sign, attractive receptionist, and everyone inside appeared to be wearing a perfectly tailored suit. I get a 1 on 1 interview with the hiring manager which lasts only 8-10 minutes during which he yet again skirts around being direct about what they do. Saying that "more will be explained if we offer you a position.
Sure enough, 10 minutes after I get home from the interview I get a phone call saying they want to set me up to shadow one of their employees for a day. I have a free day so I say sure, why not.
Here's where the fun starts. I show up to the interview and immediately and pointed to a guy about my age and told "You can go with him, he'll be training you today". I wonder why we immediately start heading towards the office door, and get even more leery when he says "walk with me to the parking lot". I proceed to follow this man in his perfectly tailored suit out to his 1980-sothing, falling-apart, piece of crap Honda at which point he says "You'll be followed me door-to-door today to get a feel for the job". Wait, WHAT? Red flag, I should have walked away there. But I didn't. I got in and we proceeded to drive 20 minutes away to some gated community near Doylestown. He parks his car, opens his trunk, and proceeds to put on a Comcast coat, a comcast hat, and a comcast clipboard. This one tailored business man transformed into the annoying comcast guy in seconds.
So there I was, feeling like a hostage, following this schmuck around for SIX HOURS while he went door to door trying to sell Verizon Fios. He got zero sales. Close to 130 annoyed "no thank you's" wile I stood haplessly by his side feeling like an idiot. Worst part is - it was 42 degrees! No one in setting up the e-mail told me to dress warmly, and this schmuck I'm following around has 2 layers of under-armor under his suit and comcast winter coat and I have thin dress pants and a light formal coat. I was FREEZING the whole time. To make it better, the whole time this schmuck is telling me how in 4 months he expects he'll be promoted to manager and how in less than a year he could be making 6 figures. This guy was toast, he had bought in hook-line-and-sinker. Best part? The job is 100% commission based. You get $25-50 a sale and on a GOOD day make 1-2 sales.
Finally the whole thing ends and he takes me back to the office. I see the other applicants who had been there that morning with me - all sitting looking equally as dejected. One was a young woman who has come in a skirt and blouse! They took her out without even as much as a coat. The other guy was wearing simply a suit without a coat. I said - "weren't you freezing?". He mumbled "yeah, it would have been nice if they told us we were going to be walking outside for 3-4 hours at a time."
This place is a SCAM. They draw you in with promises of "fast advancement!" and parade around their office is tailored suits and have girls at every prominent desk in tight dressed with pretty smiles. Truth is, as soon as you leave the office you don the cape of a door-to-door harassed hawking Comcast on people in their 60's living in communities.
Do not, I repeat, DO NOT get sucked into this. There are also dozens of similar scams on Craigslist that I could pinpoint after falling for this one. All offer promises of fast advancement for "entry level marketing and sales professionals".
Do yourself a favor and stick to LinkedIn, Monster, CWDS, CarreerBuilder, etc. Craigslist will get you left in the cold for 7 hours without a coat.
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