After I got laid off from my job in November, I began exploring other career options. One day, I found a posting on Monster.com for one of the local car dealerships. It sounded very appealing to me. It said that training was being offered to become a car salesman. It said that no experience was necessary, and that everyone is encouraged to apply.
So, I go apply in person the next Monday. I get a brief interview with a training professional that was brought in. He seemed to like me well enough to invite me back for a 3-day training course.
I attend the course, along with about 40 other people. After the first day, the class was down to maybe 25 people. I wad determined to stay and complete the training. I was almost certain that I would end up getting a job out of the deal. After all, everyone in the class had been told that the dealer was looking to increase their sales force by about 15, and that they had two sister dealerships that were each looking to add 5 more to their sales force. With numbers like that, shouldn't everyone left in the class be coming out with a job offer?
Well, it did not exactly work out that way. What they did, was they charged me and everyone else $294 to finish the training course. They told us that the fee was just an incentive to stay working for the dealer for at least 90 days. After the 90 days, the $294 is refunded to you.
On the last day, each person left in the class had an interview with the GM of the dealership hosting this training course. After the last person interviews, she informed the rest of us that we should all be getting a call by the end if the day to find out where each of us are going.
I never got a phone call. A week later, a representative from TK Worldwide did contact me, and told me they were looking at other dealerships to set up interviews for me and my other classmates. This is where I was starting to get suspicious about the whole situation. Nevertheless, they gave me 3 dealerships in the area to go visit.
They made it sound like they had set up interviews for me. However, all they did was send me over to fill out job applications. I actually talked to HR personnel at these dealerships, told them who I was, and mentioned TK Worldwide Auto Sales Training, and they never even heard of TK Worldwide. One of the dealers I went to did have an ad in the newspaper, but they were only collecting resumes when I stopped by. At the other dealerships, they sounded confused when I went to inquire about a position in sales. They made it sound as though they weren't hiring any sales people.
After I visited all the dealerships I was told to, I called the TK Worldwide representative I was told to call after visiting each dealer. I did get ahold of the person, but she was really rude to me. She was not helpful at all. Here I am today, without a job. My main regret was that I paid money to be trained for a career I might not have a future in. I guess I was too optimistic to believe that a car dealership would actually like to hire inexperienced people to sell cars. Oh, and a couple months after I had taken this training course, the same exact dealership I took the course at posted the exact same ad again on Monster.com. I am surprised that no one has filed a report against TK Worldwide on this site. They are nothing but scam artists!
Anyone who might have been considering training with these people, just don't do it! If you don't get hired by the host dealership, you will only lose $294, which won't be refunded to you!
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