Like so many others, I was contacted by this company by email because my resume was posted on careerbuilder.com. Multi-level marketing companies like to spam email to everyone and anyone on resume application sites, even if the applicants have no background in sales.
I set up a preliminary interview with the nice lady on the phone. Her name was Veronica. I went in for the interview on a Thursday. I live 50 miles away from Corona, where the office is located, so it took a lot of gas and time to get there. I was only willing to drive so far because of all of the promises that this company made and the way that they hyped themselves up. They gave me the impression that I was applying for a marketing position based on salary, not a sales position based on pyramid commission.
The first interview seemed to go well. It was too easy, I thought to myself, and I didn't trust it. I was asked to come back the next day for the second part of the interview. It would last all day and they would provide me with lunch. I was told to bring a note pad to write down any questions that I had. Any questions that I had about the job or the company would be answered the next day. I was cautious about this interview right away, because a real company is not vague about the position you are applying for, the pay, the benefits, or exactly what you will be doing to get them.
I came back the next morning for the second "interview". By now, I had burned about half a tank of gas and I had to take a day off of work. I had a lot invested in this job already. When I checked in I was told to wait in the lobby. Two other young men were there for their own interviews. They looked very young, naive, and desperate for a job.
I was then told that I would be sent out with one of the reps so that I could observe him doing the job.By this time, I was already pretty sure that I was getting sucked into a pyramid scheme.
I was sent out of the office with two young black males. We got into a junky little car piled with junk in the back (Cheap knives, binoculars, FM radio scanners, etc. Junk that nobody wants!). I knew now that I was being suckered. These guys were going to go door-to-door to solicit this junk. But I just told myself, "I applied for a marketing position, so this couldn't be sales. Maybe we are going to department stores to do demonstrations or something."
So we drive several miles away from the office.By the way, if you are ever told to get into a car for an interview, tell them that you will follow in your own car! If there is a bunch of junk in the back of the car, then don't even continue with the interview. When we reach our destination, we get out and go into this real estate office. This was a place where the people had told them to come back. They pushed their items as gifts for Father's day (which was going to be that same weekend). We walked out with about $30 more than we walked in with.
We then got on the freeway and drove even farther away from the office. We got off in Jurupa and drove back and forth on the main street so that the guys could scope out the territory. We got out in a shopping center and continued to go door to door pushing this garbage that nobody wanted to buy. Nobody bought anything, but in the process we were recruited by a prepaid legal guy. Great, another pyramid marketing scheme! At this point I was only following along for kicks. I knew I wasn't going to do this job. Besides, what else could I do when I was so far away from where my car was?
We went to the next shopping center and continued our solicitations. As soon as we reached this parking lot, a security guard told us to leave because soliciting was not aloud in that shopping center. We pretended to get back in the car and then continued on as soon as the security guard left. It was starting to get hot outside.
The guy I shadowed got really excited when he saw construction sites in the shopping center. The Mexicans at the construction sites were the only people who bought from him that day. Even then, he only pitched about $50 worth of junk after about 4 hours out in the sun. And this was supposedly how he made $700 last week!
I figured I would let the the guys finish this shopping center before I told them to take me back since I wasn't interested. We would probably be taking a lunch break soon anyway. Well, I didn't need to tell them. The guy I was shadowing could tell that I was getting fed up with following him around. He turned to me and said, "You, uh, better find yourself a ride, because I could already tell this isn't going to work out for you."
That $#*! Head left me in the middle of a strange city with no way to get back! He didn't even have the courtesy to take me back to my car. When I asked him to take me back he just said, "No, I gotta work." Luckily I was smart enough to pay attention to where we drove.
I ended up paying $25 to take a cab back to my car so that I could burn more gas driving back home. The only good outcome to this is that I was not fooled by this company into taking their "marketing" position. I filed a complaint with careerbuilder that the position I applied for was misrepresented. Since finding consumer complaints, I have done research on all of the other companies that have contacted me from careerbuilder. All of them are pyramid scams similar to this.
If you are given an interview and the company is vague about anything, then don't continue. It will only tell you that they have something to hide. I have learned a lot about job searching from this experience and now I know how to identify a fraud. Don't waste your time and money chasing after a dead end like I did. Learn from other people's experiences.
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