I want to start by saying that if you type Quantum, Red Line, Nova 3C, or any of the other companies listed into the search you will find tons, possibly even hundreds, of stories similar to mine and much worse. You will find that the only people defending the companies accused are people who currently work there or those who acknowledge everything we are saying is true but think it is okay nonetheless.
I noticed a ton of advertisements for North Wind Promotions on careerbuilder.com and applied for a job as a receptionist by sending in my resume. The first thing that I noticed was a ton of ads that all said pretty much the same thing, such as "EVENT MARKETING ENTRY LEVEL" and "ENTRY LEVEL MANAGEMENT" "PAID TRAINING" "RED BULL ATTITUDE" "SPORTS MARKETING" ect. I didn't really care, since I was applying for the receptionist job, but I did take note that each ad had a different name to contact, from Melissa, to Alexis Davis, to Stacy Walton. It often took me an hour or so to get someone to answer the phone when I tried to call on various occasions. One time, the phone rang and rang and it took four hours before someone picked up.
I received an EMAIL (should have been my first tip) to call to set up an interview with some cookie cutter speech about how I was a perfect candidate. I tried to call another non-existent name and finally managed an interview for the very next day. I needed business dress and a copy of my resume, which they already HAD, from my initial email.
I showed up and waited in a cruddy, tiny room for about an hour with at least thirty other people. The office had two rooms, a "lobby, " and a bathroom. There were trashy tabloids on the table and an annoyingly loud radio, which struck me as unprofessional. The receptionist couldn't tell me any more about the position I was interviewing for. Finally, we started getting called into interviews by a woman named Shinnon (Shi NAWN). She took each person in for about ten minutes. I should have realized something was up when each person walked out with a giant grin on their face. My turn came and I went in.
Shinnon told me that she just moved with her friends (Tom was one) from Buffalo, NY, where she had been working for two years with North Wind and just relocated to open her own office in Savannah. She pointed to a degree on the wall and told me she had a BA in Marketing from a college in Boston (she would later say she went to Florida State and various other collges). She went out to describe the company in very vague detail. Any specific questions were answered with, "Go home and check out our website." (Which is really, really similar to 5thdimensionpromotions.com. Notice the same person designed both websites.)
Shinnon told me that the event-based marketing company worked for many charities and programs, such as the CPEA and DARE. I asked about the receptionist job and she told me that no, this was an interview for an ENTRY LEVEL EVENT MARKETING POSITION... One that I have never applied for.
Nonetheless, it sounded like a cool opportunity and I had no job, so when she told me that she was interviewing 50 people that day and would only call back about 10, I was hoping I'd be one of them.
I was. Only later did I find out that EVERYONE got a call back to set up that interview. "Adam" left me a message on my voicemail telling me that my resume was great and to call back to set up another interview. I spent four hours trying to call through to the office and all I could think was how small the place was an how maybe ten people actually WORKED there. How could the phone never be picked up?
I went to the second interview after being told it was an all-day chance to experience the company. I showed up with about six other girls and we waited in the lobby for over an hour before someone came to talk to us. While waiting I heard very creepy screaming, yelling, and chanting come from the meeting room. JUICE was a common phrase.
I was taken out a second "interview" by Shinnon herself. We (me, her, and a "trainee") got into her really crappy car with a different color door than the rest of it and drove to a. Truckstop. We set up a table full of products with the CPEA (child protection education of america) logo on it and began trying to convince people to buy the stuff.
First I noticed that Shinnon lied to each person she talked to, which I suppose is standard sales. Every time I asked her a specific question about a product or a charity, she parroted the same figures back to me."2000 kids go missing a day" "you have to hear 10 nos to get one yes" "laws of average"
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