I have seen many other marketing companies reported on this website already yet I interviewed with one that was not yet reported, so let me take this opportunity to give everyone the heads up on one more scam marketing firm.
Like most of the other people sucked into this type of scam I was a recent college graduate who was in desperate need of a job. I went on careerbuilder.com and applied to hundreds of jobs. One of the first call backs I got was from a place called pereira marketing located in White Plains, New York. They asked me in for my first interview and I had no idea what I was in for.
Like other scams of its kind, pereira marketing operates out of a very small office. It has a lobby area and two offices reserved for the managers of the "business." Shortly after arriving you are sent in to meet with one of the managers who goes to great length to sell you on the job all the while dodging any serious business related questions. They will not answer anything about the pay scale, benefits, hours, or type of business they operate.in fact when asked what they do they will only tell you that they handle large accounts for Quill and that everything else will be explained to you during your second interview if you are called back. When asked what kind of marketing they handle they will only say that they handle face-to-face business-to-business sales (If at any time anyone uses these words to describe a position let that be a red flag to you. GET UP AND WALK OUT).
I wish I had found this website earlier because I was called back for a second interview and I was excited. They tell you that the second day is a day of observation and you are in fact made to sign a waver stating that you are not an employee and that you will not be compensated for in any way. You are paired up with an "account executive" which while it sounds like a flashy title it amounts to be nothing more than a door to door salesman. They drive you far away from the office, stranding you in their "territory" (Their territory being a map of NYC with their specific area outlined with a highlighter) and you are forced to walk in a business suit all over the city for a full 8 hour selling office supplies to people who are really not happy to see you.
After about four hours of this they take you to lunch. My lunch was a cold chinese food buffet in the bad part of the Bronx. There they tell you that this job is only paid in commision and that there is no base salary, but the swear you will make a lot of money. After enduring another 4 hours of this BS (my experience got even worse as the day wore on because of a freak and heavy snow storm) we headed back to the office where there was a lot of screaming and high fiving. This I was assured was normal.
After the third interview they ask you to start tomorrow. And so you start doing what you did on that miserable day. You go around and sell products and services (and are encouraged to bend the truth to do so) after you are hired by the marketing company. You pay for your own gas (which obviously isn't cheap), get no benefits like health (which obviously isn't cheap), and prospective customers typically aren't happy to see you.
Moreover, you can get a lot b.S. From the people you work with. The reason for that is they are trying sell you something as well. You see, the way the system typically works, is that employees need to develop a team. When people go on interviews with a mentor or a leader, those leaders are hoping you will work for them so they can get a large enough of a team and be promoted to run their own marketing group and dont have to drive around and have people spit in their face. So, in other words, they are not hiring you, you are hiring yourself. They will take pretty much anyone and hope it works out because they need people in order to be promoted out of their crappy position. And once you are hired, they try to keep selling you so you won't quit because most people don't stay long. I only worked there for two weeks (excluding days off), but several people quit in the time I was there. I went on a business trip for a week and 2 of the 7 of us quit by the end of the week (I quit the next week). And most of the employees who had stuck around for more than a few weeks, had only been working there for 6 months or less. Only 3 had been working there for more than 6 months, and even they hadn't worked there for a year. Only the boss and the secretaries (who didn't drive all over the state selling stuff) had been there more than a year. It has been 9 months since I quit, and apart from those secretaries and the owner, the people there are probably almost entirely if not completely different than the people who were there when I was there. Again, that was only 9 months ago. A staff of a few dozen that is likely totally different less than a year later.
So is it technically a scam. I guess it is an actual business, but it is an extraordinarily lousy one. The pay, which is all commission, sucks, the job sucks, and the other workers are constantly trying to sell you the business because they need you to stay on so they can hopefully to be promoted out of their lousy job (You have about a 2% chance of being promoted and even then there is no guarantee you will succeed after you are promoted). Don't buy their lies about fabulous wealth some day. It is very unlikely because it is by far the biggest longshot I have ever encountered for success. The bosses at these places seem to have money but none seem happy. He seemed like another person chasing money, but winds up lonely with little free time. So stay away from this company. Get a good education and a job where you aren't a door to door salesman.
Nobody goes to college to do what they could have done as a high school drop out.
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