Being fresh out of college, I was really excited when someone called me back to schedule an interview. This employer happened to be PURE Marketing, but I have learned that they go by many different names, posing as professional corporate marketing firms. They are truly pyramid marketing scams — if they want to do an interview with you, run away!
The first red flag on this company was that I couldn't find any information about them through Google besides their company website (which very vaguely describes what they do as a marketing firm) and all the other reports listed on this website. I did this search after my first interview, when I asked Josh Woodford if it was a local marketing company. He told me no, that they were in fact nationwide. If they were such a large company, then Google should have turned up information about them.
I had my second "interview" scheduled for Monday, so I figured I would go anyway all though it all seemed rather shady. When I visited their office a second time, I noticed that the "PURE Marketing" sign on the window was just stuck on and easy to remove. This time I was entering the office during the morning hours, and there were a ton of interviewees inside. There were two receptionists, and one of them was answering the phone using a different company name than the one I had applied to. Having read the reports about this scam online, I thought, "well, at least I'll have an interesting day." Josh called me into his office and told me I would be shadowing another employee for the day. He also told me to ask lots of questions. So I did.
All the questions I asked we based on things I had read online, such as reimbursement for transportation. I didn't even bother to remember the name of my trainer, but as we walked out to the parking lot, he told me we were "waiting for a car." I asked him "a company car or our car?" "Our car." "Are we reimbursed for transportation costs?" "No, but we are employed as independent contractors so we can write it off on our taxes." So, wait... I'm filing to the IRS as self-employed and therefore have to pay my own employment taxes and expect my transportation costs to be covered by honest, hard working tax payers? So far, so true.
So while we waited for "a car" (another worker's car — we were carpooling), he explained to me that we were doing the "entry level work" and that we don't do this everyday, maybe for only the first few months. We got in the other guy's car, which smelt strongly like BO, and did a half-hour drive to Blue Bell, PA. All transportation costs were on us. Someone busted out a map and explained that what we were doing was "direct marketing" and that we weren't selling anything.
We found our assigned neighborhood and cruised around like vultures, looking at the exterior of houses and seeing which ones we could stop at and try to offer free quotes on home repairs from Power Windows and Siding. We stopped approximately at four houses, two of which people actually answered and only glared and told us to go away.
During the trip to Blue Bell and walking around the neighborhood, I was texting my best friend about how shady it all really was and everything I read was true. I told him to do a search on Google, the same I had done, and read the reports that show up as the third search result. He started reading them and told me I should get out of there immediately. Well, I was pretty far from my car, so he said he would call me with a fake emergency and told me to get a taxi.
My phone rang:
"Hey, there's been an accident. Artemis was in a train wreck!"
Artemis is my cat.
Instead, I told the three employees I was with that my cat was peeing blood and vomiting. They bought it hook-line-and-sinker, just like they had bought the story about the company making millions marketing NY Yankee tickets, which they were undoubtedly told by management. I felt sorry for them, and offered them gas money, but they insisted on not taking it, and took me back to my car. They very much believed that they, too, would be quickly promoted to management and would eventually have their own division.
The hiring ads for these companies are re-posted daily on job websites such as Monster and Career Builder. The receptionist is the one who answers these applicants. People are moved through that office as interviewees daily in a turn-and-burn fashion. Anyone who applies will be given an interview and hired. Is this a job? Yes. Is it a career? Only if you are okay with eventually exploiting others for your own financial gain and have them go door-to-door, telling them they are not selling anything, but doing "direct marketing." Is it a fair deal? NO.
If you're a fresh college grad and looking for a job, settle for an internship with a real company. These kind of scams offer a full-time job for those fresh out of college, which is hard to come by without experience if you didn't major in engineering. Don't buy it. Settle for that internship. You'll be better off in the long run.
0 comments