After this happened to me, I could not, in good conscience, let it happen to someone else without fair warning. This is a job for real dumb people. Don't interview there. It's essentially a 60-70 hr/week sweatshop where your salary is totally commission-based, and your commission is based off selling coupons door-to-door. This isn't marketing. You make anywhere from $8-$13 off each deal you cold sell, and several people up the ladder take their cut from the total price. You're promised promotions ridiculously fast, and they say within a year, you can own your own branch, name it yourself, and be making 70-100K annually. Yeah. And a magical purple unicorn hands your check to you. No legit company can expand like this without toppling over. Think about it.
Like many people, I'm looking for a job right now. I was pretty excited to get contacted for an interview by Entertainment Marketing. I looked online and I couldn't find a single complaint against them. They even have an A rating from the BBB. I thought I was being considered for a legitimate marketing job. I e-mailed the receptionist who penciled me in to ask her what position I was being interviewed for. No response. I figure she's just busy.
When I show up, the office is really shoddy-looking; mildewy carpet, gray everything, nothing on the walls, and there are several other people waiting for an interview. I interview with a guy named Conya; he and another guy Shawn are the owners. The interview was way too easy. I listened to Conya talk about how awesome this business was, nodded a few times, and he told me I'd be perfect and that I should come back for a second interview/job shadow thing that lasted from 11:30am to 8:00pm, which really turned into 9:30pm.
For the record, never do something like this. Your time is valuable and if a company is not going to pay you to work for eight hours, it's not fair. It doesn't take eight hours to learn whether or not you want ANY job. They're exploiting you for free labor. Conya was supremely vague about the actual position I was applying for. If he'd have been upfront, telling applicants that the job is door-to-door sales, most people would never, EVER come back. This is an upsetting side note, too: the second interview was on my birthday. A day totally wasted.
For the second interview, there are about 10 other people sitting around in the waiting room for their second "day of observation" interview. This is one day. That's waaaay too many applicants, and I began to suspect there are always 10 people sitting around getting ready to do a "day of observation" interview.
I go out on "the field" with two other guys who had less than three months combined work experience with the company. It was our job to knock on 200 houses' doors three times and try to hock these stupid golf coupons, which were actually the regular price of a round if you knew the real price of the golf course and not the one on the stupid card. Also, they say they give money to charity, to help kids play wheelchair basketball, whatever else. If they do do this, it's only a very, very little bit.
I knew I hated this job the second I was out there. I knew this was a huge mistake. We blew past No Soliciting signs, woke up babies, and generally disturbed people. Between the two guys knocking on 200 houses' doors three times, they only sold two packages that day. That's a cool $26 for two guys walking around for eight hours. And they had to pay for gas. Sometimes they have to take road trips to Phoenix or wherever else and they have to pay for gas then, too. But that's okay because soon those two saps are going to be branch owners. And it will rain gold and all debts will be erased by a merry old tap-dancing ferret. We got done at like 8:30 and then had to drive an hour back to the main office. They were like, "are you committed to the cause? Do you want this job?" and I was like, "I would rather be raped. Oh, wait, I already was."
Not to mention employees of this company have to sit through four hours of "marketing classes" each day before they go out and knock on doors, so they usually work 12-hour days making almost nothing. They also work Saturdays and some Sundays. Once again, they're making nothing. I overheard the guy I was shadowing arguing with his mom over the phone about how bad he needed $160.
I was so wiped out when I got back, but I did some internet research about this place, and it is definitely very fishy. First off, the parent company is called Cause Marketing Solutions. It is not registered with the BBB. Visit their website sometime:
Http://causemarketing. Estream.com
Here's some weird things I noticed about that site. The counter says there has only been 3800 visitors; not much for a national marketing conglomerate. Plus, it hasn't been updated in over a year; also not characteristic of a national marketing conglomerate.
I googled the CEO's name: Paulo Frattini. He's connected with Alonti International and Boss Executive Group, two places that are known scams. Read about them:
Http://usacomplaints.com/reports/0/320/ RipOff0320528.htm
Http://usacomplaints.com/reports/0/404/ RipOff0404531.htm
Http://usacomplaints.com/reports/0/403/ ripoff0403021.htm
And just for good measure, here are some MORE complaints about Cause Marketing solutions and the BS coupon books they make.
Http://usacomplaints.com/reports/0/324/ ripoff0324326.htm
Http://usacomplaints.com/reports/0/277/ RipOff0277372.htm
Don't go in to interview with Entertainment Marketing unless you want a great reason to commit suicide.
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