Being the first job interview I recieved after graduating from college, I was excited to actually be able to get started somewhere, even if it meant in sales. Let it be known that I have no experience whatsoever in sales, and I even told this to the interviewer at my first interview. Even though I had no clue what I was talking about, it soon became clear to me that the interviewer had equally less knowledge of the actual position the company was offering me.
After asking her exactly what the job entailed, she gave me the same run-around she used earlier to describe the company as a whole, stating, "We are a team-based marketing group... Top companies in Boston... Motivated sales team." She also mentioned the possiblility of management training only after a short start-up period, something I knew that any decent company would never offer to an employee with no previous experience in such short time.
Although I believed I completely bombed the first interview, I was surprised when they called me back for a second round interview, which, as they described, would consist of an entire day of working with the company from 9am to 6pm. When I showed up, there were a number of other applicants waiting for the same thing, and after waiting an hour in the waiting room till 10 am we were called out as individuals. When my time came, I was introduced to one of the "account managers" with whom I would be spending the day with.
At this point, I was still completely unaware of what I would be doing that day. So after meeting the account manager, I was surprised when she led me outside and into her car, and even more surprised when she got on the highway and headed south out of the city. Basically, the job is to go business to business selling AT&T service to small businesses.
We went to the small town of Seekonk, and spent the whole day wandering aimlessly along the streets trying to sell this service. Some things that immediately struck me was that my account manager didnt have any business cards to offer possible clients, a strange thing for any serious businessman to lack. We also spent over an hour in just one business while the manager chatted it up with the owner about society and politics, the whole time knowing that the owner already had AT&T service and was not interested in what we were selling. I guess I was treated to lunch, a small sub at Subway (thanks a ton).
So the whole day went by without making one sale, and I learned that this job was comission based and that seemed awfully disconcerning. After taking a wrong turn, we had to return to Boston in rush-hour traffic, so I got back late. I was then kept at the office for an extra hour, supposedly waiting for a final interview as they reviewed my end-of-day questionaire.
But after waiting, the manager came out from this room and told me the company would give me a call after a week. I knew this wasnt good news, and all I wanted to do was get home, so I thanked the manager half-heartedly and rushed out of the building. I didn't get home till after 7:30pm, the entire day ruined. I spent over 10 bucks in gas to get there and back, and my nice suit (which they told me to wear) was filthy from dust and dirt from walking around on the streets.
In the end, this was clearly a swindle to bring in inexperienced college grads hoping for a real job. Of course, if you really believed in yourself as a door-to-door business person than this may be the job for you, or if you are a masochist who enjoys humiliation and wasting your time. I am actually thinking of starting up my own similar company because the scam is so good, and the top guy must be making some money, because it is clear that no one else is.
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