This will be long, but bear with me.
On April 24, I looked into my schools newspaper, The Daily Helmsman and saw this ad that says:
Attention Memphis Students
Part time work
Excellent Starting Pay!!!
Customer Service
No Experience Preferred
Training Provided
Scholarships/Internships Possible SEND RESUME TO:
Sara, Jessica, or Kayla will contact you to schedule an interview.
First, I began to feel skeptical and begin to wonder What is the name of the company? And why this company doesnt have a company email domain? I admit, the ad was enticing and I emailed this unknown company my resume.
I hoped that it wouldnt be a scam, but I received a call the next day, April 25. On my caller id, the name of the company that was displayed was RHEALTH LLC. I answered the phone and Sara introduced herself and said that she is with Vector Marketing.
This was a sign of deception. I was thinking, If you are working for Vector, why use RHEALTH LLC as the company name? RHEALTH LLC is a medical company not a sales and marketing company.
Moreover, Sara proceeded to mention my resume and talked a little about the position. Sara mentioned that there are part time and full time jobs available without any specifics. Sara said that its a people person job which you wont be telemarketing people, going door-to-door, etc.
Towards the end of the conversation, I agreed to schedule an appointment the next day, April 26 at 4pm. Last, Sara told me that I would have to dress in professional attire; bring pen and paper; and that I would be seeing the assistant manager, Chelsea Banks. I noticed that Sara sounded a little too friendly and helpful over the phone.
I received a confirmation email from Sara, and the email address from the sender was: thats quite different from the email thats in the ad. On April 26, I attended the interview and saw Sara at the receptionist desk. The office was small.
I signed in and Sara gave me a clipboard with a short, one page application on it, and directed me to a room to sit. There were 3 other young women in the room. More men and women showed up after I was there.
Ill estimate that there were 9 other people total. Assistant Manager, Chelsea Banks were calling 1-2 people at a time to her office for pre-screening. The first person that was called didnt make it through the pre-screening and left.
Everyone else, including me made it through. If a candidate passed the pre-screening, they were told to sit in the front row in the room. Well, the pre-screening took about 1-1.5 hours.
After Chelsea finished pre-screening, she came into the room where the other applicants who passed the pre-screening were at and began this long, drawn-out presentation. Chelsea covered 6 topics which are: company, product, market, pay, training, and perks
Here are the notes that I took during the presentation. Keep in mind, this is what Chelsea said. The comments in parenthesis are my own comments.
Company
- CUTCO is a parent company of Vector, founded in 1949
- Vector was founded in 1981
- Awards over $160,000 scholarships annually to students (didnt mention that people with the highest sales will get the scholarships, which are impossible to make)
- 1st decision in 1949 was to manufacture only high quality products
- 2nd decision was to engage customers with a low-key method educating customers about the product
- 3rd decision honesty and integrity with customers (something they sure in Hell dont have)
- 4th decision how to market products
- 5th decision how to pay employees (motto: pay people who work harder)
Product
- Chelsea mentioned the appointment only and said that price increases drastically when products are manufactured and sent to customers
- Vector is a member of Direct Sales Association
- (Chelsea put on a demonstration with a pair of CUTCO scissors. She asked the candidates for a penny so she can cut the penny into a corkscrew. Also, she performed a knife demonstration with cutting a rope with 3 different knives.)
Market
- Most of customers are married and are ages 30-60
- Only market through word of mouth (which means you sell to your family/friends and they recommend you to other people they know)
- Sales Representatives starts off making a minimum of 5 recommendations who can be family/friends
- UPS does delivery (Chelsea emphasized that products are delivered from manufacturer to customer and cuts out the middleman)
Pay
Base pay
- $15 per appointment and $3.00 gas allowance per appt.
- 8-10 appts are considered part-time, any # of appts after 10 is considered full-time
- Only people age 25 and work can be customers
- 1 on 1 presentations (at home presentations without anyone else, good way to put your life in danger)
Incentive
- 0-1k 10% x 200 = $20 (in your pocket)
- 1k-3k 15%
- 3k-6k 20%
- 6k-10k 25% x 200 = $50 (in your pocket)
- 10k-20k 30%
- 20k-30k 40%
- 30k-50k 50% x 200 = $100 (in your pocket)
Training and Perks
- 1st day of training Thursday/Friday; will learn: basic knowledge and product (also hold one to two trainings per month)
- 2nd day of training AAA and receive $15 for appts
- 3rd day of training Advanced training 1 & 2; will learn: how to ask questions and teaching of the product
Perks
- Sample kit (can be borrowed at no cost)
- Experience
- People
Furthermore, after Chelseas presentation, she handed everyone a questionnaire where candidates would answer questions on a sheet of paper. There were questions such as Have you committed a felony? Why do you want to work here? And the like. The last phrase of this dramatic process was the individual 3-5 minute interview.
Chelsea said that I will try to get everyone out in 30 minutes. Some candidates were in there for more than 5 minutes. I was the last one called.
When she called the candidate before me, she said that I will save the best for last. I could tell that Chelsea was fascinated with my attire. When she called me back to her office, she glimpsed my responses to the questionnaire and proceeded to ask a few questions.
In the end, she decided to give me a chance and wanted a handshake to seal the deal. I shook the devils hand and she told me about the training.in addition, when Chelsea mentioned the training days, Chelsea said The training is two days. I noticed in her presentation, she said that training is 3 days.
There are two conflicting stories. I agreed to May 10-11 and was told that I would receive an email. And, the first date in the email, Wednesday, May 9; Chelsea stated that I dont need to attend because I would be the only one there.
I think Chelsea was trying to mess with me mentally. Chelsea gave me a brochure and an acceptance letter and I walked out the door. During my further research about the company, I have decided not to attend training.
Below is my analysis about my overall experience.
I was suspicious about the ad from the beginning, but I took a chance anyway. Once I found out the name of the company, I immediately thought about last year when I first read about them. The 2.5 to 3 hour interview sitting in hard steel chairs was somewhat a waste of my time, but I wanted to experience it for myself.
The other candidates had their concerns as well. The funny part about the candidates was, when one candidate talked about how to pass a drug test. The receptionist heard the conversation and told Chelsea about the conversation.
She mentioned the conversation before she began her presentation and everyone laughed. What I got from this interview is the pre-screening, presentation, and interview didnt make any sense. Chelsea was out of place for asking candidates for a penny to demonstrate the capabilities of cutting a penny with a scissor.
The demonstration/presentation was not needed. This is all part of Vectors aggressive recruiting and brainwashing. My conclusion is: I dont recommend any student fresh out of high school or a college student to NOT pursue the company for a job.
I agree with every negative critical comment I have read online about the company. Now, I see why Vector didnt want to have their name; real email address posted in the ad; and company name on caller id. They are trying to hide their dark past with admitting to fraud in lawsuits and want to continue their deceptive, scamming practices and brainwashing to unsuspecting college students.
Vector continues to pull the wool over young students. They are predators. I have seen the website, workforstudents.com written on the board in some classrooms.
Also, you would be an independent contractor, which mean they are not subject to employment labor laws. You will have to deduct your mileage out of your taxes, pay for your own health insurance, and frankly; they just dont give a damn about you. Typically, field jobs such as utility companies would have at least 2 people sent to a clients home, and they know what kind of world people live in.
This may be farfetched, but I think they want to hire everyone just so they can get as many students killed in some strangers home without blood being on their hands. Another thought that I had was, that older clients can persuade younger employees who are selling knives to them to get them for nothing.
Its just the maturity aspect. Ive read an article that Vector operates like an employer because you have to contact the district manager every so often. I think that Vector is an employer, but they dont want to be subjected to employment labor laws.
Thats why Vector opted for independent contractor, so they wont have to answer to Uncle Sam. This is absolutely the longest and worst so called interview Ive ever experienced. Thanks for your patience with reading this. I just had to share my experience.
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