Today, after a long job search, I received a call about a possible interview. As you can imagine, I was very excited. I've been without a job for some months due to some health issues. Anyway, the young man was very personable over the phone, telling me that a friend of mine had referred me for the position and that his office was hiring for a sales position. He informed me it was not door to door and all set up by appointment. I thought to myself, well, that's not so bad. Still, I found it curious that he didn't tell me right off what company he worked for, or what he was selling.
He didn't ask many questions. He asked if I was over 18 and a student, and I told him my age and what I was planning to go to school for. He seemed genuinely interested, which made me feel more at ease. That feeling ceased when he immediately tried to book me for an interview without asking anything else. Being over 18 and a student does not magically qualify one for a job, obviously.
I asked a few questions about the company, and he seemed very reluctant to tell me anything. He took care not to work in the company's name anywhere, and only told me there was high earning potential, insisting that anyone working under them would make money whether they made sales or not. I asked him what the sales goals were. He stated they were 'personal goals', but indicated making goals was not a requirement. This didn't make any sense. How is it that a sales company would keep paying you if you weren't making them money?
Finally, I had to directly ask. "What is your company name and what do you sell?" It seemed to catch him off guard, he hesitated. But eventually he answered. "Are you familiar with Cutco knives?" He asked, immediately starting a sales pitch. I had, someone I knew had a set. Something in my mind set off a red flag, but I listened anyway. Finally, I agreed to an interview.
Still, something wasn't sitting right, so I pulled up my internet browser and began my search. I'm so glad I did, it saved me a ton of time.
Cutco operates as a parent company to Vector Marketing, best known for duping young adults into giving them their time and money for little or no pay. The business model is simple, it goes like this:
Invite young people who desperately need a form of income to work for a too good to be true company that promises above minimum wage pay, which is more than you can typically get with little to no experience.
Sit them down and make them listen to the sales pitch. Tell them how much fun it is, tell them they have massive earning potential, tell them they'll be great at it even if they're going to fail miserably.
Give them a half-assed interview full of seemingly important questions even though you're going to hire them for no other reason than having a pulse.
Set up a training date. The next part is very important: Only tell them the training is unpaid if they ask about it.
Give training on sales, tell them to go out and sell to their parents to "practice". After all, everyone knows parents will buy what their kids sell to seem supportive.
Tell them they must ask for 10 referrals. Those people will likely buy because no one wants to offend their friends or relatives by not buying from their kid.
Now that they've made money, there's no point in giving you leads, find your own kid. Good luck with that.
And it's really a pity, because the knives themselves are professional price, but not professional quality. The kids are backing a sub-par product that they'll never see a paycheck from because after they've invested the money in gas and travel to go to appointments, the company won't reimburse them for it. Oh, they didn't tell you? You weren't hired as an employee, you were hired as a contractor, so they don't have to. But it's tax deductible, so don't worry! Except that they don't take taxes out of your paycheck because you're a contractor, so if you don't think of that, which, by the way, most people coming out of highschool won't, then you'll end up losing money come tax time.
I can see why the guy over the phone wouldn't give me his company's name. After reading about the lawsuits in which the company has admitted to fraud, the surveys that showed people actually lost money working for the company, and the sub-par product they tote as "the best", I can say for sure that I promptly canceled my interview.
Oh, but the fun doesn't stop there. When I told the man over the phone that I wasn't interested, he literally got defensive about it. "I want you to know it's not a scam, " he told me. It surprised me, because I didn't indicate that I thought that way. This sealed the deal for me, but he continued, attempting to pressure me into an interview. Finally, I had to tell him no and goodbye, because he continuously talked over me about earning potential and flexible schedules.
Long story short, if your kid or yourself receives a call from an opportunity that seems too good to be true, hang up the phone and walk away. Complete waste of your time and money.
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