So, I resond to an add looking for sales reps for Alarm One. I just moved after I graduated from College and lived with my parents and was desperate for a job. I get called for an interview in a well-to-do suburb of Metro Detroit. I walk in after my boyfriend dropped me off (he was visiting and didn't have a car of his own so I let him borrow mine to drive around while I was in the interview). The interview was scheduled for 3 o'clock and I got there about 5-10 minutes early. I look around the room to see about 10-12 people sitting in the lobby area while the receptionists argued back and forth over who lost the cordless phone. After waiting there for a half an hour, finally the manager started calling people into his office one-by-one.By four o'clock I was finally called in for a fast interview where I was asked a series of mundane questions, then asked if I wanted to come in the next day for the second interview process. I said sure. (like I said, I was desperate and new to the whole job interview thing)
The next day I came in wearing my nicest suit. I get put in a room with about 10 people. Then this kid with a punk attitude comes in and makes us all watch his recent sky diving trip which they had video taped. I just chalked that up to "hey, they must be laid back here and at least they have fun" then we watched a video about the company. Scene one is of a guy who pulls up in his SUV and says how he used to drive a crappy car, but thanks to his new money making job at alarm one, he now has 4 SUV's 4? We then get a montage of nice houses and cars, with a profanity-laced rap song in the background. Whatever, then we get taken on a video tour of the owners house in CA, which has nothing on the walls, little furniture, and nice cars in the driveway, and the interviewing manager appears in the video. Next we were asked to write down the biggest paycheck we ever recieved. After the punk attitude kid and some other guy looks over the paper, they laugh and say that we will make at least four times those figures. They then proceed to pass around a copy of someone's paycheck to prove that you can make a ton of money.By this point, like looking at a car crash, I had to stay and see where this was going.
The punk kid starts saying how he makes so much money, that when he goes to the bank to cash his check, retired auto workers next to him at the window get jealous (i used to work at a bank and trust me, if a customer tries to look at someone else's check, they are immediately removed) Then he says he goes to the mall and just picks up whatever he wants, doesn't look at the size or anything, just buys it.By this time I raise my hand and say "sure, you make all this money, how many hours a day do you work, what exactly do you do, etc etc. He says "we knock doors". I am like "oh my god, i am so stupid for being here." After hearing some more about his managers new corvette, we get filed out into the lobby to then get brought back in one-by-one to fill out paper work. When it's my turn I say "So what are the benefits, vacation time, pay, 401K, etc etc." He tells me not to worry about that, that Alarm One is concerned with the short term, not long term. I'm like whatever, this is dumb.
Then we are informed that we are all going to get into this big white van and start selling. No way in hell am I getting into a van with strangers and going god knows where and getting home at midnight. One of the interviewees asked if we were going to stop for lunch and he said "maybe they will stop for you". I go to tell her that this isn't for me and I am leaving and she says "There is nothing to be scared of" I inform her that I am not scared of selling. I start talking to another girl from the group who was in there with me and we decide to leave. As I am leaving I hear people yelling in another room and someone playing a drum set and an ex employee was outside the door going "don't do it, don't work here!" I'm pretty sure they had him removed. Don't fall for their manipulative ways of getting people in the door. They try to insult you and act like you are a coward if you don't work for them.
0 comments