I was contacted by E-mail to come to an interview while I was on vacation. The E-mail just told me the time and the place of the interview, without giving me any options. The E-mail stated that the stated time would be my only opportunity to be interviewed for the position. When I returned from vacation and read an E-mail, the date of the interview has passed. I contacted the company, and they rescheduled without any hesitation, which was surprising, considering the language of the prior E-mail.
I arrived to the interview, which according to the E-mail was supposed to last two hours. Well, it lasted less than ten minutes, I was hired, and told that I would have to start tomorrow!!! I am a bar manager, so I worked at night, so I was actually able to fit it into my schedule. I thought I'd see what it's all about.
The next day I was running late. I wanted to call and warn my "training manager" Kevin that I was running late, but the information did not have a listing for Marvel Models. Once again something that struck me as strange. I arrived about five minutes late and was told by a secretary that because I was late, I would have to reschedule my training for another day. So why is it that I absolutely had to start immediately?!?! I never got an answer to this question.
On Tuesday, me and another newly hired person were handed a packet of information to read and a couple forms to fill out. After about half an hour, we were led into the office, where our "trainer" Edward, read the entire information packet to us, word for word. I felt like I was in second grade. Then, we role played on how to approach a potential model, and present them with an opportunity. We were given a goal of ten and sent to a local mall to try to scout people. According to Edward about half of the people we scouted would show up, and about half of those will sign a contract with an agency. According to their commission schedule, this looked liked the easiest money in the universe, and loads of it to be made.
To scout people we were given business cards of "Clarice Navone, a VP of new faces" a woman who does not exist!!! Why not give out the real business cards of Kevin Jordan, who is in charge of the Elmhurst location? I never got an answer to that question either.
I the following week, I scouted over a hundred people in the local mall, college, theatre, etc. Of a hundred THREE showed up to their interviews. That's quiet a swing from the average of 50%. There were five scouts who worked for an agency. One of them was hired on the day that I was. The other three were hired two weeks prior to my hire date. Of the five, I had the best results. One other girl also had scouted three people, but she has been doing it for three weeks. So, during our meeting I've asked the obvious question. What are we doing wrong? How can we improve our numbers? According to your statistics, we should be bringing fifty people in here, we cant even bring five. Do you think the percentages you gave us are misleading and incorrect? The answer I got was completely insane. "Oh no", Edward said, you guys are doing great. Don't loose your confidence. Those percentages are very realistic. It's just you are all new at this, but you will get better."
Me and Edward continued this conversation in his office. He kept incouraging me, and telling me that I am the best in the group and should not give up. Being an overacheiver that I am, I just couldn't beleive that someone who had a show rate of 3/100 is really the best. Furthermore, I've asked if I could talk to one of those people who did reach the 50% mark. I was told that they all went to the new West Loop Location that just opened. I have doubts that location even exists.
I went home that day and decided that I will give myself 24 hours to think about my future employment with Marvel Models. The following day I decided to put in my resignation, and I also received a message to call the office. I left a message for Edward saying that I was returning the phone call, and also asked if any of the three people that showed up for their appointments, signed with an agency. The scouts only got paid, once a model signed the contract, so I was wondering if I've earned any money. I received a call back from Kevin Jordan, not Edward. "Don't bother showing up for the meating tonight, Anne, " he said. "Your services no longer are needed because of your attitute toward my staff." And he told me that yes, two out of three models signed up, and that he would cut a check for me by the end of the week. Well, it has been three weeks now, and I am still waiting for my check.
Anne
Prospect Height, Illinois
U.S.A.
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