I am a recent college grad waiting to start a successful career, I first got hired for a manager in training program that starts you off as a dealer for a large chain of car dealerships, I failed at it because I wasn't that type of person that could haggle people into buying a new car. They had a nice base pay, however the hours were 70 plus a week. It turns out it was just a honorable attempt to get dealers because they are currently short handed at all dealerships. This then leads me into my recent acknowledgment of companies that try to hire anyone off the street to sell for them, however these so called marketing firms are a global scam, and heres my personal experience.
Just the other day I had a preliminary interview with competitive advertising, they state that they are a legitimate advertising company in the central florida area, and they represent many major companies in the Central Florida area. Some of this may be true, but it is highly fabricated!!!
In my preliminary interview I sat in the front office (which was fairly nice looking) with like 5 other people waiting for an interview, I thought to myself 'this is going to be a hard job to score' I then met with company owner Julie Nash who seemed to me, to be a young slick guy. He made it seem like I was in a large competition with other candidates, asking professional questions. When I spoke with him more, he started using some bad language, which I thought was unprofessional for an interview.
I began to question the job, and he dodged a lot of answers, such as Base pay, benefits, and others. However, he did feed a lot of promising insights to running my own firm and growing large, but from the ground up.
I thought to myself, I don't mind working hard from the ground up, I know i am not going to become a CEO over night. Then I noticed these print ad cards he had displayed on his desk. They happen to remind me of these annoying solicitors that try to sell coupon cards to people on the street and inside business's where theres no soliciting. Thats when I asked Julie Nash if this company sells these coupons door to door, and he said 'Yes, however thats a real hard job, and thats why I pay those guys a lot more.' That relieved me because I didn't want to be one of those annoying solicitors. Then he said that they will be calling people back for a secondary interview, later that day.
Later that day, I got that call, and they told me 'congratulations, you got the second interview' I was like 'ok', then she said it was a 9 hour interview, and that I will be shadowing a representative in the field. At this point I didn't care about the job, and I was just curious.
I then was stupid enough to go to the second interview, i sat in the office waiting with 8 other people. Then the Reps came out and called on each shadower, one by one they went out. I could hear through the outside doors the same speech they give to each shadow 'congrats on the second interview!!! You were selected 1 out of 30, you are a special person' (no real job will give you that speech). I then got my rep, who gave me the same lame speech. He noticed I didn't look excited, because I really wasn't.
Before I could ask any questions about what we were doing, and what and how this gig pays he led me to this other reps van, and we left to go into the field. After leaving, this is when I found out there going door to door selling coupon slips for a movie theater. The gig has no base pay, and is commission only ($10 for each clipping), and you have to walk from business to business in the hot sun wearing formal clothes. They fed me a bunch of fabricated stories of rags to riches within this company.
I then started following my shadower down the street sweating in my suit and tie, going to run down businesses trying to sell coupon clippings. I told him it was too hot for me and he said 'Call a friend, get a ride home, and have a nice day' he then jetted off without giving me a chance to say anything to him, which probably wouldn't of been nice.
I'll cut to the chase, They stranded me in the middle of nowhere with no ride back to my car that was 30 minutes away. All my friends were at work, and I had no cash on me to use the bus or a cab. So I had to walk for 4 hours in a suit and tie to get to my house where my cash was (my house was closer then where my car was). It was a horrid experience, I tell this story without exaggerating, so whoever reads this will not make the same mistake I did.
I wish there was more I could do about this scam-to-get-sellers then post it on the internet, writing a really long story about it. If anyone out there has a good solution to shut this operation down I will participate 100%, I do have plenty of free time because I have no job, and no hopes of getting a real one right now even with a bachelors degree.
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