This is post isn't meant to bash WFG or sing its praises. I just wanted to inform anyone as to what to expect. I was introduced to this company through a co-worker about a month ago. Everyhing sounded great from what she told me, though she was always somewhat vague about the company but she made the prospects very appealing. I had graduated from college 2 years ago and felt as though this job could be THE career I had been looking for. Before i knew what was going on I received a call from her boss wanting to schedule an interview. Obviously I jumped at the opportunity after hearing such great things from my co-worker.
I get to the offices in time for my interview and come to learn its not really an interview per se but more s an orientation about the company. Everyone associated with the company is very friendly and it creates a very relaxing atmosphere. Continually throughout the night I speak to all of the partners and associates yet I was still not able to grasp onto what the company actually did. Everytime I asked they would say that they didn't want to ruin the presentation I was going to see.
Lo and behold the presentation comes around and it is quite informative, although also long. Afterwards I am pumped to work for them and am very excited to interview. I go back for my scheduled interview several days later really excited about the prospects of working there.
This is where many things begin to unravel for me. They explained to me that working for the company required employees to come in on tuesdays and a couple hours on saturday to train. Tuesdays ok, but Saturdays were strange to me. Still I rationalize that this company just wants to be on top of their game and present the most current products.
Then the form of pay comes into play, where their system is commission based. They tell me that if i have a job right now not to quit because i will not be making any money initially. Which is understandable as well because I knew nothing about the business and would have to learn everything.
Then they explained that I would have to pay for a licensing course which was 75 dollars. Which they explained was because i was going to be considered as a licensed contractor so legally they couldn't pay for my class or they would get in trouble with the SEC which made sense to me. I was on a tight budget but at this point though I was standing on the edge, I was still on board.
Then it got onto the topic of clientale. They said I would never have a shortage of clients without the use of cold calling, etc. But then I found out later on my clietale is based on who I know because through my training process i would be required to make a list of people i would like to practice with old friends, etc. And it was those people who my business would be dependent on through referrals etc. I explained to them that no one I know of would be interested in these services but they still persisted stating that I would at least get some practice in so I agreed.
At this point while I still has reservations I agreed to sign on. Everything was standard procedure until it got to the point where the background check was in order. I didn't think it was anything odd until they said I would have to pay for my own background check and it was $100. That was when all of my hope for this new job left. I'm not saying its a scam, my co-worker still works there and is happier than ever. But for my situation where I was barely making ends meet and sometimes didn't even have enough money to eat I couldn't just give them $100. Many will say thats not that much money, and for those you are fortunate. I used to be like that spending hundreds like it was nothing, but it is a lot of money especially for the fact that in past jobs the company always paid for my background check. Their explanation once again was the fact that i would be an independent contractor which makes sense.
Still this was not something I could do at the time. It would have been $100 for the background check $75 license = $175 that I would be paying for this job which I was not comfortable doing because that would mean I would be short money come time for rent. They explained to me that I would be reimbursed after I finished my training which was great but for the reasons above I couldn't.
I am not saying that this is not a good opportunity, maybe if i did have extra money I would have tried it out. The people in the company are extremely friendly, that is undeniable. Everyone seems to truly love each other and their jobs and that is an extremely rare find. I just wanted anyone who was interested in this company to be completely informed of the process so they do not go in uninformed like I did and then get surprised by the costs. It is true that in order to make a lot of money you have to spend money, I'm just not in the position to do that however. Its interesting though that all of the people I told this to had the same reaction, 'Why are you paying for your job? Shouldn't they be paying you?' By all means go to their orientations and make the decision for yourself, but at least now you know what to expect.
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