If you have recently applied to a Marketing job with the company PROSPECT INC.in NYC (located in Floral Park), you're in for a scam. People like me who are recent college grads, and even people struggling to find work in this poor economy, are being watched and reeled in by these scam artists. I have been e-mailed before by scam job companies who have gotten my e-mail from job boards, and promise jobs which are too good to be true. Prospect.inc is one of them!
First off, I wasn't even sure if I had applied to the job that Prospect had e-mailed me back about. Their e-mail was VERY general, even though they included my name (probably from a generated system), and listed several other jobs that were open. They claimed my background was great, and they wanted me to come in for an interview immediately. Confused about it all, I e-mailed them back asking which job I would even be interviewed for since they listed at least 5 or 6 different open jobs including very generalized categories like "PR", "Event Planning", "Sales", "Marketing", etc. They emailed me back stating that they'd like to discuss all the different job opportunities and then choose TOGETHER which job would best fit my credentials.
This was not the case. I knew before I even went to the interview that it was going to be a nonsense scam. I emailed the company back after Googling them to find out more information, and not finding any information or mention of the company whatsoever on the internet. Apparently their site was down "until the end of the week" and they had a "designer working on it currently" so that hopefully it would be back up in the next few days. Totally bogus. A week later and there's still no sign of the company at all. No ad agency or P2P company DOESN'T have a website. Fishy.
They claimed to have popular clientele including Home Depot, Victoria Jackson, and other big companies. Doubtful. I drove to the interview, and the office was located in a disgusting industrial wasteland, in a small building with one room (a waiting room with a reception desk) and a room that some man was bringing people into for interviews. My interview was scheduled for 1 pm, and apparently 8 other people were scheduled for the same exact time. I sat there patiently waiting with the others, aged probably 18-60, to be interviewed one on one. I waited approximately an hour for my interview, even after I came 15 minutes early.
I knew it was really fishy when even one of the older women questioned the receptionist in front of everyone about how some of the jobs seemed open-ended, and unclear. She also asked how long they were around for, to which the receptionist replied 5 months. The desk she sat at had a phone, and a few files, which I read stated "Round 1 Interviews", "Round 2 Interviews", and "Round 3 Interviews". Also, every phone call that came through were ONLY people asking about making appointments for interviews, or directions to the office. There were no business calls whatsoever coming through. The girl at the desk was also unprofessional, blasting a radio, and dressed in jeans and a tight skimpy shirt.
When I finally had my interview, the man who was questioning me did not even introduce himself properly. He shook my hand and asked how I was, didn't state his name, and tried to be friendly by complimenting my coat. He asked me several questions about my background, most of which had nothing to do with the job. He explained that they were ONLY looking for Marketing Manager positions to open up more locations and manage the offices throughout NY. He asked if I had any marketing experience, and I told him I didn't, but highlighted my other communications skills and experiences. He didn't really seem to pay attention, diverted my attention by asking a few other questions, and then told me he wanted me to come back to the office the following day for a Round 2 interview. I asked him questions about salaries to which he was reluctant to answer, and his explanation of the job was terrible. He ensured me that I'd see the breakdown the next day and that I had to drive again so I could carpool and follow an associate to an on-site location. Then, he complimented my coat again and told me I was "stylin and profilin"... Completely unprofessional and unacceptable. On top of that, he didn't even give me a time to come the next day, a person to contact, or give any details about my appointment to the receptionist for my next interview.
I don't know what people get out of doing this, or how they have time to waste on interviewing a slew of candidates that are probably not even fit for the job, but it's definitely a SCAM!!! They want to waste your time with multiple interviews, spend money on transportation, and likely promise you a lot more money than you will really make. He even claimed that an entry-level position was about $30,000 a year and that a managerial position that he would train and hire me for (with no background) was a 6 figure income. Complete BS!!! I'm just writing this to help others so they don't waste their own time. If you get preyed on by PROSPECT INC, do yourself a favor and don't show up.
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