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Post by
Kristopher
Thanks! I was a bit chicken about it at first, because I did something rather stupid and applied before I really checked out what I'd be doing. After I applied I got the idea to check it out, and it sounded like I'd be some sort of salesman, so I almost didn't call them back.
But then I realized that was being kinda irresponsible and I should at least explain to them what's going on and why I was going to back out, so I called. They're a marketing company, and the person I talked to, an assistant to the person I'll be interviewed by on Friday, explained that I'd be doing customer service, answering questions about the products the company sells I guess. Which is infinitely better because I'd rather not try to sell people stuff considering the enormous amount of work and stress I'd be put under.
The biggest thing about them was that I don't need experience, which I don't have. I'll be trained and the whole thing will be good on my resume. And since it's primarily a student thing I'll be eligible for scholarships.
Also the pay. $16.50/hr.
Edit: It kinda sounds a bit sketchy now that I think about it...
Post by
Squishalot
It's more than a lot of other people get in the world, so you can't complain at that.
Post by
Kristopher
It's more than a lot of other people get in the world, so you can't complain at that.
It's also about double minimum wage here, and then some. I'm not complaining at all, I'm just a bit put off by how this seems a bit too good to be true.
Does anyone else know about the update to Terraria planned? I just heard about it and it's
awesome
.
Post by
Squishalot
Customer service is pretty stressful. Depending on what company it is, if customer service is something that they put a matter of pride in, it's no surprise that they'd pay a decent amount to ensure that you do your job effectively.
Post by
Magician22773
Thanks! I was a bit chicken about it at first, because I did something rather stupid and applied before I really checked out what I'd be doing. After I applied I got the idea to check it out, and it sounded like I'd be some sort of salesman, so I almost didn't call them back.
But then I realized that was being kinda irresponsible and I should at least explain to them what's going on and why I was going to back out, so I called. They're a marketing company, and the person I talked to, an assistant to the person I'll be interviewed by on Friday, explained that I'd be doing customer service, answering questions about the products the company sells I guess. Which is infinitely better because I'd rather not try to sell people stuff considering the enormous amount of work and stress I'd be put under.
The biggest thing about them was that I don't need experience, which I don't have. I'll be trained and the whole thing will be good on my resume. And since it's primarily a student thing I'll be eligible for scholarships.
Also the pay. $16.50/hr.
Edit: It kinda sounds a bit sketchy now that I think about it...
Barring very few areas of the country where wages like that are paid for inexperienced CS jobs, my guess is, it is not what you are thinking. My suggestion is, hope for the best, but be prepared to walk if it is not what you are looking for.
A few things I would look for:
1. Is that wage a "straight" hourly, or is there some "quota" that has to be met?
2. Are people calling you, or are you calling them? If you are making the calls, chances are its telemarketing, and thats is sales, no matter how you dress it up.
3. Do you have to pay or buy anything? If so....RUN away. (This is a common scam used by "marketing" companies.) We have a company in town that sells some crazy expensive knives, that runs ads on Craigslist constantly. To get the "job", you have to buy your own set of knives (at the "discount" rate of about $300) to use for demonstration. It is nearly impossible in this economy to get anyone to buy a $500 set of cutlery, but the company doesn't care...they make their money selling the knives to "employees"...if anyone actually finds a sucker to buy a set, that is just a bonus.
4. Don't be afraid to interview the interviewer. If they cannot or will not tell you exactly what you will be doing, then that is a bad sign. HP computers call centers are very bad about this. You are hired to be a "customer service rep", but during the training you discover that what you are actually doing is selling very high priced virus software and extended warranties, and that your job depends on selling these products. You find out after that you are not really a CS rep, because every call either needs a remote assistance (that costs), virus software (that costs), or an extended warranty (that costs).
Post by
Sagramor
I think that's a universal truth on every country. Good luck Kris.
Not really, no.
Post by
Nathanyal
Guy has been using the same Pokemon for a decade
Wasn't sure if I should post in the General Game thread or the Article thread, so I just put it here.
Post by
Interest
I really think cell phone companies only make phones to last 2 years.
I think all tech companies make their products last just long enough to not receive a wave of complaints, but still forcing its customers to buy new stuff all the time.
Greed OP.
Post by
Sagramor
Guy has been using the same Pokemon for a decade
Wasn't sure if I should post in the General Game thread or the Article thread, so I just put it here.
Holy #$%^, I have a cousin younger than that guy's pokemon.
Post by
Kristopher
Barring very few areas of the country where wages like that are paid for inexperienced CS jobs, my guess is, it is not what you are thinking. My suggestion is, hope for the best, but be prepared to walk if it is not what you are looking for.
A few things I would look for:
1. Is that wage a "straight" hourly, or is there some "quota" that has to be met?
2. Are people calling you, or are you calling them? If you are making the calls, chances are its telemarketing, and thats is sales, no matter how you dress it up.
3. Do you have to pay or buy anything? If so....RUN away. (This is a common scam used by "marketing" companies.) We have a company in town that sells some crazy expensive knives, that runs ads on Craigslist constantly. To get the "job", you have to buy your own set of knives (at the "discount" rate of about $300) to use for demonstration. It is nearly impossible in this economy to get anyone to buy a $500 set of cutlery, but the company doesn't care...they make their money selling the knives to "employees"...if anyone actually finds a sucker to buy a set, that is just a bonus.
4. Don't be afraid to interview the interviewer. If they cannot or will not tell you exactly what you will be doing, then that is a bad sign. HP computers call centers are very bad about this. You are hired to be a "customer service rep", but during the training you discover that what you are actually doing is selling very high priced virus software and extended warranties, and that your job depends on selling these products. You find out after that you are not really a CS rep, because every call either needs a remote assistance (that costs), virus software (that costs), or an extended warranty (that costs).
I've been looking into things and it appears I've misinterpreted some of the information regarding this. Or at the very least there's some conflicting information going around here.
I was told (during the phone call I had regarding my application and setting an interview up) that I would not be making calls or "going door to door" so I assumed I wouldn't be selling anything, which was my initial qualm. However, a letter I have (shared with me from a friend) and their website seems to say otherwise.
For instance, the letter says the pay is $16.50 base-appt (per appointment);
The person I was talking to said the pay was the same amount, but I cannot accurately recall if she said per-hour or base-appt...
The website seems to mainly focus on how employees would be selling things, which I do not really know how I'll accomplish if I don't call anyone or go door to door. (More conflicting information.)
There's no payment from me required. (Except I need to get dress shoes and dress pants for the interview, and I've been meaning to get them anyway.)
Also, the site really doesn't mention Customer Service positions, I think; Only sales reps.
If anything I'll go to the interview to clear up things. If it turns out to be a sales thing (Of which I'm a bit apprehensive to do at the moment) I might have to decline. But I'll have experienced an interview, so it's not useless. If it's customer service, I think I can endure it for a couple of months, especially at that rate.
Post by
Magician22773
If anything I'll go to the interview to clear up things. If it turns out to be a sales thing (Of which I'm a bit apprehensive to do at the moment) I might have to decline. But I'll have experienced an interview, so it's not useless. If it's customer service, I think I can endure it for a couple of months, especially at that rate.
Yeah, I can tell just from what you have said here that this is going to be some kind of sales job, and will likely be a "scam" type of company. Usually when a company will not disclose what you will be doing, it is because they know that no one will apply if they did. (Kinda like the knife sales I mentioned above).
But, you are right. If this is your first interview, go for it. It should give you some great experience. It will break the ice on how an interview goes, and, as an added bonus, it will teach you how to walk away. Just be careful....they are professionals, and you are an amature. Don't let them fool you. They will fill you full of BS "facts" about how much money other employees are making, and how eager their "customers" are to buy their product. The fact is, they are not. Even if their appointments are from "interested" buyers, those are usually not what they seem.
For example, I was at a convention a few months back. I filled out a card expressing my 'interest' in some very expensive cookware. Actually, I had no interest in the cookware, just interest in the free food that I got for filling out the card. Silly me, I actually put my real phone number down. I get a call a week now from some poor kid wanting to come demo their pots and pans for me.
Post by
Hyperspacerebel
I worked front-facing retail for most of my middle school, high school, and college years. Never going back if I can help it. I am not programmed to deal with hundreds of people in a day. I'm much more happy hacking away behind my computer now and only having to deal with clients a couple times a week.
Post by
Kristopher
If anything I'll go to the interview to clear up things. If it turns out to be a sales thing (Of which I'm a bit apprehensive to do at the moment) I might have to decline. But I'll have experienced an interview, so it's not useless. If it's customer service, I think I can endure it for a couple of months, especially at that rate.
Yeah, I can tell just from what you have said here that this is going to be some kind of sales job, and will likely be a "scam" type of company. Usually when a company will not disclose what you will be doing, it is because they know that no one will apply if they did. (Kinda like the knife sales I mentioned above).
But, you are right. If this is your first interview, go for it. It should give you some great experience. It will break the ice on how an interview goes, and, as an added bonus, it will teach you how to walk away. Just be careful....they are professionals, and you are an amature. Don't let them fool you. They will fill you full of BS "facts" about how much money other employees are making, and how eager their "customers" are to buy their product. The fact is, they are not. Even if their appointments are from "interested" buyers, those are usually not what they seem.
For example, I was at a convention a few months back. I filled out a card expressing my 'interest' in some very expensive cookware. Actually, I had no interest in the cookware, just interest in the free food that I got for filling out the card. Silly me, I actually put my real phone number down. I get a call a week now from some poor kid wanting to come demo their pots and pans for me.
Ah, might as well help you help me, here's the
company
. They sell cutlery as you've touched upon in your previous post.
I'm very curious as to if what the receptionist I talked to said (Customer service, no outgoing calls or door-to-door) is true. I would totally take the job if it were.
Post by
Sas148
Based on that website I don't see anything that doesn't involve direct sales...
...the entire concept seems to be sales. Door-to-door, marketing, campus... word of mouth, friend of a friend, etc. Nothing on there about Customer Service positions.
I wish you luck.(##RESPBREAK##)2060##DELIM##Sas148##DELIM##
Post by
Kristopher
Based on that website I don't see anything that doesn't involve direct sales...
...the entire concept seems to be sales. Door-to-door, marketing, campus... word of mouth, friend of a friend, etc. Nothing on there about Customer Service positions.
I wish you luck.
Thanks. Basically all I have going towards not being sales is what the receptionist told me, and I have no idea if that was something she said to make it sound more appealing. We'll see Friday.
Post by
Rankkor
OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, *catches breath* OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD,
Post by
Nathanyal
OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, *catches breath* OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD,
So it's safe to say you're excited, right?
Post by
ElhonnaDS
@Kristopher- please read this!
Vector is a pyramid scheme. I am familiar with that company specifically, and several other companies like it, because when you are in sales and marketing there are a lot of these types of companies that will do everything in their power to draw people in for the interview by making it seem that they're not what they actually are.
I never worked for them, but I know people who did, briefly. I did work for a similar company, which sold other types of items, but the one I worked for has a different corporate name in every city so it's no use telling people any one name. Here's how these companies work:
They place ads under every category that could conceivably be tied to the selling of knives: Sales, Marketing, Customer Service...sometimes even Warehouse...because their business model is to get as many people "hired" as possible. They teach their people how to make the interview process sound like it's selective, to "fear of loss" the interviewee by trying to ask questions that they can make the interviewee feel like they gave a wrong or bad answer to, so they feel like they are chasing the job, rather than the other way around. They'd ask you what you say your strongest quality is, and if you say sales they say "Oh, well we're really looking for people who want to train others," and if you say training, they say "Well, that's a good end goal but what we need at the beginning are people who are familiar with sales." Also, for a lot of these companies, the "second round interview" is actually a full day following a salesperson around, and watching them sell stuff, so you lose a whole day, and they take you out of the office so you can't easily leave in the middle (not sure about Vector, but several others totally do this).
Generally, they interview a large number of people a day, and while they will tell you if you actually start with them that you were the one, or one of the few, who was offered the job, the truth is usually they offered it to everyone who wasn't ridiculously nuts, and most people don't actually show up.
Vector I am nearly 100% sure is one of the companies which will make you pay something upfront- generally several hundred dollars for a set of display knives. Other companies make you take classes or buy samples, and they persuade you that you could make off of sales commission makes this initial investment peanuts. I imagine that Vector is the company that Magician is thinking of.
$16.50+ per base appointment usually means that they encourage you to go try and sell things to all of your friends, family, any person you ever went to school with, and eventually you just start cold calling. Because they tell you to sell to people you know, they get away with saying "it's not door to door, not cold calling," but it totally is. You get paid nothing for all the time you spend trying to get the appointments, drive over on your own gas and time, still unpaid, and then the $16.50 is what you make if you don't sell anything (which could easily only be 2-3 a day, and would cost you travel expenses). If you sell, you make a commission, but Vector knives are hundreds and hundreds of dollars a set, so you won't probably sell those too often.
The way they get people to stay once they see they aren't making much, is they tell them about the "bigger opportunity" (read pyramid scheme) where they make the "real money." They explain that if you can recruit and train more people, then you will make a percentage of everything they earn, and everything everyone they hire earns, etc. The real way to make money in those businesses is to convince other people to start, make money off of their initial knife investment (which they buy from you) and their meager sales before they quit, and do that with enough people, often enough, that the high volume starts to get you a decent income.
In many companies, you find that the training fee or the base fee of the people below you comes out of your own pocket (not sure if this is the case with Vector). I have worked a 12 hour day, done enough sales to make $200 in commission, and after paying a trainee who just observed, and having paid 10 bucks in gas to go there and back, have mad $40 for a 12 hour day before taxes.(##RESPBREAK##)8##DELIM##ElhonnaDS##DELIM##
Post by
Rankkor
OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, *catches breath* OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD,
So it's safe to say you're excited, right?
nah
/snip.
Ohh yes, I can vouch for the veracity of this, as my brother very nearly fell for this scam (as there's no other way to say it).
The ad sounded tempting, a high salary, all he'd have to do was answer phones (not make calls), no experience required, etc. Then he showed up for the interview, convinced him to take some "classes" and in the end they told him to buy 5 flasks of a SUPER EXPENSIVE perfume, which he'd then have to sell to someone else in order to make a buck. Then the classic "recruit others, train them, and have them sell and you will get richer faster" came, and they nearly succeeded.
Kris, seriously, that smells bad. Its almost a repeat of what nearly happened to my brother.
Post by
Kristopher
Hmm, definitely going to cancel on that interview then. Not even the experience is worth having an interview with that sort of practice, then.
Don't know why I didn't check Wikipedia when I felt suspicious...
Knew it was too good to be true, haha. Thanks everyone!
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