Sorry for the long post, but this was one hell of an experience for me that happened about 20 years ago, and I really hope it isn't something that continues to happen today. Curious if this has happened to anyone else? (I hope not)
I was so excited when I landed an interview for a “Sports Marketing Professional” opening for a company that provided “marketing solutions for local sports franchises” in the Maryland area. The proposed salary range for the position was extremely lucrative for a young guy like me at the time, $100,000+ after built in bonuses, etc. I was told ahead of time that the interview was a lengthy process with a lot of candidates, and it was likely going to take several hours, so be prepared for a long day. I was told to, “Dress to impress” and be prepared for an exhausting full day of interviews. They said that as we progressed through the day, we would be transported to various locations to meet with different people in the interview process. I thought to myself that this was a really exciting opportunity, and I needed to put my best foot forward. They said I had to agree to the terms of the interview process, to which I happily obliged because I was so excited.
I went in for the interview that fateful summer morning in a full suit, ready to impress any potential interviewer thrown my way. When I arrived, there were approximately 30-40 candidates. Each candidate was promptly paired up with a current team member that would be interviewing us throughout the day. Each 'marketing professional' interviewer was given two candidates and we were told that we were actively competing against our fellow candidate for the job, so we needed to shine. I was still enthusiastic at this point, but I was growing curious as to what this job really entailed. We were told that our interviewer would be transporting us to their own work location where we would be given more info about the job, and we would be meeting back up later in the day for further interviews. So me and this other candidate, along with our interviewer piled into his POS car. This was my first red flag, as I thought it was weird this guy drove a broken down piece of crap car, but he was supposed to be a marketing professional making over $100k a year.
He proceeded to question us about our motivations, education, experience, etc. as he drove us to a very bad area of town. I grew more and more concerned as we started meandering through community streets with a very high crime rate. He pulls over to the side of the road and tells us that our day is now beginning, and, “the competition is on”. He opens up his trunk, pulls out a box and proceeds to explain that the company offers marketing to sports franchises through the use of “For sale” coupon books sold door to door. Basically, small local sports franchises, like minor league teams would offer two for one coupons in these books, and we were supposed to go door to door and sell them. On top of this, it wasn't even the 'Entertainment' coupon books that most people know. These were knock off books like it.
Our 'interviewer' told us that we would be going door to door to sell these books, alternating houses between each 'interviewee' and whoever sold the most books would proceed to the next round of interviews. FULL DISCLOSURE: I am NOT a salesman. I hate sales, and I would never interview for a sales job. I was beyond furious that I was duped in this way, and I very quickly told my 'interviewer' that I was out, the other guy could win, and I wanted to go home. I was told that I had agreed to a full day of interviews, and that I had to participate in the days full interview process, and I would surely have a change of heart by the end of the day. (Side note: We were also told we could not bring cell phones with us on the interview process, as it would be a distraction, so I did not have my cell phone on me.)
For the next several hours I was stuck walking around the outskirts of Inner City Baltimore in the sweltering summer heat watching this other 'candidate' try to hawk crappy coupon books to low income families for $20 a pop. We were threatened, verbally abused, yelled at and confronted by a gang whom the main interviewer was able to proposition with a free book. What a fun day that was.
Somehow the other candidate was all into it, and over the course of 6 hours, sold exactly one book to a man who I am pretty sure was out of his mind on hallucinogenic drugs. Throughout the day, the 'interviewer' kept asking me questions, and I pretty much was telling him I wasn't interested in the job, this manipulative company and that he was basically holding me against my will.
After the 6 hours of walking around in a full suit, dripping wet with sweat in the summer heat, we were driven back to the main office. During the drive back, he basically outlined what was a coupon book sales pyramid scheme, where you could slowly work your way up the ladder through hard work. There was a very small base salary which was literally minimum wage, and you made a small cut of whatever books you sold. You could then move up to Manager, Area Manager, District Manager, and so on, and this is where you made money from the folks under you.
When we got back, I found out of the 30-40 candidates, about 4 were sitting there waiting for the 'next interview'. My interviewer had the audacity to tell me that he liked my attitude, and I should wait around for my next interview. I am usually a very nice person, and in the kindest way, I literally told him to F*ck off and left.
It blows my mind to this day that this place was allowed to dupe people into doing a days worth of free work and recruit door to door sales people in such a deceptive way. I'm wondering if anyone else ever had an experience like this?