The interview I had today was a learning experience; namely, be wary of anyplace that sells life insurance and helps with overall investment finances, unless you already have a license to sell insurance. Also, being Better Business Bureau (BBB) Accredited apparently isn't what it's cracked up to be.
Here is a rundown of what happened. For everything that is a red flag to the situation not being as straightforward as it should be, I will put (RF#). For those of you who do not know what a red flag is, it's a point in a situation that should make your inner self say "oh really?" or "warning" or "Danger, Will Robinson!".
It started out by my walking into the building, finding the right office and then being greeted by an employee of the company. He took my resume, references and one of my new business cards (he complimented the design and color).
I was then escorted into a conference room (RF1), to wait with other potential hires before the presentation about the company began (RF2 & 3). I still have a folder full of informational material, which I read over before the presentation began, and I found three very obvious typos in a letter from one of the Executive Directors (RF4), as well as various other typos in the rest of the material, ranging from format to misuse of punctuation (RF5).
The presentation began and it all seemed to be very interesting; a go-getter attitude and a personable nature would apparently take a person a long way in this company. Then came the slide that talked about how, since this was a company that sold life insurance, we as potential hires would have to be accredited (RF6, since this was not mentioned in the placement ad on CareerBuilder). How is this done? Well, the company was willing to pay for the educational materials so we could learn what we needed before taking the exam for the insurance license, but some of the costs would have to come out of our own pocket (RF7 - This was also not mentioned in the CareerBuilder placement). The cost to us? A whopping $489 (RF8 -That much money covers about 75% of my bills for a month, and now that I don't have any money coming in from CSU, that's a lot of money to throw around).
But, the presenter assured us, that it would take us three months or less to get promoted to the next level within the company, and with that promotion we'll get a $500 bonus. So really, it wouldn't be spending $489 and never seeing it again; rather, it would just be back in our pockets at the most three-and-a-half months after we'd given it to the company, with $11 worth of interest (RF9)!
The presenter never explained how we could be promoted so quickly, or what we would have to do for those first three months (RF 10 & 11). In fact, other than promising quick promotions, she was incredibly vague about a number of things pertaining to our actual jobs (RF12).
Once the presentation was over, we were called one or two at a time for one-on-one interviews (there were three employees of the firm at the office this morning; one stayed in the conference room with us, and the other two held the one-on-one interviews). I was called relatively early, and I told the employee about the typos. She acknowledged them and agreed that they bugged her, but that looked like all she was going to do about it (though to be fair, I know that when you mass produce some literature, it's costly to go back and fix it and print everything again, and they can only do so much with what the head offices send them).
I also told her that I wasn't going to be able to swing the $489, because of my financial situation. She asked me if I could swing $250, because that was as low as she was allowed to go to help potential hires. I told her I would have to look at my financial situation before giving her an answer, and I would call her later today. After that, she was even more guarded and edgy about the answers she gave me (RF13). I asked her to describe what a normal day at the office would be like, after she asked me a series of questions about my resume; she never answered me, but told me that was something she would get into if I was called back for a second interview (RF14 - what kind of cloak and dagger operation are you running if you can't even describe a normal day at the office? Honestly). I didn't bother asking about pay and benefits; if she wasn't going to answer a simple, fairly non-invasive question, there was no way I was going to get an answer for those type of questions.
In the end, I shook her hand, thanked her for her time, and left. I came home, looked up my finances (yep, still poor), and called the company's office, leaving a message that I wouldn't be able to come up with the money, and thanked them again for their time.
I have to say it: for a place that is BBB Accredited, their hiring practices leave quite a bit to be desired. Also, I will reiterate from above: in their placement ads on CareerBuilder, it said nothing about needing an insurance license or giving the company money as part of the hiring process.
I think I'll be sticking to advertising agencies from now on, or any other field that doesn't have to do with finance or insurance; this experience actually left a bad taste in my mouth, and I thought that was just an expression.
-AMW
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