I first found this company on CareerBuilder.com. They promised an entry level job, with no exp. neccessary, and a salary 40-50, 000K per year offering work in "promotional marketing". Being fresh out of college with a marketing degree, I was extremely curious. I set up an interview.

When I got there, there were about twenty other people in the office. Some of them actually wore jeans and sports jerseys, and they were applicants. It was the first and only time I actually felt overdressed for an interview; it was a very very strange scene. I also suspected I was the only one there with a bachelors degree, as some people, and I can't be certain, didn't even appear to have a high school degree. While this gave me some confidence as far as the interview goes, it didn't last long. After waiting for over two hours with no word from anyone at the office, I finally got called in for an interview. It was brief, vague, and completely without any hard information, but they invited me back to spend a day with one of their "marketing reps" to see what they did there.

I did come back the next day, and spent it in a completely different scenario that I never would have pictured. The work in "promotional marketing" with sounds interesting as an industry term, had absolutely nothing to do with the job that followed. I got into a car with two of the employees and one other applicant, and we went "into the field", which they said would be a typical day. After a long car ride, we stopped outside a BestBuy store.

This all possibilities of a good or even average job dropped out of sight. The "job" that I was applying for in "promotional marketing" turned out to be standing outside of a store, selling cheap crap & kids toys from a table that you set up. The entire day consists of you standing in front of a table with cheap and rundown toys on it, trying to weasel people into buying them to "help the kids" which is a buzz phrase they LOVE to use there. It turns out, 5% of what is sold goes to charity. FIVE PERCENT of ten and fifteen dollar items. This made me even more suspicious than I was already.

So you stand there for 8 hours, trying to TRICK people into "helping the kids" by buying cheap wholesale products the company has you push on people. This is the glorious marketing job they promised you; standing outside of a store for 8 hours, trying to call people over to your table to buy crappy products of which a fraction of the price goes to charity. That is the ENTIRE job. Oh, which is completely commission based, by the way. No base salary. Yet another misleading lie. Also, you drive LONG distances every day, and it comes completely out of YOUR OWN POCKET.

I spent three days with this company, and that was three days too many. They need to be investigated for fraudulent practices. "Shady" is the PERFECT word for the entire operation. I had an awkward feeling the entire time that just would not go away. The people who do work there are like they are in a cult; they play really loud techno music every morning before you go out "into the field", and sing bizarre chants and team cheers to try and psyche you into manipulating people to buy crappy products of which only pennies go to charity.

AVOID THIS COMPANY AT ALL COSTS. They NEED to be investigated; something is just not right. Some of the employees had criminal backgrounds, and some didn't even have a drivers liscence. What they do here is absolutely terrible. They trick you into thinking you'll have a prosperous and interesting marketing job that helps children at the same time, they PREY ON NICE PEOPLE, in other words. Unfortunately, I was one of those nice people. Something is seriously wrong with this place, stay away from them or you will be very sorry; your career in marketing shouldn't have to consist of standing outside by a table full of cheap toys manipulating people into buying them. INVESTIGATE THIS COMPANY.