Scam, scam, scam
I had my first scam interview yesterday. Apparently these are pretty common because my fiance attended one last year while he was looking for a job. The company I was asked to interview for was Global Solutions, but it turns out that the actual company is called Liquidity International, and Global Solutions is the name of their Austin office.
Last week, I had spoken with a woman named Theresa over the phone. She set up an appointment and gave me directions. I was expecting a short, 30 minute one-on-one interview, and boy was I suprised. I arrived a little before 1pm and was asked to sign in and give my phone number. While waiting for Theresa, more people start showing up and signing in. After waiting a few minutes, we were all led into a small conference room; everyone seemed just as confused as me. We met some of the company recruiters, including Theresa, and the lady who would be conducting the seminar (I think her name was Heather). She explains that she's going to talk to all of us about the company and show a video. This is where the scam alarm starting going off inside my head.
Heather started with a long, drawn-out spiel about the company's history, how it works, and a full biography of its founder, complete with colorful graphs. She also emphasized how the health industry was booming and was expected to reach a trillion dollars (or some ridiculous amount) per year within the next 5 years. She also rattled off some completely bogus health statistics. Then came a 15-minute sales pitch about each one of the products. First, there was some kind of cream that was supposed to burn off fat and block carbs. Then there was a skin care set retailing at about $160, which she assured us was much, much cheaper and better quality than Clinique or spa brands. At this point, it was hard to keep a straight face. Next she showed us what looked like a bottle full of soy sauce and told us that this miraculous product had vitamins, aloe juice, and noni juice in it and lots of anti-oxidants. She kept repeating that it heals "from the inside," which still doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I figure if you ingest it, it sure as hell better work "from the inside". Lastly she showed us a bottle of pills which apparently was the juice in pill form. I gotta admit, it was interesting to see someone use pseudo-science to hype worthless, untested products. Then came the "dazzle-them-with-dollar-signs" routine. Heather told us that you would make $500 in your first month as a distributor, and that you get nifty bonuses for moving more product and signing more people on. You also get a percentage of the profit from people under you. But it gets better.
What happened next really made my scam alert go crazy. She showed a video full of distributors with amazing success stories. I know I should've walked out then and there, but I was curious. The disclaimer on the video read something like, "Products not intended for medical use. Please consult a doctor before using." As if that wasn't enough, another disclaimer flashed on the screen. "These employees represent the top 1%. The average distributor makes less than $100 per month." I am not kidding. I actually read it twice because I thought I misread it the first time. What followed were happy, smiling employees who talked about how rich they were and how great the products were; one woman even claimed that the soy sauce juice completely cured her migranes. After the video, Heather said that we would take a short break and anyone who wasn't interested could just slip out of the room. As soon as those lights went on, me and two other people ran like bats out of hell.
The good news was that I had enough common sense to get out of there, and I had a legitimate interview at 3pm that went very well. The thing that baffled me the most was that the company seemed to target college students. I found the job listing, which had no mention of seminars or even the company's products, on the UT job website. I suppose the company thinks that college students lack enough real-world experience to know a scam when they see it. They are wrong. Most of the people I knew in college had enough common sense to realize that peddling bogus health products may not help you score that much-coveted extra cash. Despite this, lots of people are drawn into scams because they lack common sense, or because they are simply desperate for a decent job. You'd be amazed what people will make themselves believe if you flash enough dollar signs in front of them. Based on my experience and my fiance's, I've come up with some telltale signs of the scam interview.
1)The interview is a seminar, not a one-on-one. Also, the recruiter gives the impression that the interview will be one-on-one.
2)The presenter gives an in-depth description of the company's products, history, and founder before mentioning any job specifics.
3)The presenter constantly brings up profit, the industry's growth, and generally mentions a lot of big numbers. Also, if the presenter emphasizes the fact that you can make big money with little time or effort. To me, this is the most suspicious behavior of all.
4)The company's products are untested and make outrageous claims; therefore the presenter will use a lot of pseudo-science or newage in his/her sales pitch.
5)There is a video of several wealthy, successful employees who claim to have quit their old jobs/experienced a medical miracle because of said company and its products.
6)If there is any kind of start-up or training fee. Luckily I didn't get to this stage, but this is prevalent in scams of any kind.
7)Any mention of MLM (Multi-Level Marketing), a legal pyramid scheme. It emphasizes recruiting others and gaining a share of their profit. Go here for more info.
8)If it seems too good to be true, it usually is.
Last week, I had spoken with a woman named Theresa over the phone. She set up an appointment and gave me directions. I was expecting a short, 30 minute one-on-one interview, and boy was I suprised. I arrived a little before 1pm and was asked to sign in and give my phone number. While waiting for Theresa, more people start showing up and signing in. After waiting a few minutes, we were all led into a small conference room; everyone seemed just as confused as me. We met some of the company recruiters, including Theresa, and the lady who would be conducting the seminar (I think her name was Heather). She explains that she's going to talk to all of us about the company and show a video. This is where the scam alarm starting going off inside my head.
Heather started with a long, drawn-out spiel about the company's history, how it works, and a full biography of its founder, complete with colorful graphs. She also emphasized how the health industry was booming and was expected to reach a trillion dollars (or some ridiculous amount) per year within the next 5 years. She also rattled off some completely bogus health statistics. Then came a 15-minute sales pitch about each one of the products. First, there was some kind of cream that was supposed to burn off fat and block carbs. Then there was a skin care set retailing at about $160, which she assured us was much, much cheaper and better quality than Clinique or spa brands. At this point, it was hard to keep a straight face. Next she showed us what looked like a bottle full of soy sauce and told us that this miraculous product had vitamins, aloe juice, and noni juice in it and lots of anti-oxidants. She kept repeating that it heals "from the inside," which still doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I figure if you ingest it, it sure as hell better work "from the inside". Lastly she showed us a bottle of pills which apparently was the juice in pill form. I gotta admit, it was interesting to see someone use pseudo-science to hype worthless, untested products. Then came the "dazzle-them-with-dollar-signs" routine. Heather told us that you would make $500 in your first month as a distributor, and that you get nifty bonuses for moving more product and signing more people on. You also get a percentage of the profit from people under you. But it gets better.
What happened next really made my scam alert go crazy. She showed a video full of distributors with amazing success stories. I know I should've walked out then and there, but I was curious. The disclaimer on the video read something like, "Products not intended for medical use. Please consult a doctor before using." As if that wasn't enough, another disclaimer flashed on the screen. "These employees represent the top 1%. The average distributor makes less than $100 per month." I am not kidding. I actually read it twice because I thought I misread it the first time. What followed were happy, smiling employees who talked about how rich they were and how great the products were; one woman even claimed that the soy sauce juice completely cured her migranes. After the video, Heather said that we would take a short break and anyone who wasn't interested could just slip out of the room. As soon as those lights went on, me and two other people ran like bats out of hell.
The good news was that I had enough common sense to get out of there, and I had a legitimate interview at 3pm that went very well. The thing that baffled me the most was that the company seemed to target college students. I found the job listing, which had no mention of seminars or even the company's products, on the UT job website. I suppose the company thinks that college students lack enough real-world experience to know a scam when they see it. They are wrong. Most of the people I knew in college had enough common sense to realize that peddling bogus health products may not help you score that much-coveted extra cash. Despite this, lots of people are drawn into scams because they lack common sense, or because they are simply desperate for a decent job. You'd be amazed what people will make themselves believe if you flash enough dollar signs in front of them. Based on my experience and my fiance's, I've come up with some telltale signs of the scam interview.
1)The interview is a seminar, not a one-on-one. Also, the recruiter gives the impression that the interview will be one-on-one.
2)The presenter gives an in-depth description of the company's products, history, and founder before mentioning any job specifics.
3)The presenter constantly brings up profit, the industry's growth, and generally mentions a lot of big numbers. Also, if the presenter emphasizes the fact that you can make big money with little time or effort. To me, this is the most suspicious behavior of all.
4)The company's products are untested and make outrageous claims; therefore the presenter will use a lot of pseudo-science or newage in his/her sales pitch.
5)There is a video of several wealthy, successful employees who claim to have quit their old jobs/experienced a medical miracle because of said company and its products.
6)If there is any kind of start-up or training fee. Luckily I didn't get to this stage, but this is prevalent in scams of any kind.
7)Any mention of MLM (Multi-Level Marketing), a legal pyramid scheme. It emphasizes recruiting others and gaining a share of their profit. Go here for more info.
8)If it seems too good to be true, it usually is.