Unfortunately, you have to figure out how the job works after you've already been hired. I originally applied to be a "Public Relations Assistant" on Linkedin, which coincided with my goal of being in a customer service position at a marketing firm. So of course, I was overjoyed to be given an opportunity for an interview. That's where the lies begin. You are told that you will only be entry level for a brief couple of weeks, and then you move into management, to assistant manager, and then owner. So you discover it's a sales job and the wage points are completely inaccurate. As an entry level employee, they throw you into "the field" (well, I had to wait two weeks before I could get any hours because the owner decided she didn't want to send me to train yet even though I was commuting upwards of one and a half hours to work) and you are required to work about eight hours with only a few small ten-minute breaks. You're working at $9/hr, but the leaders explain that if you make commission, you jump up to $14/hr? I'm not 100% sure where that number even comes from, considering I have done the math several times. That's another thing - you make hourly OR commission (they don't explain that in the interview process).
Even after all of that, don't expect to get paid the full amount you are promised. On one occasion, a coworker did significantly better in sales than I did, was paid for gas, and still made less than I did on my paycheck that month. I remember showing my paycheck to him and a newer person on the staff caught a glimpse and asked, "Is that what the paychecks usually look like?" I could see how worried he was. It was appalling, actually.
The closer I got to being promoted out of entry level, the more truth I learned about how this place operates. The pay is wrong. We're not supposed to tell the new people that we have to meet a sales quota. New people aren't supposed to know there is an "off paper" checklist to be promoted, which really means they have to start winning the popularity contest in the office. As a firm believer in ethical practices (I mean, shouldn't every person be a firm believer in ethical practices??), I simply broke under the pressure or having to falsify information that can potentially ruin someone's livelihood. Compensation is not a joke. Some of these people have families to consider.
On one occasion, the owner called a former employee's newborn child "an excuse", because he was late to work that morning. That is absolutely unacceptable behavior on all account.
The business is not lucrative. This business will not create success or amplify your resume in any way. And so many young, recent college graduates are not yet aware that action can be taken against unethical companies, so they are the best prey. Don't ever let yourself be taken up in the web of lies spun by this company and its father company, Smartcircle. They are all exactly the same, go read the reviews.
I sincerely hope someone sees this and believes it. I felt humiliated for weeks after I quit, wondering how I let myself be put in this situation. Don't be another college graduate that is deceived into thinking this is how you can pay for your student loans, your rent, and your family. You'll leave with an empty wallet and a broken heart.
