If you're looking for a job in Halifax in the fields of Marketing, PR or Sales I'm sure you've come across and ad like this on one the popular employment websites:
Do You Think You Got What It Takes?!?
Do you think you got what it takes to be part of a winning team!??!??
New Leaf Promotional Group encourages all Rookie Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations graduates and Reps to consider a career move in the right direction!
New Leaf is Canada's leading Event Marketing Firm dominating the industry and reaching elite status.? As our non-profit clients grow we also grow with them! As we are expanding to accommodate their needs we are seeking energetic, Entry Level Reps to begin training ASAP!
If you've seen these ads, you probably wondered what exactly this company does. Let me spare you the trouble of going through the "interview process" and explain what they're all about.
You'll send in your resume and get a call for an interview that very same day. They might even tell you that you're one of their top candidates and that's why they contacted you so soon (don't be fooled - they contact EVERYBODY). You'll go to their crappy, sparsely decorated office in Burnside Industrial Park and they'll call you in for an introductory interview where your interviewer, who also happens to be the 'CEO' will do most of the talking, albeit only for a few minutes. He'll tell you how they're acting as a liaison between the public and charity organizations to raise awareness and spread information for these organizations. He'll ask you a few very general questions and then send you on your way stating that during the day he'll sort out the top candidates and that you might receive a call later in the evening.
You'll most certainly receive a call later in the evening and they'll tell you how impressed they were with you and how they'd like you to come in for a second interview. This 'interview' will last the entire day and you'll spend it with one of their 'top guys' in the field.
Your day in the field will consist of setting up a table in front of a grocery store where you display your wares. Coffee mugs, fake Christmas trees, T-Shirts, grocery bags - a random assortment of goods all displaying the charity's logo. You'll stand out in the cold all day long watching their top sales rep solicit every single random person that will listen to buy their crap under the guise that it's for charity. The scam is of course that they're essentially lying to the poor people (mostly students) that actually buy their junk. Only a very small percentage of sales goes to the charity and the bulk of it goes back to New Leaf Promotions.
Perhaps you have a business degree and maybe you took some Marketing classes that discussed professional selling and sales force management. If you did, you'll notice that the company's top sales rep is basically a walking example of what your professors would have described as the worst sales rep ever. He will be pushy to the point of harassing people, try to take every person for as much as he possibly can, lie to every single person he talks to and give every person the same old rehearsed sales pitch with faked sincerity. The sales reps for this company have no interest in actually educating the public about the charity. After all the charity just acts as a sales pitch that actually motivates people to buy their junk. The ferocity with which the sales reps go after potential customers isn't surprising; the job is 100% commission so if you don't sell, you don't get paid.
The top sales rep will spend a small part of the day educating you on how great this company is, how you could be managing your own company in less than a year, pulling in $100K per annum. Of course you'll have to set up in another city, change the name of the company, and be responsible for absolutely every last cost the company bears. That means you as the CEO will be covering the rent, the secretary's salary, the loads of crap you have to keep in stock for your sales people, and various other overhead expenses. After all of these costs, I'd be very surprised if a person clears more than a kid working at Burger King.
One thing worth mentioned here is that one of the other reps joined us at our location after being denied at the grocery store where he was supposed to spend his day. He apparently showed up, the manager wouldn't see him and the clerk told him that he couldn't set up there without permission, even though the 'promotional event' (as they like to call it) was apparently pre-arranged. The company's credibility was sinking lower and lower.
Also worth noting is the fact that after spending 8 hours standing outside on a cold and stormy November day the two sales reps tallied their profits and it turned out they each made $50. For a workday that lasted from 9:00 until 7:00, they made $50. That's less than minimum wage.
After the interview, you'll be driven back to the office where you'll be given a test which supposedly measures what you learned during the day. The top sales rep was supposed to go over all the material covered in the test but he was evidently too busy hustling people and only mentioned two things that were on the test. Upon completion of the test (which by the way basically measures if you learned how to rip off people) the CEO will look the test over. He'll mention that these aren't the best test results ever but he's excited to have you on board anyway and offer you a position on the spot and ask if you can start tomorrow. If you're smart, you'll thank him for wasting your entire day and tell him there's no way you're lying to people all day long to donate to charity when they're actually donating to a business.
Bottom-line: This job will require you to work 10 hours a day for what turns out to be less than minimum wage. You will not be refunded for any gas or other costs you incur while on the job. You will have to sell your soul every day by tricking strangers into buying products for charity when actually only a small part of their 'donation' is really going to the charity.
On the bright side, in less than a year you could be moving to some city in Canada to open up your very own version of Shining Tree, New Leaf Promotions, Quantum or whatever you want to call your business and either sit back and watch the money pile up or declare bankruptcy within a year (probably the latter). If that sounds like the career for you, send in your resume - if you have two feet and a heartbeat, you're guaranteed to be hired.
Disappointed in halifax
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Canada
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