Marketing Assistant doesn't mean door-to-door sales

 Marketing Assistant doesn’t mean Door-to-Door Sales

 At least, it's not meant to.

I’ve been dedicatedly applying for jobs for over two months now. I’ve been asked to complete a few assessments, had a few interviews, many rejections, many silences.

I thought things were looking up when I sent in an application on a Tuesday afternoon, responding to a ‘Graduate Marketing Assistant – Trainee Manager’ vacancy in Manchester, and heard back straight away.

I heard back straight away.

I received an email that said my CV was one of the ‘stronger’ ones they’d seen. They rang me that evening and organised an ‘e-meet’ over Zoom with the company the next day. Naturally, I was excited because it was the quickest I’d heard back from any company.

We set up the interview and I prepared by looking over my CV and cover letter, and what they wanted from me. I wasn’t too worried because the job advert wasn’t too specific and didn’t require much experience from applicants.

I sat at my desk, Zoom ‘tripod’ all set up, and put my smartest shirt and jacket on.

Then I waited.

 

I realised the link hadn’t arrived in my emails, or my phone (they said they’d text it to me before the meeting). So, I emailed to ask.

I didn’t hear back. I didn’t get a call.

Instead, I sat there for an hour, waiting, refreshing my emails every two seconds. Instead of finding a link and an apology, one hour later, I received an email asking why I decided not to show for my appointment.

Panicking that I’d missed my chance, and annoyed that this was somehow my fault, I replied and said there must have been a misunderstanding, that I hadn’t received a link, and how I was eager to rearrange.

They didn’t apologise, they just rearranged my meeting and made an excuse about having the wrong number.

 

Stupidly, I persevered.

 

On the day of the rearranged interview I made sure I had the link in advance, having emailed asking why I hadn’t got one yet. No apology or reply came this time either, just a text message with the Zoom link attached.

I was a bit irritated by the seemingly incompetent communication (especially for a marketing company) but knew how much I needed a job so that would just have to not matter right now.

To my surprise, when I turned up, smartly dressed and secretly shaking, there were other people on the call.

It wasn’t really a chat about us, or the role, or anything. The lady, who I recognised as the strikingly young ‘CEO’ from the website, asked us what we wanted for our next role and when we could start.

It felt like there was no way they could possibly gain any more knowledge about us from that tiny interaction.

 

Somehow, though, I got an email inviting me to a second interview.

 

This second interview, had fewer but still other people present for the interview. We were asked a few questions about us, our work background, a fun fact about ourselves (???), but again didn’t go into too much detail about the role.

She did mention a few vaguely marketing-related things, and I got the feeling the other two women in the interview were much more qualified than me, having already been in marketing based roles before.

Before the call ended, we were asked to write 200 words about why we would be suited for this role, and what we could bring to the company (wasn’t my cover letter enough?).

I wrote a quick summary of my skills as they appeared on the job ad, and talked about my desire to succeed in the marketing industry.

I was sure the other women would have done better than me, having had specific experience and being further on in their careers in this industry.

 

To my amazement, I was asked to attend a final interview later the same day.

 

Turning up, via Zoom, for my third interview.

This one, to my relief, was one-on-one, with the same young CEO who had conducted all previous interviews. She asked me what set me apart from other graduates, and why I should get the job. She mentioned some positive things she’d noticed about me, and offered me the job.

I was elated.

Heart pounding, hands shaking, sweating and yet cold at the same time. I couldn’t think.

She smiled and laughed at my reaction and said goodbye, telling me a welcome email would arrive in my Inbox.

I left the Zoom call feeling so amazing. I was on a high. I had done it.

 

Elated: The video I filmed as soon as we ended the call. 

I’d gotten a grad job, in the field I wanted to be in. I was on my way.

 Or so I thought.

Excited, I went to tell my Dad, who was so pleased I’d finally found something, and happy at seeing my joyful reaction.

I needed to get away from my desk, and so I treated myself to a walk.

I wrapped up, got the dog on her lead, and headed to my favourite spot with the feeling that I was a new person. That, from now on, I was changed.

From here, I’d climb through the ranks, changing jobs when I wanted, finding new opportunities, meeting new people, moving to a new city. I felt, certain, walking along in the sun, this was the first step of the rest of my life.

I rang my boyfriend from my favourite spot, overlooking a vast green field, a leaf-bare tree towering next to me.

I giggled and danced and was so excited on the phone.

 

I imagined myself years from now, looking back at this point, smiling at how young I was, how ready I was to join an industry and start working towards my future.

 

My welcome email suggested that my official start date would be in two weeks’ time when we were able to go into the office in Manchester. I thought that sounded ambitious, given the COVID-19 situation wasn’t improving much, and wondered why my start date should be then, when I’d been asked to join the Zoom meetings starting the very next day.

Not wanting to cause a fuss, or state that something sounded wrong, I ignored it.

The next day, I sat down at my desk, at 10:30, ready to begin my first day at my new job. I had a smart shirt and jacket on, my hair pinned back, and my notebook ready to be filled with the knowledge I needed to get started in this ‘Management training programme’.

Ready to start my first day at my new job.

We had a general meeting, an orientation meeting, we watched videos about smart decision making, and the way our mindset influences our ability to grow and succeed. I found it a bit strange, but thought this was how this office liked to motivate its employees.

We had a meeting called 'Sales Training', where we discussed a new client the company had landed, and watched a blurry, portrait video of a woman in a noisy office, talking us through how she talks to potential customers about signing up to a broadband service.

I was curious that this ‘marketing assistant’ training programme would begin in sales, rather than marketing strategy, but was so happy to be given a role I went along with it.

The CEO kept talking about breaking records for customers and commission.

 

I ignored the doubts I had, because I was so happy to finally have a job.

 

More meetings came and went, I was put on the spot a few times to answer questions in response to videos the meeting leader would show us. Often they were about concepts or mindsets relating to achieving great things or having a mindset for success.

The whole thing seemed to be trying to perpetuate a culture where by simply working the hardest, you’d become laden with bags of money.

I’ve never really bought into that mindset. Yes, hard work is important for success, but to pretend that a load of other factors aren’t involved is just plain idiotic.

So, I sat making notes for a few zoom sessions, some were just talks, some were direct ‘training’ for something that definitely wasn’t a marketing assistant: door-to-door sales.

There was still a heavy emphasis on the idea of working your way up and being promoted from within. So, I squashed my worries and kept going.

 

I had a paperwork meeting three days in where my team leader/ the CEO told me about the possible commission payments for one particular sales pitch.

I asked about minimum wage, I asked about base salary. She told me about a minimum daily payment, and said commission was uncapped. She said we were technically ‘self-employed’, to benefit us.

I rechecked the job advert and there was one tiny, casual mentioned of being self-employed, but it hadn’t been touched on since, and I hadn’t noticed it. Still, I didn’t like it.

Not being paid for training, no base salary for doing a job, except a tiny minimum daily rate.

She tried to convince me it was all to do with taxes, so we weren’t considered ‘employees’, but that just made me think: disposable, manipulable, cheap.

She showed me the contract I was to sign, and outlined two sections on it – both referring to the door-to-door sales. I noticed the role was now called ‘Independent Sales Advisor’ – that doesn’t sound like a marketing assistant to me.

I expressed my concerns and doubts, and with a heavy heart finished the Zoom call faking a smile. We had one more training meeting left for the day and I sat there, nodding along, realising how much this was not what I wanted.

 

That evening, I did some digging. I checked out the company more, who it was related to, who the top people were, and what other companies they worked for. I searched ‘Independent Sales Advisor’ and found this website:

https://doortodoortruth.wordpress.com/

It was the exact same thing I had been promised. The same type of atmosphere created, the same cult-like training phrases and motivation to make your own success.

Thank the Lord I hadn’t signed anything.

Everything I came across was eerily close to what I had been exposed to:

 

"Run Like the Wind if:

1) They want you to start immediately, provide full training, and offer earnings close to £250–500 ($400-800) per week.
2) They contact you within hours after you apply. Many are interviewed – the more through the door the better.
3) There is a four step ‘business progression’ which takes 9–18 months to complete. You’d (theoretically) move from Field Representative to Team Leader to Assistant Manager/Owner to Manager/Owner. The last stage is where you’d earn the big bucks.
4) You are required to sign an Agreement that states you are not associated with the company and that the role is 100% commission based. You are told that you are ‘self employed’ and need to pay for all expenses.
5) You hear the chant JUICE, DS-Max’s slogan (‘Join Us In Creating Excitement’). The term ‘Law of Averages’ should also set off alarm bells.
6) Your days consist of morning teachings with music blaring, a talk by a manager and 8–10 hours of door-to-door selling. Most of your waking hours are spent slaving away."

 

 I also looked at the recruitment process and it was so similar it made me feel a bit sick.

 

I felt stupid, like I’d missed all the signs, like I was supposed to know an ‘outsource marketing’ company just did cold calls and door-to-door sales.

I felt like I’d been blind to what was so obvious.

I found myself trying to validate it all; relying on the fact that I had felt uncomfortable about a lot of things, I’d just not wanted it to be true.

I’d wanted a fresh start, a new job, a new city, a new lease on life. I wanted to make some steps, and be on my way.

But I knew, this was not the way to do it. I couldn’t fathom putting all of this work in, to learn pitches and sales techniques, without pay, to then get dropped off in some residential area and try to convince people they needed to change their broadband.

No thank you.

 

I let the CEO know I was no longer going to continue the process. I said this wasn’t the job title I applied for.

She said she didn’t know what I meant.

I let the people I’d told I had a job know that I was declining the offer.

I made a video and posted it to Instagram explaining what had happened. 

Explaining what had happened in an IGTV.

What was almost worse was that so many people reached out to me to say that the same thing had happened to them, or to someone they knew. They’d thought they’d found a great opportunity, that was purposefully misleading, and didn’t disclose the full reality of the job until it was too late.

I’m lucky it wasn’t too late for me.

I hadn’t moved cities, I hadn’t quit my furloughed job, I hadn’t signed anything.

The pandemic meant I had more time to be doubtful, more time to investigate, more time to notice the things that bothered me, and didn’t seem right.

Definitely check out the companies you are applying for on Glassdoor, or similar websites. Ask around, look at their LinkedIn profiles, check who the employees are.

I keep thinking back to those zoom meetings, and at all the faces I saw. I wonder how many were new, or hadn’t been paid yet. I hope they do manage to make something out of what they’re involved in.

I hope they end up ok.

 

For now, the job hunt continues. And this time, I’ll be a lot more careful.

 

 

Ellen Victoria