WomenCo.

Yeah, I had an experience in Dallas, Texas, where I answered an advert for a receptionist. When I arrived all professionally dressed and ready for the interview, I was told to go into a room where the interview would take place and wait. When I got into the room, there were about six other women sitting in straight-backed chairs grouped in front of a television, all looking rather confused. Now, I knew that was no way to conduct an interview, and came back out of the room demanding an explanation. It turns out that it was a get-rich quick scheme that was promising that I would own a yacht within thirty days. I left, to the stunned surprise of the people in the office.

Best advice from this is to google and search the BBB for prospective employers before you even go to the interview. I had an experience recently that taught me a similar lesson.

I think the biggest lessons learned here is that we must tune in to and respond to our instincts!

I had a similar experience with Cutco while in school. The job pitch was that you would be given a list of referrals for people who were interested in buying the product and make commissions on any sales. Then after you had been trained you were sent to your family and friends just to get practice presenting. When you returned they expected a list of referrals pressured from your friends and family. This was the list of people who had supposedly expressed an interest in the product. Then you were to call them and tell them that their friend or family member had told you to call them and show them the product. You were to pressure each person who agreed to meet with you for a list of family and friends contact information. At this point I resigned. I was very angry about being lied to and not at all interested in trying to manipulate my friends and family for profit.

Even the most brilliant of people can be fooled by these "companies", so thanks for sharing and reminding us how important research and instinct are. I had a very similar experience in Ft Worth several years ago (judging from the Dallas post today, this is still happening today in the DFW market) that involved door-to-door business telecommunications. They took us to a business park with hundreds of doors and we weren't finished until they'd all been opened! Like Erin, my lunch came early - they want to be sure you have energy to last all day! These people even had official looking name badges with pictures on them. We were to ask the businesses to pull out their last phone bills so we could show them where they were wasting money and how we could save them money by switching to our plan. Back in the search for a job today, I'm glad to have this fresh reminder as I wade through the ads/offers.

I just this week was talking to some friends about "the day i got kidnapped" on an interview. My situation was very similar and happened years ago when I was fresh out of college. I had gone on a first interview for a Marketing company that seemed normal. I had scoped out their website which was pretty typical ahead of time and was even impressed with the professional atmosphere in their office on my first visit. I was very hesitant when the 20-something man that interviewed me could/would not answer many of the questions that I had prepared. On the drive home from the interview I even spoke with my mother about how uninformative I thought the interview was, but she encouraged me to at least try to remain open to different styles. So when the call for a second interview came I headed back to the same office for what was to be a day working "side by side with an executive". When I entered the office Techno music was blairing and I sat with about 15 other people who were there for the same reason as me. Then a group of 20-something men came into the room in their too tight suites and lead us out to their "sites". I was told to leave my car at their office, that we would drive to their "clients". I was really hesitant about doing this but decided that I should heade my mothers advice. So we piled into a beat up mini van and were driven about an hour out into Newark, NJ (not a nice neighborhood). All during the drive the executives asked questions about what was our motivation in looking for a job (mine was to help others, hence why I had gotten my psychology degree). They then proceeded to tell the interviewees how much money they had, what nice cars they drove, and how prestigious there titles were. They skirted around so many of our questions that I started to get really concerned and asked where exactly we were going. The response was that we were "just around the corner". We pulled into a mall parking lot where like another poster described they got out of the car, changed into sneakers (with suites) and pulled out bags filled with dollar store merchandise and explained that they walked from home to home selling their toys for over a dollar and making a "massive profit". I was furious. Not only was it deceptive, but darn it I was wasting large amounts of my time for door to door toy sales. How I handled it was a little differently then Erin. I very nicely approached the leader of the group and explained that I wanted to be taken back to my car (and the state that I lived in). When he refused I placed one phone call to the company letting them know that my next serious of phone calls would be to the area police, news, radio, and television stations if I was not returned to my car immediately. Immediately the owner let his executive know that we all needed to be returned home. In talking to friends over the last few years I have found that this occurance is all too common and unfortunately takes lots of time out of everyones schedules when they are already trying to balance working and interviewing.

Wow, Naida - that's a creepy comparison. I just read a New Yorker piece on sex trafficking and the way people are deceived. Obviously what happened to Erin is not at the same level, but at it's core, the deception is very similar...