Fished in, thrown back

I am a 20-year Navy veteran currently on the hunt for a civilian job, and recently I answered a newspaper want ad for a receptionist job with a company called "Pacific Coast Wholesale", leaving a message at the phone number in the ad. A few days later (this morning), I got a strange phone message - hurried, garbled, and with a partial phone number - that after carefully replaying several times, I realized was "Pacific Coast Wholesale" calling back. The number in the phone message was no good, so I called the number in the ad again, thinking "These people REALLY need a good receptionist". I got through to a live person, who scheduled me for an interview later this afternoon.

"Pacific Coast Wholesale" was located in an industrial-park district of Ventura, California in a block of offices that included another company called "Pacific Wholesale Electronics". Unlike the electronics company, "Pacific Coast Wholesale" did not have any signs up. Somehow I found the office (which seemed to actually have a receptionist), turned in a short application and my resume, and waited for my interview. I asked the receptionist how many people had applied for the job so far (a lot) and how long the company had been there (about a month; they had moved up from San Diego).

The interview was one of the strangest I have ever had. The interviewer showed little interest in my job history, unlike most interviewers, and wanted to tell me about the company. Had I ever heard of their founder, Larry Hahn? (No, I had not.) Hadn't I seen him profiled on "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous"? (No, I don't usually watch that show.) Well, Mr. Hahn had invested in luggage, a non-consumable, then invested in perfume, a consumable; the interviewer went on to discuss "management training" opportunities, still sounding as if he had memorized some sort of script.

But, I protested, I was here to interview for the receptionist position; the interviewer dismissively replied that over 50 people had applied for it, and that they wanted to offer everyone a job, so therefore they were offering management training opportunities in marketing.

But, I continued, my experience and skills are with computers and phones, logs and files, not marketing.

(Red flag #1: Why offer a "management trainee" position to someone you don't even want to consider as a receptionist? As bait-and-switches go, it wasn't even a good one - he didn't even suggest that my background offered me an unusual opportunity better than the one I was seeking.)

No experience in marketing necessary, he said: we train; training takes 6-9
weeks. First phase of training is marketing; second phase is management, in
which one trains 4-6 people in marketing; third phase is administration; then
you get your own office.

(Red flag #2: Would I be trained in marketing by someone who themselves had been trained in marketing only a few weeks before?)

(Red flag #3: My own office? Is this commission sales, or worse, MLM?)

I asked the interviewer if trainees were paid and if this was commission sales, explaining that my husband worked commission sales for another company and enjoyed it, but that we both agreed one salesman in the house was enough. He said it was commission-only, but there were a lot of ways one could be paid including "kickbacks".

(Red flag #4: Kickbacks?!)

The interviewer then asked me about my short term and long term work goals - at last, a standard interview question - and I answered honestly: in the short term, get a steady job; in the long term, keep it. The interviewer thanked me and instructed me to phone back in 45 minutes, when I would be told if I were accepted into the program or not.

(Red flag #5: At no time did the interviewer mention the company's product, much less talk it up. Every other company I have ever interviewed with has talked up their products or services with great enthusiasm.)

I met my husband immediately after the interview and told him about it; he said he had a really bad feeling about that company, and that if they offered me the job that I should turn it down. He has never, ever advised me to turn down any job offer bfore! I phoned them at the assigned time, because I like to keep my word when I say I'm going to do something, and they turned me down!

After doing a web search for "Larry Hahn" tonight, finding "Scentura
Creations", and reading many web pages such as David Dombrowsky's, I am not surprised that they turned me down: if Pacific Coast Wholesale is in fact a Scentura distributor, as the combination of fragrances and mention of Larry Hahn strongly suggest, then they want young naive things who are easily impressed by tales of Big Money, not 44-year-old salty Navy veterans who happily drive 15-year-old cars, don't watch "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", and know B.S. when they see it.

By the way, my husband works for Vector, which is a good company - they never make anyone recruit new salesmen, fill quotas, or sing insulting songs; they focus on their products (which are quite good - I use Cutco regularly) and their customer service, and thus are what Direct Marketing should be like.