The Bane of a Marketing Grad's Existence

If you have been looking for Entry Level positions, you've all seen them: Big capital lettering, mentioning entry level two or three times in the title, and relating to some business related field (Marketing, Communication, Advertisement, Customer Service, and Sales). Yes, I am talking about the worst kind of recruiter/company, that of the "advertising" or "consulting" firm.  I put the words advertising and consulting in quotes; because contrary to their belief, they are not and will never be a standard firm.  They are a multi-level marketing scheme that sells a third-party's products or services door to door.

The Experience

A recruiter (secretary) contacts you because they found your resume on a career site, and feels that you would be a good match for a company that offers rapid advancement.  The company name will be ambiguous (d1 consulting, blue, Chicago Business Solutions come to mind), the position description even more so (It says entry level about 10 times, says how they work with clients who are Fortune 500 Companies); but they will sell you on the great opportunity for rapid advancement and profits that you are to make. You will go into the office and fill out an application, meet with (insert generic leadership term: CEO, Executive Director, etc.), and hear more about how competitive their selection process is.  You get a call back for a job shadow and second interview.  When push comes to shove, they will hire you; and you will learn how very poorly this experience will go.  I applied for one of these companies while I was at school out of desperation for internships, found out that I was to sell deregulated energy to the poorest area of Toledo, and quit within 3 days.

The Pitches

These companies can be doing a lot of things: financial planning (Primerica), selling books (Southwestern Internship scheme), selling AT&T U-Verse (I had someone try to pitch me on U-Verse... My house can't even be set up for it), working with deregulated gas or electric, or even selling Quill products to businesses (The most lucrative- however, I could actually work for Quill).

You will either be working in referral based marketing or door to door sales.  Have Fun.

All in all, if you want to put a position on your resume that will call you a CEO after 6 months; I say go for it.  However, if I was a recruiter that saw this, I would laugh you out of my office.

The Biggest Problem with These Schemes

Most of you, even with internships, are considered entry-level.  Try search Entry Level [Advertising, Marketing, Sales, Public Relations] on LinkedIn or Indeed.  Add Boolean logic to narrow out these companies.  Do to the fact that these companies have a general description that includes all of these terms, they clog up every posting on the first 3-5 pages because of a generic SEO laden post.

If You Get Contacted

Look up [Company Name] and "scam." Most of them are already listed, and there are many sites that will out these companies for their atrocities.