Slightly Fishy Sales/Marketing Job

jimbozo

A friend of mine (we'll call her Linda) did an interview yesterday and is back for a second interview wednesday with a company called Orric. They are based near the Augustinian cafe. Anyway she found them through the advertiser, though I dont think the name Orric was there. Neither is there a likely match in google.

I would like to know if anyone has heard of them. The guy who interviewed her was 22 and there was no sign on the outside of the office, just a typed Orric in the buzzer at the door.

He (the interviewer, we'll call him Jim) said that the company has been in Ireland for 2 years and that they had offices in London. now Linda is a great person and would be great at sales I am sure I am just concerned that the company sounds dodgy, though I cant say exactly why. It sounded from what she said that Jim was really trying to sell the job to Linda. He said that she would be groomed for management and that within 12 months she could be managing a team of 12-15 people. He was also said that there would be no 'Street selling' and that the job would be 60%/40% sales/marketing. Details of the job were very sketchy - 'marketing products for clients such as 'Pixar' and some other know brand that I can recall.

Anyway I really dont want to rain on Linda's parade but the whole thing sounds slightly suspect to me.

Any opinions/experiences would be appreciated.

Just checked and there is no registered company out there called Orric .

jimbozo

there is no registered company out there called Orric

Now that is interesting to know. I am certain of the spelling, I asked her to spell it out.

Frank Spencer

Due to the fact that the interviewer was only 22, was selling the job and was very sketchy on details this sounds like a door to door job more than likely chugging i.e. selling charity subscriptions. Tell Linda to expect to be called for a second interview and be brought out with a person door to door doing the aforementioned.

Then again I could be wrong!!

TerrorFirmer

There are loads of these "companies" around. They all hold their interviews down in the area you mentioned, yet also as you said have nothing more then hand written signs on the doors despite the fact they've apparently been around for years. They say they market on behalf of Disney, Warner Brothers, etc and that you could be a manager in 12 months, could be relocated to a different country, etc etc.

What actually happens to the applicants I do not know: I don't know anyone who's gone into those places looking for work, but surely someone does?

jimbozo

I have put this post in the Galway forum simply cos Linda is in Galway, is there any other forum it might fit?

Thanks for all the responses so far btw..

po0k

Maybe try posting in the Biz category too.

john_g83

A friend of mine did a similar interview. It turned out the job was going around to shops and offices lugging big black bags full of shi**y cheap toys and books, and trying to force people to buy them with very agressive sales tactics. Anyone seen these people dressed in nice suits dragging big carrier bags? they used to come into a pub I worked in. Seems like a pretty demeaning job, I'd advise your friend to stay well away. My friend told them F**k off.

p.s. This was in Galway too, so I'd wager it is the same thing

jimbozo

I re-posted question in the Biz Forum here

IrishAirCorps

They are the Jobs that you see in the Advertiser circled in red biro saying stuff like "american company looking for 10 ppl earn 400pw...." dont trust them my mate went for one of those jobs and he left it after a few weeks total scam job, never got paid either.

Never send your CV to a job like the one described about of any job that says "Reply to Box Number etc" as my mates and family say if they aint gonna bother printing who they are then forget them they obviously have something to hide.

Regards,
IrishAirCorps.

forbairt

IrishAirCorps wrote:

Never send your CV to a job like the one described about of any job that says "Reply to Box Number etc" as my mates and family say if they aint gonna bother printing who they are then forget them they obviously have something to hide.

box numbers are just a handy way of not giving out company details ... who wants to be swampped by 200 calls from people when they find the phone number of the company ...

but if the job says earn 400 a week .. blah blah .. then its definitely dodegy

po0k

john_g83 wrote:

p.s. This was in Galway too, so I'd wager it is the same thing

Aye, I bumped into the two english lads who were selling 'leather' jackets.

Felt sorry for them. They could be flipping burgers and gobbing into the mayonaise in rubbermacs instead, but at least they'd be warm.

tred

john_g83 wrote:

A friend of mine did a similar interview. It turned out the job was going around to shops and offices lugging big black bags full of shi**y cheap toys and books, and trying to force people to buy them with very agressive sales tactics. Anyone seen these people dressed in nice suits dragging big carrier bags? they used to come into a pub I worked in. Seems like a pretty demeaning job, I'd advise your friend to stay well away. My friend told them F**k off.

p.s. This was in Galway too, so I'd wager it is the same thing

I met one guy in liosbain., big suitcase.....he had a cuddley toy in his hand....he tried to get talking to me, i told him shove off!

jimbozo

Thanks for all the info guys. I will come back when I have spoken to Linda about her second interview which is on tomorrow.

danniemcq

DO NOT GO! I DID THAT FOR A DAY AND UNLESS YOU WANNA WALK AROUND STREETS ALL DAY SEELIN ****E OUTTA A BIG BLACK CASE TO SHOPKEEPERS AND RANDOM PEOPLE FROM 9 IN THE MORNING TILL 5 AT NIGHT RAIN HAIL OR SHINE

only thing was if ya can see **** to a pig or porn to a blind man you'll make a bit of money (i made 220 my first day!) but i is depressin as feck

ok moan over. and in case anyone is overly paranoid i'm not a shill!

TabulaRasa22

Okay heres the skinny on these jobs. My sister went for one (Jaguar marketing or something), so I know the details. Fly by night companies from the UK mostly are formed, hire out a plush office for a few weeks, and put up adverts in the paper. Its comission only and based to an extent on the combined insurance model (another shower of twisted morbid bastids). You pay your own expenses, and are on reward tracks which include weekends away in London, possible management positions (wok wok) and a selection of other carrots dangled.

You pay for your travel, pay for your training, pay for your own food and pay for your phone calls. The goods sold are got for cents off the boat from China (under serious textiles and clothing levies in the EU, but they work around that with plush toys and bags and the like), shipped to the city they are hitting, and stockpiled in someones rented apartment. With the expenses and extremely small sales margins, you will probably end up in debt to them.

What they do specialise in is group psychology (think Jim Beemer, motivational speaker), another combined insurance trick. There are regular meetings where people cheer each other on and boo the lowest earners, while figures are displayed on a wall. This serves a dual purpose, to ease the stress of the job (since everyone is under the same lash) and to motivate workers to higher levels of effort. Most people burn out after a few weeks, rightfully so.

I saw a fella running around with a black bag over his shoulder, nice enough sort with a suit on, and I felt nothing but sympathy for him. I was tempted to grab him and offer him a sales job with my own company, but you can never tell what sort of person you are talking to, really.

TabulaRasa22

Dre as in Dray wrote:

Just checked and there is no registered company out there called Orric .

They might be registered but the companies registration office doesn't put them all on the website.

rabbitinlights

Those guys with the black case's are a joke, Do they even have a trading licence? the cheak of somebody walking into a store and asking staff and sometimes customers do they wanna buy cheap knives or some such crap, I had to kick one of them out of my shop because they were hassling customers.....

S.

jimbozo

Okay heres the skinny on these jobs. My sister went for one (Jaguar marketing or something), so I know the details. Fly by night companies from the UK mostly are formed, hire out a plush office for a few weeks, and put up adverts in the paper. Its comission only and based to an extent on the combined insurance model (another shower of twisted morbid bastids). You pay your own expenses, and are on reward tracks which include weekends away in London, possible management positions (wok wok) and a selection of other carrots dangled.

You pay for your travel, pay for your training, pay for your own food and pay for your phone calls. The goods sold are got for cents off the boat from China (under serious textiles and clothing levies in the EU, but they work around that with plush toys and bags and the like), shipped to the city they are hitting, and stockpiled in someones rented apartment. With the expenses and extremely small sales margins, you will probably end up in debt to them.

What they do specialise in is group psychology (think Jim Beemer, motivational speaker), another combined insurance trick. There are regular meetings where people cheer each other on and boo the lowest earners, while figures are displayed on a wall. This serves a dual purpose, to ease the stress of the job (since everyone is under the same lash) and to motivate workers to higher levels of effort. Most people burn out after a few weeks, rightfully so.

I saw a fella running around with a black bag over his shoulder, nice enough sort with a suit on, and I felt nothing but sympathy for him. I was tempted to grab him and offer him a sales job with my own company, but you can never tell what sort of person you are talking to, really.

TabulaRasa22 - I have found out some more information about Linda's experience and you have you summed it up exactly. Thanks again for all the responses.

zeusnero

Been there done that - Managed to take it for 2 months... And it was the worst 2 months of my life. I can remember thinking, oh my god give me a regular 9-6 job please!!!

Basically they expect you to be in at 7.30 for the first few weeks when you're a 'distributor'. This means that you're new and have to do loads of study, ticking off areas on this COD sheet.

Once you move up a level you have to be in at half 6. These guys (and girls) come in early to receive deliveries and pack the (shivers at the memories) big black bags.

Everyone then stands around 'training' or 'learning' until 8.30 when they call out the high rollers from the day before (anyone that made over €100 for themselves - to do this you generally have to sell about €350 of goods)

Then you go out (be it snow, rain, sleet) and try to sell their cheap gear. Things like laser pens, cuddly toys, disney books, tool kits, sets of knives etc...

zeusnero

Because there's such pressure a lot of the 'gallopers' (we were called that in cork because the name of the company was gallop marketing) often you'll see them running around the streets for most of the day. They then return to the base and 'demerch' - Give in the merchandise that wasn't sold and then get paid. Because you ALWAYS have to pay for your own travel, and eat etc it is possible to come out at a loss on a bad day.

This job is a nightmare, although it does give good training for those interested in sales or marketing as a career...I personally feel sorry for these guys when i see them, but to be honest some of them are major a**holes. Anyway moral of the story - their job is utter ****, if you get a friendly one - buy something

TabulaRasa22

jimbozo wrote:

TabulaRasa22 - I have found out some more information about Linda's experience and you have you summed it up exactly. Thanks again for all the responses.

Well maybe a bit off topic here, but if shes interested in a sales career (with small salary and good commissions), I'll meet up with her and we can see it would suit all concerned. I'll be gone for the next month, but let me know at jobs@nuatech.com if shes interested.

jimbozo

TabulaRasa22 - thanks. Just sent you a pm.