Job interview ripoff: Here’s how you can get free consulting by making your candidates work for nothing!
Posted by Geoff Alexander on Mon, Oct 19, 2009 @ 01:30 AM
Got your attention? If you're a telesales rep or manager, and you're looking for work,
I want to expose a couple of scams that have the end result of putting you to work making a profit for the company that's interviewing you, while you get paid nothing. Today's blog post is the result of an email I got from Alan, a very good rep that took one of my telesales courses a while back.
Alan wrote:
I have a question for you. I received an e-mail from an old colleague who is looking for a job and got an odd request from a company he is applying to. In summary, here is the e-mail, "The interview process is such: meet with [Hiring] Manager and then VP of Sales. The final stage is for me to go into their corporate office and make an hour's worth of customer sales calls (via telephone). I am supposed to be supplied a call script and other information prior to making these initial calls. I find it weird making calls without being an employee and not yet having any internal sales training." (Geoff,) Do you think this is a legitimate request or a red flag?
It's a red flag to me. A couple of months ago, I wrote a post about an innovative interviewing done by Marc Cook, who mocks up a sales situation, then has a potential hiree call him. I liked the idea, so do read my post on it.
By contrast, what I don't like about the situation Alan's friend finds himself in is that in making calls to real prospects, he's essentially giving the company interviewing him an hour's worth of free consulting. He might do a great job, move the sales process to the next step, then not get the job. He also won't know enough about the product or service to answer meaningful prospect questions, so the calls could be real duds, too.
Don't think I'm being too far-fetched on thinking this is a ripoff, either. Several years ago, a friend of mine who was a terrific inside sales manager began interviewing for a management position with a new company. Twice she was called in for interviews. They asked her to white-board a telesales operation from head to foot in the first interview, then asked her about comp plans in the second. When they called her back for a third interview, she asked if they were going to hire her, or just wanted another hour's worth of free consulting (yay, Barinda!) It turns out that the CEO of this particular company had a reputation for getting free consulting by picking the brains of candidates he was never intending to hire in the first place.
So folks, free work during an interview is a scam. As far as the hiring process goes in general, I don't like personality tests (meaningless), W2 forms (no one has a right to see your private income data) or drug tests (your body and medical situation are not owned by your employer, only your time is). Slave labor went out of vogue in this country some time ago. If you're treated unfairly during the interview process, think of how you'll be treated on the job. In the case of Alan's friend, the interviewer doesn't know enough about what makes a superior inside sales rep to be able to hire one. How the heck is that person going to manage the "successful" candidate that gets hired?
In Asia, a popular saying is "cash is king." The Asians have it right. There are lots of hiring scams, unfair interviewing processes, and crappy interviewing techniques out there. If you've ever been scammed or insulted during an interview process, tell us about it. Once I get a decent response, I'll publish a warning list on this site. Should make for some interesting reading.