The principle of “nothing good comes easy” will always be one I live by, and it becomes more relevant when you are trying hard to achieve that one goal you have in mind. When I was job hunting, I applied for two companies that needed Entry Level Marketing Associates,
I took a look at the logo and clicked on the website, it seemed to be a legitimate thing. I applied with my resume, and hoped to hear back from them. Two days goes by, and I got back from both companies, it read:
“Congratulations Michelle! We want to learn more about you. Please attend tomorrow’s interview…”
I didn’t think much about it, I was happy to hear back from them this quickly, but the one thing that I was confused about is how alike both email’s content looked, *first red flag missed*.
I made an appointment with both companies and practised for their interview to the best of my abilities. They wanted me to dress business professional, so I picked my outfit and placed it on the side of my bed just so I don’t forget.
Next day comes by and one of the interviews was at 11am. The time was 10:50 am, I put on my blazer, opened my laptop, and waited for the hiring manager. *tik tok tik tok* The time was 11:15 am, still nothing, all I could think at that moment is that there must be a connection problem on the other end. I waited for a while more when a man who seems to be just a little older than me appeared on the screen. I couldn’t see the rest of the participants, I couldn’t talk since the microphone was disabled by the host, the camera was also turned off for everyone, I wonder why they wanted us to dress business professional if they couldn’t see us, *another red flag missed*. The man started talking:
“Okay guys, so as you know our company is a new one, and we want to hire as many people as possible right now, we want to build a diverse team, actually we have more than 500 people who applied for the job, but we are only choosing 20 individuals…”
500!? That is a very large number for a single job position, and choosing only 20 individuals is so low compared to it, and guess what? In order to be selected, you just have to complete a simple survey, yes, a survey! *red flag kinda noticed*
I still clicked on the link, it brought me to a page where I had to answer simple questions, such as: “What is your favourite food?” and “Please write down your favourite sports team”. Hmmm… *sarcasm activated* Ah yes…questions that will truly help me get the job…
I submitted my answers, and then the “interview” ended. All I could think is that if I get an email back from the company stating that I got a follow-up interview from this survey, it means that there were only a max of five people on that Zoom call, where I couldn’t see them, and they couldn’t see me, the only person who had their camera on was the HR manager. I closed my laptop and felt a little bit of disappointment, with just a little bit of light hoping that I am wrong.
The other interview was at 2pm, and I was expecting it to be different from the previous one. There was another girl with me, this time, they could actually see our faces, and we could actually ask questions. The hr manager asked us questions about our education and work experiences, it was actually a pre-screening interview. However, every time we asked about the type of work we were doing, they treated the question like it was a dodgeball, completely avoiding it *Big red flag… missed*. The host told us to wait for a followup interview and the meeting ended.
I laid on my bed and started reflecting on these two interview experiences. “That was so bizarre” I thought to myself while staring blankly at the popcorn ceiling. I closed my eyes and tried to get some sleep.
*Ding* A notification sound woke me up some time later, I took a look, it was from the first company… and the content was just as I expected:
“Congratulations Michelle, you move on to the follow-up interview tomorrow at 7 am”
I took a deep breath, and hoped for it to not be a pyramid scheme or an MLM company. I opened my laptop and researched the company…
“Oh…” I was stunned to realize that it wasn’t only a pyramid scheme, but also a company that targeted students.
“They told me that there were 500 people…” I read.
“They want you to feel groggy, so they scheduled an interview early in the morning” another wrote.
Now this is familiar.
All posts were added 3 months ago, and people were posting screenshots of their emails. Yeah… it was the exact same one as the one they sent me.
“This is another experience, just another experience Michelle… one that I am grateful for, I am grateful for…” I reassured myself.
I wasn’t mad anymore… I was happy that I discovered this before it went too far. I was happy I wasn’t the student who wrote “I wish I could have my time back”.
I immediately researched the other company, and the exact same thing came up, an MLM scam, the same person who interviewed them interviewed me. Some people even provided their address as they went to the actual interview. I took out my phone and searched the place on Google Maps. It was located in a very sketchy area, one that was very difficult to find, there is no doubt about it anymore, I and many others were scammed by these two companies.
I felt a little bit lost, I just graduated from university and I already miss my life as a student, I can say that as students we felt protected, we never had to worry about this kind of things… could we be more naive? This experience felt like opening the door to adulthood, only to find traps on the other side, there are still steps you can take to avoid them, but in order to do so you have to fall for one first. Maybe this is why they are targeting students, we want to grow and find a job as soon as possible… “Life isn’t easy” *sigh* the typical phrase our mother tell us, it makes so much sense now., you need to avoid scammers while job searching…
I was still scratching my head thinking about how these types of companies still exist, I wanted to tell this story so that people do not make the same mistakes I made. I started writing and wanted to make it as transparent as possible.
As I was writing this exact paragraph, a text popped up on my screen.
… It was a followup email from the second company. I opened it, and it contained a message that read:
“Congrats! You have been selected for an in-person interview at [address]”
I immediately unsubscribed from the company’s email notification centre.
Finally, a red flag not missed…