Complaint Review: Primerica

I received a call from Primerica not too long ago. In my case (as noted in other reports) I had posted my resume on Monster.com and received an e-mail a few days later (amidst other legitimate responses) from a Bob (not his real name) at Primerica ("one of the biggest financial services companies in the world")in Federal Way, WA.

Bob wanted me to call and chat about the opportunities Primerica had for me. Now, my resume clearly indicated that I was looking for IT work: network administration, etc. Bob's e-mail was very upbeat and I was pretty excited when I called him.

Bob was nice on the phone. He talked up Primerica as a major player in the financial world, etc. Sounded good to me. But when I pressed him for details about the position he grew very vague. I pointed out that I was looking for a job as a network administrator and Bob "reassured" me that he felt I could find a suitable position at Primerica. When I pressed him for what specifically he meant, he said "well, that depends on you. Let's get together and talk about how you might fit in at Primerica." He also mentioned something about management. This was when the first red flag went up: I had no managment experience, was just getting started in IT, and could not imagine why a company would think, based on my resume, that I had the experience necessary for a management job. Not to mention I had no interest in managing anyway: I wanted to keep working with networks.

I setup a meeting time with Bob. Then I called my brother and was telling him about this rather strange response to my resume. Keep in mind that I was really eager to get a new job (the company where I worked was moving out of state). My brother said "No way. I got a call from Primerica a few months ago and they gave me the same pitch: 'we think you're cut out for a management opportunity with our company'. Considering that they don't know me, I told them I wasn't interested. Sounds like a scam."

The more I thought about it, the more I knew, almost instantly at that point, that he was right. Now, unlike some posters, I consider any multi-level marketing/pyramid scheme, from Mary Kay to Amway to Primerica, to be an affront to the intelligence of humans everywhere. I don't care if a few greedy sleazebags do get rich, they're preying on the ignorant masses.

Bottom line is: any company, Primerica included, that trolls for recruits who are looking for legitimate work and misrepresents the fact that they DO NOT have a job in line with what the job-seeker is after is morally repugnant. It would be different if they said: "Hey, my name is Bob and I saw your resume out on Monster.com. I work for Primerica. While I don't have a job related to computers, I would like to discuss an opportunity for you to make money as a financial consultant (sic) working for Primerica." At least then I could tell him to shove it without having to intuit that he was a fake.

I seriously considered calling Bob and cancelling my appointment. But I figured that the hour he had booked to give me the pitch was one less hour he could be swindling some other poor sap. Besides, I rather liked the idea of Bob waiting hopefully for me to arrive and then realizing that I must have done some checking and realized that Primerica is just another multi-level cancer on the American business scene.