- Report: #297085
Complaint Review: Twin Cities Events - Plymouth Minnesota
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Twin Cities Events
http://www.twincityeventsinc.com/ Plymouth, 55441 Minnesota, U.S.A.
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Twin Cities Events A thinly veiled, sales based, pyramid scheme the doesn't fulfil its promises Plymouth Minnesota
Having freshly finished college I was eager to find a new job. I studied marketing and public relations so naturally I wanted a job where I could do just that. I started searching on Monster.com for a job that would fit my criteria. One of the postings I found was from Twin Cities Events.
They looked like a decent company and the Job Description was as follows.
Our cause related marketing ad campaigns are full service campaigns from conception to print to market. Promotional responsibility from start to finish in areas of:
* Conception mock-up and print
* Warehousing/Shipping & Receiving
* Inventory Control in office and to market
* Direct Response Advertising; business to consumer, on-site presentations, business to business, special interest, trade shows as well as event marketing.
* Customer Service
* Public Relations; cause and client related
* Administration & Related Accounting
* Management; account, mid and upper level.
To the trained eye that's pretty clear what it's actually about, but I was naive and soon had to learn what the job really was. They claim that their clients are groups like D.A.R.E. and Toys For Tots. All the ads implied that they were the PR and Marketing companies for these non-profits and they designed the promotions campaigns for these companies.
They called me in for an interview. I got to the interview and about 20 people were there for the same thing. That was my first warning sign. I got called in and the interview lasted about 10 minutes. They told me this was going to be the first stage of three interview stages. They said they were going to only pick a few people from the first stage to move on.
Of course they were very enthusiastic about me and said they were "gonna go against the grain" and invited me back for the second part immediately. They used a lot of language to make the job seem like it was going to really be using me to my full potential, and they complimented me a lot to boost my ego. Looking back it was clear they were desperate for me, when really the jobs should be the picky ones, not the hiree.
I came back for the second interview. They said it would involve a short hands on meeting to view what it was that they did. What I did was drive with one of their middle management people and another guy who was working for his first day, out to a K-Mart. A really crappy K-Mart in a lower class neighborhood.
So what was the job? Setting up a table next to the exit and selling items off of a table to people as they left the store. Crappy items like pen sets, mugs and T-shirts, with the hook that the proceeds would all go to DARE. We sold about a dozen items the entire day. I had to stand in the hot sun in a nice suit for 8 hours, and because it was still an interview, they wouldn't let me get involved. I just had to watch them.
We get back to the office and I do the third and final interview. He goes through the structure of the system. New hires make 100-200 a week, but you can move past that within two weeks and make 250-400 a week, and so on so that every few weeks you're moving up the ladder and making more an more. But it's ALL based on commission of how you sell the crappy products. There are no benefits until you're an upper manager, but he assured me that I would make it there in no time. Something I'm now positive that he tells everyone who comes in.
They offer me the job immediately and tell me that they want me to start ASAP. Like the next day. At this point I had seen enough and I declined their offer.
They do not work for these companies. To them "marketing" means pushing sales on people as they're leaving stores. And calling D.A.R.E. and Toys For Tots clients is a joke. They give a small portion of their revenue to these organizations while using their names to push their products.
The managers make their money by hiring as many people as they can and getting money based on the sales of the people below them. It's a pyramid structure that screws over the people on the bottom with crappy commission based sales jobs under the guise of "marketing, management, and PR."
If you want a job, avoid this company. If you see them selling merchandise outside of a store, ignore them. If you want to donate money to organizations like DARE and Toys For Tots, go to those companies directly. They'll get the full amount that you donate, and it's a tax write-off.
Twigz_at
Maple Grove, Minnesota
U.S.A.
They looked like a decent company and the Job Description was as follows.
Our cause related marketing ad campaigns are full service campaigns from conception to print to market. Promotional responsibility from start to finish in areas of:
* Conception mock-up and print
* Warehousing/Shipping & Receiving
* Inventory Control in office and to market
* Direct Response Advertising; business to consumer, on-site presentations, business to business, special interest, trade shows as well as event marketing.
* Customer Service
* Public Relations; cause and client related
* Administration & Related Accounting
* Management; account, mid and upper level.
To the trained eye that's pretty clear what it's actually about, but I was naive and soon had to learn what the job really was. They claim that their clients are groups like D.A.R.E. and Toys For Tots. All the ads implied that they were the PR and Marketing companies for these non-profits and they designed the promotions campaigns for these companies.
They called me in for an interview. I got to the interview and about 20 people were there for the same thing. That was my first warning sign. I got called in and the interview lasted about 10 minutes. They told me this was going to be the first stage of three interview stages. They said they were going to only pick a few people from the first stage to move on.
Of course they were very enthusiastic about me and said they were "gonna go against the grain" and invited me back for the second part immediately. They used a lot of language to make the job seem like it was going to really be using me to my full potential, and they complimented me a lot to boost my ego. Looking back it was clear they were desperate for me, when really the jobs should be the picky ones, not the hiree.
I came back for the second interview. They said it would involve a short hands on meeting to view what it was that they did. What I did was drive with one of their middle management people and another guy who was working for his first day, out to a K-Mart. A really crappy K-Mart in a lower class neighborhood.
So what was the job? Setting up a table next to the exit and selling items off of a table to people as they left the store. Crappy items like pen sets, mugs and T-shirts, with the hook that the proceeds would all go to DARE. We sold about a dozen items the entire day. I had to stand in the hot sun in a nice suit for 8 hours, and because it was still an interview, they wouldn't let me get involved. I just had to watch them.
We get back to the office and I do the third and final interview. He goes through the structure of the system. New hires make 100-200 a week, but you can move past that within two weeks and make 250-400 a week, and so on so that every few weeks you're moving up the ladder and making more an more. But it's ALL based on commission of how you sell the crappy products. There are no benefits until you're an upper manager, but he assured me that I would make it there in no time. Something I'm now positive that he tells everyone who comes in.
They offer me the job immediately and tell me that they want me to start ASAP. Like the next day. At this point I had seen enough and I declined their offer.
They do not work for these companies. To them "marketing" means pushing sales on people as they're leaving stores. And calling D.A.R.E. and Toys For Tots clients is a joke. They give a small portion of their revenue to these organizations while using their names to push their products.
The managers make their money by hiring as many people as they can and getting money based on the sales of the people below them. It's a pyramid structure that screws over the people on the bottom with crappy commission based sales jobs under the guise of "marketing, management, and PR."
If you want a job, avoid this company. If you see them selling merchandise outside of a store, ignore them. If you want to donate money to organizations like DARE and Toys For Tots, go to those companies directly. They'll get the full amount that you donate, and it's a tax write-off.
Twigz_at
Maple Grove, Minnesota
U.S.A.
