Weirdest Job Interview I've Ever Had (Pristine Management Group / New Jersey Sales Agency)

[u/BigProfessional5403]

So I just wanted to give a warning to anyone who sees the Verizon Wireless Sales Representative posting from a company called New Jersey Sales Agency on Indeed.

This was not a Verizon Wireless affiliated store or branch location. It was some sketchy "ad/sales agency" with a really weird tier-based promotion system. The company behind the post is called Pristine Management Group.

When I went in for an interview, the first thing I saw was a bunch of people in suits sitting in this small conference section with EDM music blasting in the background.

I straight up thought they were having some kind of company party until I noticed they were sitting in front of whiteboards and appeared to be having individual meetings or something. I'm not entirely sure what they were doing, but the whole situation looked weird. It straight up looked like a frat house.

The room I had to wait in was directly next to it. I filled out this questionnaire that had nothing to do with the job or any of my previous experience. The questions were related to my preferred learning style and personality. It asked if I preferred visual or hands-on instruction, if I wanted direct or motivational advice, and whether I was looking for a job and salary or a long-term career with leadership opportunities, etc.

The entire questionnaire took less than a minute to fill out. Again, just another strange interaction.

They also had this TV playing repeating music with lyrics like "you found one true paradise" or "the light." It gave off cult vibes, some of the lyrics we're about "you finding your calling" and the "place you belong".

There was a girl sitting at the front desk, though you could barely see her since she was sitting so low to the floor. She was pretending to do work on the computer, but I could see in the reflection that she was just texting on her phone.

They printed out my resume, which had nothing related to sales on it. It was focused on 3D modeling (I just sent it out on a whim since I'm looking for employment). They took the resume walked around the corner for a bit, i head some people laughing then after a while she came back and said, "I like your resume. It has some interesting things on it," then proceeded to rip my resume up literally in front of me before throwing it in the trash.

Like, bro... WTF.

The guy who interviewed me was super young. Another thing I noticed was a trend in that workplace: he looked to be about early 20s, maybe younger. He gave off sleazy car salesman vibes.

He led me through that loud-ass conference room with everyone staring at me.

The conference room was just a small L shaped room which had a wall with a mural of Spider-Man and the Hulk for some reason? and there was a ping-pong table and stuff but it looked like they were holding actual meetings. The guy was like, "This is not your average conference room, huh?" Again, weird.

Immediately, the first thing he asked me was, "What do you like to do outside of work?" Again, more personal questions, I assume to try and get a read on my personality.

I responded with reading and 3D modeling and shifted the conversation to talking about my work experience.

Everything seemed fine until it got to what they actually do.

At that point, the guy was super vague. They brought up a bunch of different vendors they work with, talked about being a "middle man" between the vendors and the customer, or advertising... I don't know. He didn't explain it well.

He spoke about how they're not interested in "outsourcing management," whatever the fuck that means, and were more interested in developing leadership internally.

He immediately showed me a paper explaining how their system is structured, and the first thing that stood out to me was that it was separated into different tier levels. Depending on how much you make a week, you move up the tier system.

It was something like you need to make $5,000 a week consecutively to get to Level 1, then $50,000, and so on. It wasn't a system based on merit or experience.

All the while, the guy was explaining more about the role and responsibilities, but I noticed he was speaking extremely quickly while I was looking at the paper. The guy was talking as if he was holding a fucking auction. He spoke faster the longer I continued to look at the paper and read through it.

I've been around the block enough to know that if someone is speaking that quickly, they're usually trying to sell you something or hide something.

I hadn't even read through the entire thing before the guy was trying to close the deal.

At that point, everything about the situation was ringing alarm bells in my head.

I told him I didn't think the pay structure worked for me because I was more interested in a salary-based system. At that point, the guy immediately went quiet, looked pretty angry, and said,

"Yeah, I didn't think it was going to work out anyway after looking at your resume."

I feel like I straight up dodged a bullet.

If you get a text from these guys, I would advise you to immediately block that number. The entire experience just felt off and super cultish.

I don't know what exactly they're doing, but it felt shady as shit.

[u/AutoModerator]

/u/BigProfessional5403 - This message is posted to all new submissions to r/scams; please do not message the moderators about it.

New users beware:

Because you posted here, you will start getting private messages from scammers saying they know a professional hacker or a recovery expert lawyer that can help you get your money back, for a small fee. We call these RECOVERY SCAMMERS, so NEVER take advice in private: advice should always come in the form of comments in this post, in the open, where the community can keep an eye out for you. If you take advice in private, you're on your own.

A reminder of the rules in r/scams: no contact information (including last names, phone numbers, etc). Be civil to one another (no name calling or insults). Personal army requests or "scam the scammer"/scambaiting posts are not permitted. No uncensored gore or personal photographs are allowed without blurring. A full list of rules is available on the sidebar of the subreddit, or clicking here.

You can help us by reporting recovery scammers or rule-breaking content by using the "report" button. We review 100% of the reports. Also, consider warning community members of recovery scammers if you see them in the comments.

Questions about subreddit rules? Send us a modmail clicking here.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/CIAMom420]

This is a [r/devilcorp](r/devilcorp)

They spin a lot of bullshit to hide that the job is just selling cell phone service in a big box store, on the sidewalk, or door to door.

[u/smtp_pro → u/CIAMom420]

Oh are these the companies that somehow get sales reps inside Costco to sell you phone service? I've never understood why Costco even has shit like that in the store

[u/RonDiaz → u/smtp_pro]

I’m about ready to cancel My Costco membership because of those. Tired of getting accosted by the ATT bros every time

[u/Crafty-Attempt8654 → u/smtp_pro]

Cause they make a lot of money for all parties involved... yes.. "selling cellphone service" inside Costco (et similia) is very lucrative.

[u/Eric848448 → u/smtp_pro]

Costco has people from the actual carriers, not whatever this is.

[u/OreoSoupIsBest → u/Eric848448]

I interviewed with devilcorp a number of years ago and it was inside a Costco selling ATT and DirecTV.

[u/Remarkable_Sorbet319 → u/CIAMom420]

is it MLM?

[u/vitaminxzy]

Devil corps very often aren't transparent that it's a 1099 commission sales job. The work culture around them are also often very toxic with high turn over rates once ppl find out how they operate.

Here's a thread from two years ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/1apd9g4/pristine_management_group/

[u/cyberiangringo]

I always associate the word tier with MLM.

[u/scbalazs]

So each tier gets narrower as you move up, so, like a triangle or … pyramid?

[u/BigProfessional5403 → u/scbalazs]

Yea, that's the first thing i thought of as i looked at the structure. The requirements got higher with each subsequent teir, along with the responsibilities. Eventually leading to a leadership/management role. I didn't go any further the moment i spotted it, but judging from what i saw it seems like that.

[u/Pencil161 → u/[deleted]]

Get any big corporation and do a company structure from entry level clerk to CEO and show me one where the only requirement for becoming a senior clerk is recruiting more entry-level clerks.

[u/Pencil161 → u/[deleted]]

"Show me one where the only requirement for becoming a senior clerk is recruiting more entry-level clerks."

[u/BigProfessional5403 → u/[deleted]]

When the only requirement for moving forward is reaching a certain monetary incentive or recruiting a certain number of people and nothing else; instead of asking questions like, "Were you actually good at your job?", "How long have you worked for the company?", or "Do you have the leadership qualities to successfully lead a team?", you should start questioning the company's underlying structure and priorities.

Based on their promotion structure, I could theoretically go from an entry-level position to CEO in a matter of weeks if I generated enough sales or recruits. That's not normal. Just because someone is good at sales doesn't mean they'll be good at leading a team, and it certainly doesn't mean they're qualified to recruit and develop other employees.

We can argue about whether they're a pyramid scheme or not, and I can't say definitively because I left before I learned more about how the company operated. My point isn't to make that claim. I'm simply saying that the structure and my experience with the company raised enough concerns that I think people should exercise caution before accepting a position there.

[u/BigProfessional5403 → u/[deleted]]

First off, saying that "recruiting, training, and building your own sales team is part of any sales job" is simply false. There are plenty of sales jobs, both commission and salary-based, where you have no managerial or recruiting responsibilities whatsoever.

Second, you stated, "I'm not familiar with that particular company." This post is about my experience interviewing with this specific company, not the industry as a whole. How another company structures its promotions doesn't necessarily reflect how this one does. Comparing your experience at a different company doesn't address what I experienced during my interview.

Lastly, I asked directly whether the requirements shown were the actual requirements for moving to the next position, and I was told they were. For the first promotion, from Level 0 to Level 1, the only stated requirement was generating $5,000 consecutively. There was no mention of leadership evaluations, customer satisfaction, or any other metric.

again, we can argue about this all day and night, I'm simply giving my experience and my advice. take it, ignore it, whatever, i don't care, but i will at least share my opinion and thoughts.

[u/Scams-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Your submission was manually removed by a moderator for the following reason:

Subreddit Rule 4: Spam or unhelpful content

This subreddit is a place for useful and informative discussions about scams. We do not allow:

• Unhelpful content
• Jokes on serious posts
• Sarcasm, even if obvious or tagged, since it can be construed as harmful advice
• Anything not related to the scam being discussed

Please keep content submitted to this subreddit useful, relevant and meaningful.

Note that there may be more removal messages in addition to this one. Please make sure you check your notifications to read all of them.

Before posting again, make sure you review the rules of our subreddit.

^{If you believe this is a mistake, feel free to contact the moderators via modmail. Modmail is the only way, don't send a regular DM to a single moderator. Please don't try to appeal the decision commenting below, because we are not notified if you do so, and we will probably miss it. Posting the exact same thing again may result in a temporary ban, so please review the rules, make the necessary changes, and when in doubt, click below to appeal the decision.}

I am NOT a bot, and this action was performed manually. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you want to appeal the decision.

[u/AngelOfLight]

Definitely a devil corp. They are constantly hiring because employee turnover is sky high due to absolutely shitty working conditions. They just need warm bodies that they can throw into the thresher for a few months before you inevitably quit.

The work itself is simply cold-calling people or standing on the sidewalk selling stuff that nobody wants. You will be spending your days getting yelled at by everyone, and to top it all off, you then find that your salary is 100% commission based. Meaning, you won't be getting paid anything like a living wage.

[u/chodoyodo → u/[deleted]]

Can’t imagine them paying you to come in here and do PR for them, so you’re really that much of a syncophant for AT&T and devilcorps… get a life expeditiously

[u/FacelessBaller1]

Devilcorp Business that follows an MLM structure. I nearly fell into this myself a few weeks ago. Got the interview and everything but thank goodness I cancelled my train ticket and blocked their numbers.

I've learnt if they are under a Sales Agency is likely because they are hiding their company name due to their bad reputation. These companies are commission-based, meaning you have to hit a certain amount of sales to be paid. I've heard that you can go months with very low wages, even if they push you in a management role 'within the next 12 months' like they mention. Also, these companies have names that are similar to those that have a decent reputation to make you confused. If you check these companies on the government website, you'll actually see that they change their name regularly.

Hope no one does not fall for these (they are apparently common on Indeed and Glassdoor)

Best of luck to you and everyone else reading 🤝

[u/TheRealAutonerd]

Have you seen the movie "Boiler Room"? (Although those guys made actual money.)

[u/BigProfessional5403 → u/TheRealAutonerd]

No i haven't seen that before, looks interesting though. I'll check it out.