marketing companies [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]

loud_silence

Orrick Marketing, Pioneer Initiatives and RH Client Solutions are the same type of scam companies. All based in Leeds.

imatt

loud_silence wrote: »

Orrick Marketing, Pioneer Initiatives and RH Client Solutions are the same type of scam companies. All based in Leeds.

Funny, I have a pal who has just sent his CV to Pioneer Initiatives today via TotalJobs for a 'Trainee Sales' position. He has been invited to an informal 'chat' with them at their Leeds offices within a couple of hrs. of posting his CV. Thought I'd check them out on his behalf, which has led me back here. Will have to tell him to be careful.

(Text removed by MSE Forum Team)

loud_silence

imatt wrote: »

Funny, I have a pal who has just sent his CV to Pioneer Initiatives today via TotalJobs for a 'Trainee Sales' position. He has been invited to an informal 'chat' with them at their Leeds offices within a couple of hrs. of posting his CV. Thought I'd check them out on his behalf, which has led me back here. Will have to tell him to be careful.


Pioneer Initiatives 3rd Floor Pearl Chambers Business Suite 22 East Parade Leeds LS1 5BY

Do you know what happened?

CarinaGarage

Yeah, I got exactly the same from them today. Made out like they were completely desperate and thought i was an amazing candidate for the role because I'd work on a 'Event's Team' (no mention of my qualifications). Funnily enough, Rebecca was able to move her meeting with her manager in an instant when I asked if it was possible to move the 'interview' to the afternoon.
Alarm bells were ringing since I only sent off the application last night and they'd emailed me by 8:30 this morning.

Watch out for [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM], I think it's the same company.

DisappointedByPeople

Hi All,

Bit of a lengthy one, but here goes....

I received this email this morning, along with an attached job description for an administrator position:

Good Afternoon,

Re: Administration for Sales and Marketing Opportunity – (Full - Time Commitment Only)

Your CV has been forwarded to our HR department through the Total Jobs website database, with regards to an opportunity that our company has in administration in the industry of Sales , Marketing and Customer Services. We are glad to inform you that you have been carefully selected by our Recruitment Manager for an Interview. Given your past experience and personal attributes, we feel that you have transferrable skills which would be extremely valuable within our company.
If you are looking for part time work in .... , and would like to pursue an opportunity with our company, please feel free to contact me on the details below to arrange an initial appointment.
We are currently holding 30 minute appointments with you to meet our manager and visit our head office in .....
We would like to invite you in to see our Manager to discuss your application further- the Interviews will be taking place on

Tuesday 5th November 2013 at 3:00pm

Due to the weekend, please confirm by replying to this email with your Name, Date you can attend(dates provided above) and telephone Number and you will be booked in Automatically.
If you are unable to attend please give me a call ASAP on 02073360060 ask Jay
Preparation Requirement:
Please See Attached Documents (Note * This is a Full Time opening and requires the Applicant to be 18+)

The agenda and objective for the opening morning is to provide you a presentation of our business, (on what we do and what the opening will include day to day). Our meeting is designed for us to get to know you, discuss the roles you have worked on in the past, and to discover what your passions and motivators are for your next opportunity and finally match a personality to your CV.

Alarm bells were ringing faintly, but I looked at the attached administrator job description:

Job Title: ADMINSTRTOR

Reports to / Immediate Supervisor: ......

1. Purpose of the Job:
To provide administrative, recruiting, organisation and co-ordination support to the Managing ....... and the contracted Field Representatives.

2. Key Responsibilities:
a) Dealing with recruitment enquiries informing potential FR’s of the opportunities available in a professional and friendly manner
b) Hitting your daily & weekly recruitment targets, as set by the MD / OP / OHA
c) Having an active role in placing adverts in local and national media channels
d) Building and maintaining good working relationships with the various account managers in the different media channels
e) Completing profitability and retention reports of the FR recruitment process
f) Ensuring all Field Representatives have successfully completed the initial vetting procedure
g) Ensuring the correct terminology is being used at all times, in all company adverts, collateral and throughout the office
h) General reception duties – ensuring it is kept professional looking at all times and being interactive with all visitors and guests
i) Accurate data entry of all applications submitted on a daily basis by the Field Representatives
j) Completing a full stock inventory on a weekly basis, ensuring stock piles are kept at the appropriate levels and ordering stock in the appropriate timelines, if required by the client
k) Ensuring the safekeeping of all FR ID badges, company paperwork, and completed sales within the office
l) Ensuring that the company is being data protection compliant at all times
m) Providing the MD of feedback on paperwork issues for the purpose of dailycustomer service meetings
n) Territory information for the Field Representatives
o) General PA duties
p) General support duties for the Field Representatives
q) Any other reasonable duties that the Managing Director assigns

3. Knowledge, Skills and Attributes Required:
• Educated to a minimum of A–level or similar standard!
• 2 years experience in administration
• Proven competency of Microsoft computer packages (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and Outlook)
• Be of smart appearance in suitable business attire
• Enthusiastic, highly motivated, and outgoing individual with ability to use own initiative
• Act with and demonstrate good faith towards the company

4. Normal Hours of Work

Normal working; however, flexibility is required for additional hours, weekend work, and meetings. Time 09:00am to 5:30pm

I did reply to the email, as I've been out of work ever since returning to the UK after several years living abroad, and excitement at a prospective job was overruling the alarm bells, which had started with certain aspects of the initial email and continued with certain aspects of the job description. They then got louder after I discovered that I was not, in fact, registered on the totaljobs site until I looked at it this afternoon and subsequently registered.. The idea of working additional hours and weekends for a normal admin job also didn't sound quite right.

I looked at their website and even on there, the wording used wasn't quite right. I had noticed it in the email and job description, too.

After seeing this thread, I decided initially that I would still attend the interview and just leave if they tried to make me do sales, but after the post on the day in the life of an administrator there I think I will definitely give this a miss! Interesting how the contact is "Jay"....could this be the guy other people have been talking about in relation to this company...? Sounds like it could be.

carem

CarinaGarage wrote: »

Yeah, I got exactly the same from them today. Made out like they were completely desperate and thought i was an amazing candidate for the role because I'd work on a 'Event's Team' (no mention of my qualifications). Funnily enough, Rebecca was able to move her meeting with her manager in an instant when I asked if it was possible to move the 'interview' to the afternoon.
Alarm bells were ringing since I only sent off the application last night and they'd emailed me by 8:30 this morning.

[TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM] I think it's the same company.

I went for an 'interview' with [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM] as Pioneer Initiatives, total waste of time.
I think they rent a suite in the building for interviews to try and make themselves appear professional, failed miserably. There was nothing to do with the company in there, no advertising, no 'look how good we are' stuff you would expect to see in a company premises. The guy interviewing was in his early 20s and basically talked about himself for about 15 minutes before asking if I had any questions, which he then avoided answering by going into unnecessary detail about how he rose through the ranks and made it to management level within a few months :huh:

The job I was going for involved selling what was advertised as 'the world's biggest beauty brand' - what I did manage to get out of him amidst all his self-indulgent waffle was that it's basically that awful unheard of stuff they sell in shopping centres off trestle tables. I tried asking him to justify how it was the 'world's biggest' compared to, say, Avon or L'Oreal.... he mumbled about how it's popular in America. I can't even remember the name of it, but a quick google when I got home brought up loads of complaints from people in the States who get pressured into buying this makeup from sales people that go round office buildings and won't clear off until you buy something. And the makeup itself is rubbish.

I was contacted later the same day to offer me the job, and it wasn't until then I was told it was commission-only (which the interviewer kept swerving when I asked, going on about huge commissions and progression within the company), and the lady on the phone refused to confirm exactly how much commission could be earned per sale, what the percentage was etc. Needless to say, I turned it down.

I hope this helps someone out there thinking of applying for one of these positions. I suppose it'd be OK for a teenager or student looking for some weekend sales work or something, where it's just a bit of extra cash

sp2301

So I noticed the other day that (believe it or not) Parker Worldwide/Red Five/8 Global have changed their name AGAIN...they are now 'Pass Go Promotions'. Same (Text removed by MSE Forum Team), different name. Stay away.

(Text removed by MSE Forum Team)

P-P-P-Positive_Outcome

sp2301 wrote: »

So I noticed the other day that (believe it or not) Parker Worldwide/Red Five/8 Global have changed their name AGAIN...they are now 'Pass Go Promotions'. Same dirty [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM], different name. Stay away.

[TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]

I applied to a job advertised on Total Jobs. Now as most of you know, job hunting can be very stressful...full of highs and lows. You can imagine how pleased I was to be asked to interview at:

[TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]

I arrived at said address. I sat on one of four large leather (fake) sofas, my ears filled with load music supplied by the large wall-mounted tv. In the corner was a fish tank. All the fish were swimming leisurely, totally unaware of what was occurring all around them. In the middle of the room was a large, blue pool-table! Was I about to sit a real interview? Alarm bells were ringing. I wish now that they were ringing much loader!

During the interview, I was told how people become managers in less than twelve months. Seriously? I hadn't even applied to become a manager. More alarm bells were ringing.

Later that day I received a 'phone call to say that I had made it through to the second round. I felt as though I was taking part in the X Factor! (Trying to find some humour here in this really depressing story!) I was told that the second round interview would last eight and a half hours...yes...eight and a half hours! Now I have been on enough interviews to know that something didn't quite add up. It wasn't until I spoke to a friend later that day (thank you, you know who you are and how much I appreciate it) that things began to dawn on me further which concerned me greatly.

Guys...the 'company' in question is called [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]...formally known as Pass Go Promotions! Having carried out further investigations, I have discovered that [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM] and [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM] are also registered at the same address!

What I want now is a positive outcome (see what I did there?) from all of this. Save your time, money and efforts by not applying to any jobs from 'companies' calling themselves Pass Go Promotions, [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM], [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM] or [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]. Furthermore, avoid applying to any companies addressed at:

[TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]

...or a similar combination.

I thought I had done my research pre-interview. Clearly I hadn't done enough. Please make sure you thoroughly investigate all companies / organisations before attending interviews. Sadly things aren't always what they appear.

Armetage

Cambrai wrote: »

Any questions, ask me, I would quite like to help others avoid the mistakes I made.

I'm doing a project into these scams with a view to preventing (or at least warning) others before they sign up. I understand it may have been some time since you worked there but I really need to get as much information as possible. Did people actually get paid the money that they were owed? Is it true they have a 'security bond' which withholds part of the payment?

Unfortunately I'm not allowed to post contact details on here but any information you could tell me would be most appreciated.

Thanks