Commission only first job - what to advise?

Casey1709

Hi

A friend's son graduated this summer and has had no luck in finding work in his subject area.

He's been offered a job selling credit cards (if that's the right phraseology) in a shopping centre. It's commission only with a company called Live Innovation (?).

What advice would you offer him?

On the or hand it might be good experience and he thinks the earning could be big. On the other if he struggles to make a sale / referral, he coukd end up out of pocket (commuting costs etc ) and become dissolutioned.

sangie595

So... It's not a job... The wage would appear to be unlawful... And really, seeking credit cards in a shopping centre - how legit does that sound?

Sorry, but it sounds completely useless, and bound to end in tears.

People who have jobs offer you at least the living wage, and that's the lowest of the low wages. This is lower than that. It's nothing. So I wouldn't trust them further than I could throw them.

DCFC79

Theres xmas jobs available he could apply for. Would give him some experience, might lead to something permanent.

robatwork

I expect the legitimate stall holders in shopping centres eg Sky, Vape-your-lungs, fone-kases-4-u etc. struggle to make anything decent, this would be awful work akin to chugging.

If he lives near enough to commute to a shopping centre I would get him to pop into every shop there and ask for the manager, and say he wants a job over xmas. I am sure the Savers and Superdrugs of this world need staff almost constantly. It will be NMW but it will be a job.

walwyn1978

From both personal experience and the experiences of friends who've done it, commission only wages are potentially open to underhand practice with the company where you believe you're getting X for so many sales but actually only get Y - in my case I was told that 'a senior representative had to phone them back to close the sale because the punter queried something, so that won't count towards your commission because it's their sale not yours' and so on. Of course, buried in the small print of the job offer is a clause saying this is possible, but it's not mentioned up front.

I would say that my experience was 20 odd years ago when I was a student and selling double glazing, so this may now be slightly dated, but friends/colleagues who have done similar commission only roles more recently have said similar things.

I worked for the company for 5 days, made 8 sales and got paid in full for only 3 of them. I quit at that point. Only did days 4 and 5 to actually get the money I felt I was due.

xapprenticex

Lol dont do it!

ACG

Im not sure I would fancy that as a job. If he makes a decent income doing that he can do anything. There is a reason it is commission only though.

Personally I would fire off CVs to local companies even if no jobs are advertised. I took on a lad earlier this year who emailed me out of the blue. I was to and fro about taking someone on and this email popped through - despite there being no jobs advertised. I took him on for 2 months. It didnt pan out but he gained 2 months experience met a few people and I know he is now a trainee mortgage advisor with another company. So it worked out for him in the end.

xapprenticex

He may also have to deal with the trouble of going self employed.

Sharon87

Commission only jobs aren't worth the time. It may be hard to get a job straight out of uni - believe me I know, I was unemployed for months after uni with only temporary contracts. All this while living in London having to pay rent!

I would recommend first point - christmas job, then also agency work. Go round to the local employment agencies and see if they will take him on, then he may get some temporary work and valuable experience.

I assume he's under 25 so he'll need NMW not the living wage, please see the link below for all rates:
https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates

Avoid these jobs at all costs, they will weasel their way out of paying him what he's owed. If these jobs earned enough to pay the NMW then they'd offer it, but they obviously don't. There's a reason it's commission only, and legally if he's employed on PAYE (not self employed) they have to pay him NMW on average. So this means it's probably self employed work with no holiday pay or rights that go when you're employed by an employer.

phill99

Don't do it.