When Optimism Can Get the Best of You, Desperate times...

The last blog I wrote, I mentioned I was a glass-half-full guy. Generally I like to keep a positive outlook even when times are bad, at least most of the time. This is a blog about how this positive outlook can blind you from what's actually there. I will be writing this blog in a disappointed fashion, so bare with me if the writing is choppy.

The day before yesterday I had received a phone call for a position I had just applied to in the same day. It was a position of the entry level and sounded great. The offered paid training, and sounded very professional.

The company was called Verity Concepts, Inc. Before I go on an interview I generally like to research on the company's history as well as its management team. I looked up their LinkedIn as well as their Glass door reviews.  I found a person on LinkedIn who was a recent graduate from UC Santa Cruz and had worked for them for two months. I also found their Facebook page. It was great, as they had photos of all these employees having a good time and they had all these popular fortune 500 companies as their clients.

Yesterday morning, I drove to their location in Concord, and found their office to be quite alive. On their door was a familiar symbol of a golden lion scratching a globe.

As soon as I walked in I was met with a room that wasn't stuffy, and there was another girl sitting by the waiting chairs. I think she was waiting to be interviewed. I was then met by the recruiter who preceded to give me an application to fill out and told me to attach my resume.
 
The receptionist at the desk in the room was a girl in her 20's who seemed pretty "smart". She was talking about a funny movie scene she had just recently watched. "Are you talking about Dumb and Dumber?" I asked. We started to talk about Jim Carey Movies, and how she was this huge fan. I paid attention as I noticed the recruiters were watching. Remember that recruiters generally like people who can converse will with the employees of the company. It may prove that you are a good fit.

When it was my time to interview, the interview went great. I was so excited. The interviewer was this manager who happened to be from 'DALLAS'. He even "mentioned" he went to UT Dallas; that's where I transferred to UT Austin from. We made jokes, and talked about how we both grew up in the area. He even mentioned that Verity Concepts was located across the Galleria Mall, in the same area as my previous employer.

It struck me, "Oh yeah, I thought I'd seen your symbol somewhere before, you worked right next to us" I told him. We cracked jokes about our experiences, and I couldn't help but smile. The guy seemed really well-rehearsed, and really outgoing. I thought, this must be a great company to work for. I walked out shaking hands, noticing the video game room in the back, which added to my excitement. This must be a fun place to work. It was creative, colorful, and had people in their 20's like me. They said they'd call me later today to tell me if I made the second round of interviews.

That day I had spread the word to all my friends, to share my excitement. I told my parents how well the interview had went. It was a good day, and so I thought. I received two phone calls later that day. One was from a company that my Aunt works for. I had been waiting for a call from them for two weeks. The second call was from Verity Concepts, and the invited me to a second interview. Whoopee!!!!

Sounds great right? WRONG! Later that night, my mom had gotten back to me to tell me that the company seems shady. She looked up their upper management and found strange information. I thought "it's probably just a small company, Mom". She said the "VP" didn't look intelligent, and the company had been open since 1990. For an advertising company it should have a better website, and more credentials. It must've started over and went bankrupt somewhere in the mysterious timeline.

I decided to research the company some more to find out if it was a scam. I have been met by scams before. Like meeting someone and finding out they were dead the whole time, like finding out you were talking to a ghost, I read a blog talking about the company. The blogger had gone on this second interview with them and mentioned it was a "Door-to-door" selling pyramid scheme. In which the company hires fresh graduates, convincing them that it will lead to the ultimate job. The pay is completely commission based, and they will use you up.

http://entryleveljobscamsblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/verity-concepts-inc-concord-ca.html

I was sickened. I was struck with utter disappointment; what a waste of time. After all the excitement and after feeling like I had come some close to finding something, it was absolutely desolate. It wasn't real. That's what gets me, none of this was real. I felt like Pinocchio visiting "pleasure island". "The receptionist was probably just a friend sitting there having a good time", my mom said.

The bright side of course is that I have a mother to help me figure this out before it got worse. My parents told me that had this been 20 years ago, companies like that would die out before they got started. Today, job postings are free and can go unfiltered. They can be convincing. Most of all, these are desperate times, and people are willing to do anything they think would get their foot in the door.

A deeper feeling inside me feels mixed. I feel like I had driven on the edge of something. I have yet to tell the company that I will not be going to that second interview. I feel like I need to do something. But what am I going to do, I had been cheated. I "almost" had been cheated. Others will be cheated though.

(sigh)

Technically, they aren't doing anything illegal, just unethical.

I looked for more job postings that night, and now have the awareness to spot the fakes.  If it sounds like an amazing entry-level position just type the "name" of the company and type "scam" right next to it.

"When optimism can get the best of you, desperate times call for desperate measures"