Entry-Level Account Coordinator w/ "Monster" Attitude w/out Being Monstrous

http://madison.craigslist.org/mar/2842066133.html

"Job Title: **ENTRY LEVEL ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT* Monster Attitudes Apply! (Madison, Wisconsin)

Date: 2012-02-08, 8:36PM CST

*ENTRY LEVEL ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT* (again)

Due to sizable demand from our main client, DIRECTV , Platinum Promotions, INC is expanding at a tremendous rate.

We are now looking to fill ENTRY LEVEL account management, retail sales, and electronics sales positions as soon as possible.

Our main focus right now is building our office to a capacity that can meet our clients' hefty demands. On a daily basis we are inside major retailers educating targeted consumers on the services our clients offer. We are experiencing phenomenal growth as a direct result of our success increasing our clients (sic) brand awareness by attracting new customers and exposing their products to new tiers of distribution.

Requirements

We are looking for future leaders to grow into a management role with our company while focusing on the following areas:

QUALIFICATIONS

• Outstanding communication skills both verbal & written

• Able to prioritize and work independently with minimal supervision.

• Able to work effectively in a team environment

• Detail-oriented with the ability to follow up on tasks.

• Work effectively under pressure and maintain a positive attitude

• Prefer minimal 2 years customer service, retail or sales experience

***Ability to pass a background check***

______________________________________________________________

***APPLY TODAY!!!***

_______________________________________________________________

Ideal candidates will possess the following attributes:

• Good sales/communication skills

• Ability to build professional working relationships with retail staff

• Thrive in a performance ridden environment

• Proven track record of reliability

• Ability to pass a background check and/or drug screen

• Willingness to travel and work in multiple markets

If you find yourself meeting this criteria (sic), please send your resume to Chris Linden at platinumhr@webhrdept.com.

Also, please take a look at our website! www.platinumpromos.net

CLICK ON THIS LINK TO LEARN MORE ABOUT WHAT WE DO:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEZvu30Al_Y

© 2010 DIRECTV, Inc. DIRECTV, and the Cyclone Design logo are trademarks of DIRECTV, Inc. All other trademarks and service marks are property of their respective owner

Location: Madison, Wisconsin

Compensation: Weekly, plus bonuses"

Whoever wrote this job vacancy on behalf of Platinum Promotions evidently believed that typing in all caps and using the phrase “entry-level” three times within the first paragraph would attract quality applicants. Considering how displaying words entirely in capital letters is equivalent to shouting (at least in netiquette) and how many workers with customer service experience have been only in the fast food industry (which generally emphasizes quantity of product over quality due to low margins and generally impatient customers compared to other segments of the service sector such as fine dining and personal wealth management), the ad writer could have better tailored the ad towards telecommunications service workers by specifying, “Previous call center or electronics store floor experience is preferred.”

We interrupt this post for a word from our sponsor:

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Tthe successful applicant “thrives in a performance ridden environment,” as opposed to a performance-driven environment. Whenever someone uses the adjective “ridden,” what other word most likely comes to mind? Fleas! The connotation is important: If you had to work under either condition, would you prefer a flea-ridden employer or a flea-driven employer? (Perhaps the latter is a pest control company.) On the bright side, Platinum Promotions states on its website that it “only promot(es) from within,” so it’s not like some Ivy Leaguer fresh out of college will swoop in and take your promotion as his first non-internship job.

What gives me pause is the headline imperative, “Monster attitudes apply!” If the job poster is seeking someone who is both confident and a team player (per stated requirements), then “monster” is not an adjective I would use to modify the noun “attitudes.” It implies a grotesque way of relating to others, a general lack of social skills, and apathy towards others. A monster is generally not someone who is well-adjusted enough to get along with coworkers or to instill enough trust from strangers to convince them to buy a more expensive telecommunications package. Perhaps posting, “Friendly Type A personalities are preferred,” would have been more to the point because they will haggle and badger in a non-threatening way due to enjoying confrontation while having the people skills to not lose their temper when others remain reluctant or refuse to follow their leadership.

Fly-By-Night Sales Outfit Sells Something or Another and Pays You Pre-Commission Which Must Be Repaid

http://madison.craigslist.org/csr/2840991565.html

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"Job Title: New Career (Madison)

Date: 2012-02-08, 10:48AM CST
Local branch for worldwide company is looking to expand it operations in the Madison market. We are seeking neat and friendly individuals to fill newly opened customer service, marketing, and sales positions - $600 weekly
For interview send your resume
First 30 will be considered"

AND at URL: http://madison.craigslist.org/csr/2842483037.html

"Job Title: Starting 2/13/12 (Madison)

Date: 2012-02-09, 7:57AM CST
Full time customer service positions available.
Please email resume and cover letter for consideration.
Compensation: $600 weekly"

AND at URL: http://madison.craigslist.org/csr/2840706562.html

"Job Title: New Openings (Madison)

Date: 2012-02-08, 7:44AM CST
Our company has recently expanded into the Madison area. We are looking for professional individuals to fill our customers service (sic) department. Our Company offers paid vacations, $1000 sign-on bonus, and a competative (sic) profit sharing program. Typical work week is around 32 hours full time, 16 hours part time. For consideration please email your resume.
Location: Madison
Compensation: $600/week"

---

Despite the first vacancy description containing very little content to edit, the poster didn’t bother to punctuate the final two sentences! It sounds like the person posting vacancies for the anonymous “world-wide company” should get a new career; even the company he/she is soliciting for is too embarrassed to publicly name itself in affiliation with this poorly written job vacancy!

The second vacancy offers compensation identical to the first but uses a specific deadline to create a false sense of urgency rather than list an arbitrary cap on number of applicants. (Legitimate employers do not do this because they know it will be difficult to find qualified applicants without artificially limiting the applicant pool.)

The third vacancy offers the same compensation for a customer service position, but unlike the prior two vacancies, it lists the availability as part-time or full-time with a “$1,000 sign-on bonus” and “competitive profit-sharing program.” Beware sign-on bonuses because most of these are actually “salary advances” which need to be repaid via commission before you are paid any farther. Spend as little of that $1,000 as possible so that you can repay it if you don’t earn enough sales! The profit-sharing program is not stock options but rather the commission on the sales you produce as “customer service rep” (which actually is a sales representative, much like how telecommunications companies try to sell you a package upgrade when you call for technical support or billing questions).

More vacancies for the same job will undoubtedly appear on Craigslist with just enough difference in the wording (and enough brevity to minimize careless typographical errors) to seem at first glance as if they could be from different employers. However, the vagueness as to what you will sell or which firm you would be accountable to leaves these positions to be identified by their commonalities. It’s probably not Vector Marketing (a peer-to-peer direct sales company owned by Cutco and structured like Amway but limited to a dizzying array of knives) because VM at least puts a contact phone number in its vacancies.

Anonymous Firm Wants You to Shill to Your Friends & Family

http://madison.craigslist.org/csr/2830276388.html

"Telemarketers Needed (East Madison)

Date: 2012-02-01, 8:17PM CST

TOP Impact Marketing is now hiring energetic, outgoing individuals at our new Madison east location. Qualified individuals are motivated and able to generate leads through prospecting and cold calling. Must be able to perform 60 to 100 calls per week and rapidly begin to schedule appointments for our agents. People and sales skills are the most essential. Pay based on experience and or results. Please contact to set up an interview. Compensation: TBD"

Red flags: The product does not sell itself. If people aren’t banging down your door to buy your product or service, then you need a sales team which “builds relationships” with people to convince them that they need to buy something, and not just from anyone but from you. This is called “relationship marketing” and generally relies upon a large existing network of friends, family, and their friends in order to persuade a sale: They really don’t want it, or else they would come to you, but they’ll buy it primarily because you’re the one selling it and they trust you / want to make you happy.

What if your social network is small? Make a lot of acquaintances as quickly as you can. Because the friends you make are supposed to be your customers, you better have more in common with them than a love of whatever you’re selling (which the ad does not specify). This underscores the value of selling to family and lifelong friends: They’ll be most likely to understand that you consider them to be more than just a commission ripe for exploitation. Less thoroughly acquainted individuals might take offense that their latest acquaintance is trying to get them to upgrade their insurance coverage. Wallflowers and book worms need not apply!

The compensation is “to be determined.” This means that it might be 100% commission, or minimum wage without commission, or some combination thereof. The typical arrangement with small firms is to pay a wage during training but then take the new hire’s first $1,000 or so in commission to recoup the “training advance.” I suppose small businesses have to do this more often than national corporations because they have fewer revenue streams to pad temporary losses: Even with the initial wage repayment model, losses are high when salespeople quit before earning enough commission to repay their training wages. I believe most companies with this arrangement have a contractual clause stating that the employer may pursue civil relief against absconding trainees, as technically the wages paid during that period are unpaid debt until enough commission is earned.