My wife and I just relocated to Houston for my job. She is a Mays grad and is intensely job search. She keeps coming across "consulting" companies (not on texags, don't worry) that are a year or two old. They come across very professional and opportunistic, but after a deal of research and a wasted interview here and there, we keep finding out they are door to door pressure sales (business/residential), cold calls, and overall shadiness. They all put ridiculously fake employee reviews on glassdoor.com. Demeaning unprofessional atmosphere, ridiculous employee turnover, comp based salary, scheming management; not the kind of places you get a top notch education for. It has been very frustrating (mostly because of the wasted time and efforts).

Is that a pretty common thing? I've never seen it before, but I'm a recent grad and have been blessed to not have to search far for employment.

Anybody have any connections/suggestions of people looking for an Ag grad in the Houston area?

What are the names of some of these scams? I've seen some suspicious stuff on job boards but I've never bothered to apply.

Yes, these scams are very common in the Houston area. They disguise themselves as marketing consultants for fortune 500 companies. When in reality youre selling comcast or something similar door to door, business to business(liquor stores, shopping complexes) in a suit and tie. They prey on recent college grads who have their resume posted on Monster/Career Builder and will call you and say they received your application online, when in fact you never applied to them in the first place. Stay clear of these guys.

Another scam is "consulting" firms that train you on internal projects and fake experience to market you. Although, this is not restricted to Houston.

As a recession grad, quite a few of these companies contacted/recruited my class. I know a few people who fell for it and felt trapped in the atmosphere.

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Yes, these scams are very common in the Houston area. They disguise themselves as marketing consultants for fortune 500 companies. When in reality youre selling comcast or something similar door to door, business to business(liquor stores, shopping complexes) in a suit and tie. They prey on recent college grads who have their resume posted on Monster/Career Builder and will call you and say they received your application online, when in fact you never applied to them in the first place. Stay clear of these guys.

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Yep, they definitely don't market what the job really is. When I first moved to Houston I got an interview with a "sports marketing firm" and had to do a ride-a-long with one of their employees as part of a second interview. It was 8 hours of walking business to business trying to sell Rockets tickets 6 packs in the summer heat in a suit. I pretty much figured it out as we were leaving the office to head out there for the day, and wished I would have just jumped out of her car before we left the garage haha. Needless to say I called them the next morning and said no thanks!

I think they are part of the Cydcor/DS-Max tree.

It's actually a very extensive MLM cult with a deep history. Not many people on the outside know about it or understand how deep it goes.

[This message has been edited by 281TexAg (edited 12/4/2013 8:11p).]

Was there a black pleather couch in the office? I think I have seen videos about this on the internet. They are awesome videos too.

http://wolfram.org/scam/ds_max/index.html

Good lord, my wife went on a "second round interview" today with zero intention of taking any offer they gave. She ended up following a lsu grad door to door in business parks convincing people to sign up for att uverse and drop their current contract. She said it was ridiculously awkward and shady. They offered her a job making 300 a week with a promise of six figure salary within 6 years.
To think that my wife and lord knows how many other ags have wasted their time or got caught up in that tomfoolery is plenty cause for anger (or HAT since this is texags). Plenty of HAT when you think of how many young guns are being taken advantage of.

The two that companies that have contacted her are Houston Texas Consulting and Core Communications. Jump on glassdoor.com and try and guess which employee reviews are real and which are ads.....
They makes me sick. Stay clear ags.

yep. sounds like the same type of business that interviewed me

Was the Uverse company called Houston Texas Consulting? If so, I was called in for an "immediate second round interview" when I first graduated and ended up following someone around Baytown selling Uverse to people who didn't need it, but they couldn't speak English so it was more of bullying them into purchasing something. It stinks, but there are a few of them around here, especially with the guise of being a Marketing Firm. A suggestion for your wife: she should call a few legitimate staffing agencies and see what they can do for her.

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Yep, they definitely don't market what the job really is. When I first moved to Houston I got an interview with a "sports marketing firm" and had to do a ride-a-long with one of their employees as part of a second interview. It was 8 hours of walking business to business trying to sell Rockets tickets 6 packs in the summer heat in a suit.

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To tell you how long these "marketing jobs" have been around, I went on a very similar type interview back in early 2000 after I graduated. Remember those young guys you would see at Astros or Rockets games trying to get you to sign up for a Capital One card? Yep, that was us. Hey, we're at a sporting venue so it must be sports marketing right?? Never been so emabarrassed in my whole life.

Yea, it was really embarassing because the whole time I was thinking I could be selling these so much easier than she is right now!!

Am I missing something here? Is it somehow beneath A&M graduates to do door to door sales?

No, just "Mays" graduates.

On the other hand, if you have a knack for door to door sales and can do it I bet Eskimos would beat down your door for ice.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with door to door sales, if it is for a reputable company.

But harassment and being taken advantage of by a company is very different.

She ended up getting some great interviews in the next week with a legitimate recruiter. thanks to whoever suggested that!

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Am I missing something here? Is it somehow beneath A&M graduates to do door to door sales?

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It's below anyone with a HS education and an ounce of self respect.

it did feel really slimy both in terms of how they operate and how aggressive they are

Yes these are common nationwide. I interviewed with one of these companies in houston when I graduated in 2007. Read about cydcor on ripoff report... they describe the interview process to a t. They have their scam down to a science.

I have a friend who worked for Core Communications selling office supplies and quit after two weeks.

[This message has been edited by Secaggie2013 (edited 12/6/2013 5:15a).]

All of these companies have one thing in common; that is they never seem to tell you exactly what business they are in, what the product is or what you will actually be doing while they try way too hard to sell YOU on working for them.

is icon consultants one of these?

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is icon consultants one of these?

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I believe that Icon is a recruiting firm. I have talked to them about jobs and job placement. They deal with some big names in the Energy Industry. I don't think they fit into this category.

[This message has been edited by aggiegal2013 (edited 12/13/2013 1:46a).]

CORE, Signature and 512 Solutions are some companies that see to fit this description. All of them currently have postings on HireAggies. I have read some reviews on these companies. A good site to check out for these types of scams is: http://entryleveljobscamsblog.blogspot.com/. I also found information on these types of companies by just googling "512 Solutions job reviews" or something of the like.

I did a full day interview with one of these types of companies in Denver. It went from 9:30a-6p for the interview. The people who work in the office are expected to get in by 7:30, go out in the field to sell door to door from 9:30 until 5, and then return to the office until 6. Upon entry level you are offered $300-$500 a week. The second tier, "Trainer", makes $500-$800 a week.

It's not that Aggies are above selling door to door, it's that this business model is taking advantage of hard-working, optimistic young adults entering the real world!