I recently sat through an information session with Southwestern Advantage and am to begin the interview process to become a salesman next summer. Seems to be pretty mixed reviews with the job/company. Can anyone share their opinion/experience with Southwestern?

Are you a current student? If so, I would exhaust all possible internship opportunities before signing on for door-to-door sales of "CD-ROMs and Books" for the summer. If an internship doesn't work out, you will probably make a loooot more money waiting tables, tending bar, working for movers, etc

If they're telling you about the potential for making lots of money, think about this: if you have the kind of charisma and intelligence to successfully sell "CD-ROMs and Books" door to door, think of how much more money you could make selling a product or service that people actually want.

I am current student, a freshman. Them being the good salesmen they are, got me very excited for the internship. After about an hour or so of consideration, I did begin to have some of those thoughts. As an industrial distribution major, I'm thinking I will be sought after well enough, and don't need a resume builder that involves me nearly killing myself this summer to sell that product. Thanks for your input!

Screw that

Will you look back and appreciate the experience? Yep

Will you learn some things about people, hard work, yourself? Yep

Will you have something nice to put on your resume? Yep





Can you do all of that somewhere else and almost without exeption make more moneyand more than likely sweat a lot less? There's a 99.9999999% chance the answer is "Yep".




I'd liken that internship to selling encyclopedias. It's essentially a dead form of business. Technology has made the door to door salesman obsolete. People used to have some iota of curiosity about what a door to door salesman had, now they're 100% suspicous of you and with the phone and computer they have 10 feet away from their door, they have access to your products if they want them and more than likely they can purchase them at cheaper prices.





(disclaimer, this is all under the assumption that they're still doing the door to door thing like they were not that long ago)

They are still going door to door, I got the whole pitch yesterday.

I am a current student and have a classmate who has worked for them. He made a lot of money, but says he was working 80-90 hour weeks. I had a summer job where I made good money, gained valuable experience, and still had time to enjoy my summer. You're only a freshman, I'd suggest enjoying your summer doing something you like, as you only have a couple summers left before you'll be expected to have an internship.

That won't be a resume builder. I'm an ID major, you will be fine. Do you want to go into sales or operations?

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That won't be a resume builder. I'm an ID major, you will be fine. Do you want to go into sales or operations?

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Glad to hear you say I'm not missing out. I'm not sure which I want to go into, definitely interested in both, but don't know enough about either.

Is there a particular reason you want to do an internship in the summer? Or are you trying to just have some spending money.

Well as you can imagine, I didn't go looking for an internship, Southwestern found me. If a good opportunity was there, I would be happy to have one this summer, but I don't feel as if I really need one.

I agree. Don't worry about it. If a good one comes your way then take it. Otherwise, wait till sophomore year. The PAID career fair is a great tool. Lots of opportunities out there. I decided to go a different path but have a lot of friends in the field. I know a couple of recruiters as well if you want to go that route.

I got recruited by the Southwestern Company when I was at A&M. Like you I am also and I.D. major. I turned it down because I didn't understand why anyone would buy the product they were selling. (And that was 15 years ago)

However I would guess you would gain valuable insight into sales doing it. I'm just not a salesman.

There's a reason they changed their name from southwestern company to southwestern advantage. They recruited me too when I was in school, and all it took was a google search for me to decide against it. They're a multilevel marketing outfit like herbalife, and the managers enthusiastically pitching you are doing it because they'll get a percentage of your sales. The company literally has no skin in the game hiring you, because you'd be an independent contractor. When they pitched me, they said I'd have to ask a random family in I think it was Tennessee if I could stay with them over the summer. Avoid this company. A lot of schools have banned them from on campus recruiting.

I would invest in a mower and weedeater and go door-to-door mowing lawns.

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That won't be a resume builder. I'm an ID major, you will be fine. Do you want to go into sales or operations?

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in sales, this is a huge resume builder - if you could work 70-80 hours a week, make pretty good money selling something that most do not want and didn't seek out, you will have your choice of sales jobs and you will do well in sales if you continue to do the same efforts that helped you succeed with them

by the way, I would never take that type of job for the summer

my company hires a lot of people every year, I can tell you that the people we get most excited about are the ones that work and go to school - not saying you won't get hired if you rarely worked, but you won't be the first chosen unless you know someone

Is this the same company that was trying to get A&M students to sell books in Minnesota for the summer back in the late 90's?

I think this is the same outfit that was looking for students to sell Bibles door to door in Tennessee back in 1970.