Responding to an advert in the back of a newsapaper I was invited in for an interview the next working day without having divulged any information regarding experience, current employement etc. Fair enough, I was happy with that, as you would expect.
During the interview I was told about the massive scale of the Cobra group and how the company I applied for fit into this; sounded fairly exciting and of course I was pleased to be told that my inexperience didn't matter as they were looking for personality and work ethic rather than experience etc, they were okay with me being a student.
I was asked if I was comfortable with giving face to face presentations and stuff, thought it all sounded great, I'd be doing something important. I was told about the crazy money I could expect to earn, and I left feeling full of anticipation that I could earn some decent cash by other means than shelf stacking or other classic student occupations.
One thing I saw before heading in for the interview is, despite everyone else being smartly attired, some kid is sat there wearing tracksuit pants and trainers... thought they'd sent him home but funnily enough he's there for the second interview two days later, which I thought was strange.
The second interview turned out to be an "observation day", in other words, watching somebody who was already trained in order to learn the ropes. I then found out it was door to door sales; but the person I was with, let's call her Sue, assured me if I worked hard I would see benefits; the 30 commission per sale sounded good. She made 2 sales in 6 hours that day, so that's 10 an hour, and I was assured that this was a bad day and most days I would make 3, 4 or more. End of the day I was called in and given the job, great.
Next day was my first training day; there was a lot of fuss about getting paperwork, proof of address etc, passport, 3 years employment history, so it all looked above board; however something just wasn't right; everybody was just TOO nice, which made me edgy and suspicious.
Researching the company later on the internet the first thing I read was about the Cobra group on Wikipedia, and it was pretty much all negative; so I dug deeper, found complaint's website for the first time and was shocked to read about people's experience with the group.
Being the ballsy so-and-so that I am, the next day I voiced my concerns to the manager - who sacked me on the spot. I didn't go about it in a confrontational manner, merely acted as though I was seeking assurances, and the change in him was unbelievable, gone was his friendly demeanour, in its place was an aggressive, angry man who thought he could bully me, but I held my ground, protested I was being treated unfairly; he calmed down and told me I could return to work on Monday after taking the weekend off and putting my suspicious mind at ease... but I definitely think I touched a nerve when I asked about the company's practices, he tried to tell me the report I read was ten years old, in fact is less than two months old; I was sacked for apparently having the wrong attitude but it is more likely because I had sussed him. I cannot name the company, at least not till the dust settles, but please be warned that any company who professes to be part of the Cobra group should be treated with extreme caution if not total avoidance by jobseekers.
Nah
You don't need to know
United Kingdom
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