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Blog Entry: #82

Bad Job Interview - PMA Concepts Held Me
For 10 Hours Of Hell
by Joe DePalma & Friend

Here is a very true story which acts as a window into an extremely sad world of manipulation, greed, false hope, and despair. By tip toeing around laws and side stepping regulations companies like PMA Concepts (although they go by many names) operate right under the nose of mainstream society by taking advantage of those who exude the right combination of blind optimism and quiet desperation.

These companies are much the same as a game of Three-card Monte played with tourists outside of a bus station. Are they legal? Are they illegal? Are they both? Does anyone really know? In the end it all has to do with allure. That is the fundamental ingredient at play with companies like PMA Concepts. They have figured out a way to craft an illusion, wrap it in a fog, and design a business model around it all with the hopes of drawing in just the right “representatives.”

Unlike the individual whose tale you are about to read most people who get involved with companies like PMA Concepts get sucked in almost immediately. What I have for you here with this installment of the Rising Thunder Blog is a cautionary tale about what could happen when you reply to that “can't miss job offer” flyer on the bulletin board at the supermarket, call the number on the “make money now” sign at the gas station, or email the contact from a “join our $1,000,000 team” post on the internet.

** This tale was experienced directly by a close friend of mine. All of the following content is 100% authentic and in his own words. – Joe DePalma

The Epic - “Bad Job Interview”

This is the tale of the worst “bad job interview” of my life. Let me preface this by saying, I have been on many an interview and have been part of several unprofessional experiences in my working days since college. However, this incident sets a new president for unprofessionalism, outrageousness and eventual hilarity. Only a day has passed since the “interview” and it is still fresh in my mind. I felt that I had to get this in writing less I forget any of the details. Although this incident does not seem terribly amusing to me now, I know that it will in the future. It is sincerely one of the most outrageous episodes of my life and I hope you enjoy it.

Please note that this tale may seem fairly long and starts off slowly, but I can assure you that it gets progressively better as it goes on.

Chapter 1: The First Interview

I. Initial Contact - Bad Job Interview

The job posting was listed on CraigsList.org and was vague but promising sounding. Here is the actual ad:

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Advertising/Marketing ( Tinton Falls , NJ )

Required to have a positive attitude. If you are motivated to start a career this may be for you. We specializes in direct marketing for major, nation wide clients. Our newest location is in Tinton Falls . If you are looking to have a stable and exciting atmosphere, contact me at my email address. I look forward to hearing from you!

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As you can see, they don't mention much from the posting but I thought it would be worth following up to see what they are all about. As you will soon learn, I was greatly mistaken.

After I responded to the ad, “Jay” contacted me to say that he liked what he saw in my resume and wanted to bring me in for an interview. The e-mail stated:

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“Thanks for taking the time to reply to my Craigs list post. I have reviewed your resume and would like to bring you in for a first round interview. They will be held all of next week. Please give me a call to set up a time. My number is (xxx-xxx-xxxx).
Have a great day!! - Jay”

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After I spoke with him on the phone, I asked for their website to investigate and write down some valid questions for the interview. This is the url they gave me www.pmaconcepts.net.

My first impression of the site was that it is basically an online business card. It was not terribly impressive but I did not really concern myself too much with its mediocre appearance or lack of content. However, I was able to extract a few pieces of info about their company and formulated some valid questions in preparation for my interview.

Their secretary called on to confirm the appointment and to mention that I will need to bring my resume and to dress professional. She said that this interview would only be about 15-20- minutes long.

II. The Day Of Round One (Thursday) - Bad Job Interview

I dressed in a suit, tie, and my best dress shoes.

The environment was professional in appearance and I sat in a small waiting area and filled out the necessary paper work, chatted with the secretary and thumbed through a magazine.

After a couple minutes, I was called into his office which had a 42 inch plasma TV on the wall and a great view outside.

I learned that this interview would be the first of three. The first would only be a few minutes and is pretty much to, “Put a face with the name”. Or so they said during the meeting. They said the second interview would be more extensive and I would know about the inner workings of the company in detail.

I interviewed with a guy named Andrew who was no older than myself (26). He was dressed professionally and seemed to be a decent enough guy. I thought this seems encouraging. If this guy is able to move up the ranks and is already interviewing people, this place could have potential.

It was indeed just about 15 minutes long and they were very vague in their answers to my questions. They mentioned that they represent Home Depot, Lowes and some other big named home improvement organizations. After the typical “getting to know the interviewee” series of questions, I was encouraged to ask questions of my own. Some of those questions were “What will I be doing day to day?” and “What is the potential for growth”. Their primary response was vague. “You will receive a complete overview of the company in the second interview so shall we schedule something for next week?”

Although this is vague, I thought, I still think that would be worth it to investigate further. I was also pleased to make it to the second rounds of interviews. I agreed to come back and scheduled it for the following Tuesday at 11AM.

Having made it to the second round of interviews excited me and I told a great deal of my friends and family. Little did I know what was in store for me on that faithful day.

Chapter 2: The Second Interview: (Tuesday)

I. Meeting At The Office. 10:50 AM - Bad Job Interview

I arrived at the office around 10:50 AM dressed in a suite and wore my uncomfortable yet handsomest dress shoes. I made my way to the third floor and was greeted by the secretary with some new paperwork. I was made to sign a paper that basically said that I would be following one of the reps around for the day and would see how their company works.

After waiting for a few minutes, Jay came over to call me into his office. He was about 35 or so and wore what looked like a nice $500+ suite. He said, “Thanks for coming out. This is Audrey and you will be with her for most of the day to see how we work here at PMA concepts.” He added, “She is one of our supervisors here so make sure you impress her and ask valid questions. Also, be sure to ask her about my story as well”. I shook hands with both of them and thanked Jay for allowing me to come back for the second interview.

I welcomed this because I thought it would be cool to see what their reps do while working their way up to a management position like Jay's.

Audrey was bout 32 with short brown hair and wore a sweater and dress pants. We walked to the elevator together and were making the awkward first-getting-to-know-you talk. I asked, “So, how long have you been with the company” before the elevator even reached our floor. She said in response, “I'll tell you about that at lunch.” This caught me slightly off guard but I simply agreed and she went on to ask a little bit about me and my work experience.

We got out to the parking lot and met up with some other people who I did not realize were employees because they were not dressed as professionally as Audrey or Jay. I was introduced to some of them and I was told by Audrey that we were going to go out and see what they do at PMA Concepts. Her co-workers were getting into their car and I said, “Should I go get my car, or…” To which she said, “No, you can hop in here- do you have a GPS though?”. I responded “Not on me” and we got in the car.

She called over to another co-worker to grab his GPS and then he hopped in the back. I learned that his name was Greg and he was from Russia .

Her other three co-workers got into another car.

II. The Ride In. 11:10 AM - Bad Job Interview

We drove for about 5 minutes.

I was not told where we were going initially and she took out a map to enter an address in the GPS. We pulled over at a Wawa and I saw a glimpse of the map and saw the town of “ Trenton ” spelled out. I asked again, “So, where are we going”. She responded almost reluctantly, “To a town in Pennsylvania ”. As you can imagine, I was not pleased by her response but decided to go along with it for the time being.

After she entered the address in the GPS, we set off along 195 toward Trenton and beyond. We continued talking about my past work experience and what my professional goals are. I tried asking questions which generally received generic responses. I was almost made to feel like I was asking stupid questions such as, “So, what is your roll within the company?” To which she would respond, “Again, something I will tell you later at lunch.” After about 20 minutes or so of driving, she said that she will probably be out in the field until like, 8PM or so and asked if that would be a problem. I said I guess not as I still had no idea what it was that they actually do. I was still interested to learn more and she was pleasant enough to talk to.

Occasionally Greg would chime in with his heavy Russian accent with some story about the Mother Land or about ice fishing. I responded politely but was still trying to learn more. Most of my questions were being shot down with generic “You'll see” and “We're just going to have fun today.” She must have said the latter about 7 times before we got there.

After about an hour and 15 minutes of driving, we arrived in a town (I would later learn is called “ Holland ”) Pennsylvania . We dropped Greg off in a town house development and Audrey and I went off to another development a few streets away.

I asked, “Are we meeting a client here or something,” and she said “You'll see.” We walked up to the first house and she knocked on the door. A man answered the door and Audrey said, “Hi, I'm Audrey and this is my body guard. I am just doing some community awareness and letting all the neighborhood home owners know that there are going to be some trucks in the area. Some of your neighbors are going to be getting some work done.” Then the man at the door asked, “What kind of work?” To which Audrey said, “Oh, let me show you” and then handed him a laminated sheet of paper with the words, Siding, Roofing, Windows, Doors, Kitchens, etc. and a corresponding picture written on it. After handing it to him she said, “So, if you had to pick one of those home improvement projects which one would you go with?” He said none, thanks anyway and shut the door.

That's right. Door to door solicitation! But it get's worse…much worse.

Audrey and the rest of the team were not actually selling anything, but rather they were trying to generate leads for a company called “Power Windows” which does windows, siding, roofing, etc. Their goal is to go door to door to see if the home owners want to sign up for a free consultation to see how they can save on their electricity bill or take advantage of tax credits which basically leads them into a sales pitch for new windows and siding.

After going to about 150 or so houses and bothering dozens of retired people, Audrey said we can go to lunch. It was about 2:45.

She also insisted on shaking hands with anyone who answered the door. Pretty much everyone she did this to looked at her like she had 3 heads and frequently did not touch her. She also introduced me as “Her bodyguard” to anyone unfortunate enough to answer their door.

I was not told to dress comfortably so I was still wearing my dress shoes which were quite uncomfortable to begin with, let alone walk miles through the neighborhoods of Holland , PA. I felt like we were trick-or-treating but instead of getting back candy, we were getting dirty looks or responses like “You know soliciting is not permitted in this town-house complex."

Needless to say, I was getting irritated.

III. Lunch. 2:45 PM - Bad Job Interview

At lunch we picked up Greg and met one of Audrey's other reps - Sam. Sam was dressed like she stepped out of a Los Angeles area high school and into the door-to-door solicitation business. In actuality, she was probably 22 but looked younger due to her short stature. She wore her brunette hair in a tight pony tail and had big hoop earrings. She was wearing black velour pants that were too tight for her figure, a low-cut neon-yellow tee shirt and a half zippered matching velour black sweatshirt. I mention this because she looked about as professional as an Atlantic City call girl.

I would later learn that she had an attitude to match her outfit.

At lunch, Audrey showed me how the business works and said that she would answer all my questions. The structure is basically:

* Trainee = AKA- door to door pitcher - 2-4 weeks

* Trainer = Basically train new people – still door to door pitcher - 2-4 MONTHS

* Assistant Manager- Learn the ins and outs of the business – 1 MONTH

* Manager- Rule the world, hire, fire- 6 month total process from start to finish.

I doubted these time estimates as I would later learn that Audrey had been in the Trainer position for about 4-5 month. Another guy I would later meet was also with the company for about 5 months but had not progressed.

After lunch, we went to a new town house development to bother little old ladies and wake up sleeping dogs lounging on the sofa. My feet were continuing to grow sore due to the miles we had walked in my dress shoes.

Audrey was checking in with her co-workers via cell phone and was getting reports that people were complaining to the police of solicitors in the area. But on we went soliciting away in Holland , PA. I was growing aggravated.

IV. The Law Gets Involved. 6 PM - Bad Job Interview

(Click Here For The Ending Of This Tale...)

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