Re: is this company legit
Posted by:
Advanced Degree Graduate
()
Date: August 05, 2014 03:57AM
The following is the review of Zerin Business Consulting that I posted on Glassdoor back in August of 2012, a few days after I interviewed with Zerin. Because of the critical tone of my review, it was not approved, and therefore has not been seen before today.
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I graduated with an advanced degree back in May, but employment prospects in my field of specialty have been sparse, so I examined alternative career paths. A few days after I applied on a job website for Zerin’s “Entry Level Junior Executive” position, I received a call asking me to come in for an interview. My background research into the company turned up no information; I knew almost nothing about them or the position I was interviewing for.
When I came in for my first interview, I waited in the lobby area for about 15 minutes. In that time, I saw a person leaving from an interview, overheard the secretary schedule 2 interviews on the phone, and saw a different person come in for an interview.
My first interview was with the company President, Mark Hoge. He seemed like a nice, laid back guy, and was very young. He named some big contracts that they had landed. Impressive.
I thought the interview went well, but I had doubts because I said some very self-sabotaging things. I also realized after the interview that I still knew nothing about the position I was interviewing for. I was told that they would get back to me later that day about whether I would be progressing, and sure enough I received a call in the early evening telling me that I had made it to round two. Some alarm bells did ring in my mind, as I wondered how I could have progressed given my self-sabotaging statements. Nonetheless, we scheduled round two.
Round two was a lunch interview with one of their "Corporate Trainers". When I came into the office in the morning, I was joined by about five other candidates who had made it to the second round. We were broken up and assigned to individual Corporate Trainers.
The purpose of round two was mostly to teach me about the position. It was during this interview that I learned, as other people here have mentioned, that the "Junior Executive" position is, yep, you guessed it, door-to-door sales.
During the second interview, I also learned a great deal more about the company. The thing I liked most about the position was the vertical mobility; it's also what I liked the least. Their promotion matrix has entry-level employees being promoted to Corporate Trainers VERY quickly. I asked bluntly if the reason for such quick promotions is that few people ever make it past the Junior Executive stage. My interviewer candidly conceded that the turnover rate for Junior Executives is, predictably, very high.
The other thing I did not like is the pay scale. The pay of the Junior Executive position is completely merit-based and is not enough to even survive on. Due to the nature of the work, the hours are skewed from your standard 9-5 workday; you come into the office in the morning, go out to the field for the day, and come back really late. Additionally, the position requires a 6-day-a-week commitment. I really feel like they hid the ball during the first interview.
With all of this information in mind, I was reluctant to accept the position. That reluctance definitely came across during day two’s interviews. Based on all of the reluctance I communicated, I was sure that I had not gotten the job. I was told that they would get back to me that evening about whether I would be hired.
Once again, sure enough, I received a call that night. I was busy at the time, so I could not talk. The call came from Hoge himself, and he told me that I had essentially been hired, pending a third quick talk and some paper signing. However, based on all the information I had learned during the second interview, I was still unsure about whether I really wanted the position, but I had not declined by any means! I expressed that I needed time to think about it because I couldn't really talk at that moment, and I was told that I would receive a call in a few hours and I could discuss it then.
That call never came. I was never even given the chance to accept or decline the job offer. Even so, given my mixed feelings about the nature of the work and the long hours for little pay, I most likely would have declined. However, I was still very disappointed that I never received that follow-up call because, despite their fast interviewing process, I do hold a person to his word, and I view a failure to follow through as a lack of professionalism.
Again, credit where it's due: The interview process was incredibly fast. These people do not waste time or string you along. All my follow-up calls came the same day I was told they would. However, I think the speed of their process speaks mostly to their high turnover rate. Additionally, given all of the bombs I dropped during my interviews, I can only guess that my selection for the Junior Executive position was really due to low hiring standards, stemming from their high turnover rate, rather than any merit I held.
It's unfortunate but true, and I should have recognized it in my first 15 minutes waiting in the lobby: Zerin is a churn-and-burn company. It’s a shame I never even got the chance to try my hand at it. Even so, declining was probably the right decision--I just wish they had given me the chance to actually communicate it.
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The poster above named "Cheese ()" almost sounds like the guy who interviewed me in the second interview. I would take what he has to say very, very seriously, because his insight could save someone from being used by this company which, in my opinion, is a total pyramid scheme.