SLS Recruitment & RST Organisation Limited

So yet again, I apply for ‘Customer Service’ roles. To me, that generally means being of assistance to customers, either face to face or over the phone. What it does not mean to me is a SALES role. I would really appreciate it if sales jobs just made this more clear when advertising their roles. Why don’t they? So that people that need a job or a new job will apply. If they clearly advertised them as sales jobs, I doubt they’d get the same level of response.

So anyway, I received an email from SLS recruitment, stating that they’d passed my CV onto their client and that they wanted to give me a ‘heads up’. If I wanted to ‘fast track’ my application, I could call the client directly on  0121 631 3659.

So I Googled 0121 631 3659 to see what company it was actually for. It comes up with RST Organisation Limited. Just like other companies I’ve talked about on here before, they are also offering a ‘Business Development Programme’. And this is another one based in Birmingham City Centre. What this means is that you can work your way up the business. You start off as a Sales Representative, and eventually will have your own team. Whilst working for very little pay, even less if you’re rubbish at sales. Read my other posts for more information on exploitation by these companies. So I look a bit more on the RST Organisation Limited website. What do I see? A familiar face. Now of course, I wouldn’t normally recognise the face of someone who had interviewed me years ago. But as I keep researching these ‘linked’ companies, their faces are being ingrained in my memory. I looked under Gallery on their website, and it’s no other than Irram Kaleem. Have they changed their name from Irram’s old company name Wit Organisation? Or is this yet another linked company that exploits the vulnerable and unemployed? I don’t know. Either seems viable.

You work from 11am to at least 9pm each day. You’re pressurised to arrive at the office earlier. You’re brainwashed by some cult-like sales people. You brainwash newer recruits. You quickly grab some lunch & eat it whilst walking to the bus stop or sitting on a packed bus. You then arrive on the ‘field’. This means being given a map & a huge list of houses they want you to knock on. After being given the paperwork you’re left on you’re own. You have to fill in if potential customers were in, if you have to call back later, etc. Most people slam the door in your face. Some give you abuse. You’re freezing cold and soaking wet. You don’t know if what you’ve earned that day/week will be enough to feed you/ your family/ pay your bills, or even pay your bus fair. It’s generally not. You’re told by your team leader and manager that they earn a huge amount. You’re made to feel like it’s your fault if you don’t earn much or anything at all that day.

It’s not just me saying all of this. These people are building these companies worldwide. They all seem to be under the same umbrella name of The Cobra Group. Take a look at some forums using Google. Research them using news websites.

A couple of examples:

A1: the legal jobs scam

http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2010/08/cobra-group-makes-a-mint-while.html

These companies use a loophole to get out of paying you even minimum wage. You’re classed as self-employed whilst working ridiculous hours, not eating much, freezing, and you can forget about your social life. You work day & night and you’re pressurised to work Saturdays too. You do get a Sunday off though. Bonus. Probably because what customers would put up with that, eh?

If all of this sounds good to you, then be my guest, and feel free to apply. You WILL be offered employment. The late nights are drawing in again, so please wrap up warm. And since you’ll mostly be working alone in the dark, perhaps order yourself a rape alarm off Ebay. And make sure your phone has plenty of battery.

How dare the Jobcentre ruin my mascara!

I stopped claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) for a while. But just like the rest of the population that can’t live on fresh air, neither can people with mental health problems. I just needed a break from the pressure. The constant pressure of worrying if I’ve applied for enough jobs to suit them. Every time I’ve signed on, I’ve always gone way over what they’ve asked. But my anxiety tells me that I need to do that to keep them off my backs. However, this reduces the quality of my applications. Often, I’ll be just sending off my CV and perhaps a quick cover letter and that’s it. I would prefer to find out a bit about the company, what they’re all about, and how I could do their role. But instead, I’ll be trying to please the Jobcentre, rather than pleasing the employer.

So I took a break. And for about 2 weeks I didn’t apply for any jobs either. So what have I been doing? Well I’ve been exhausted. Depression and anxiety, coupled with hayfever and asthma has really been taking it out of me. Then there’s the nightmares & night terrors. But I’ll discuss those another time.

I’ve been on Elance to see if I could earn money through writing. I didn’t assume that it would make me rich quick, but I thought it might be worth a look. I made a profile & made a ‘proposal’. Basically, you look for suitable clients & tell them why you might be suitable to carry out the work they want. I made my first one. The client replied & asked me to add them on Skype. I was suspicious. In a nut shell, they were basically trying to get free work out of me. I declined & reported them. So there are benefits to being suspicious! But I’ll still be checking out the site. Always follow your instincts! Unless yours are rubbish, lol.

I’ve made some flyers for:

1) Tutoring– I have taught siblings & friends subjects in the past. I can be very patient- which I believe teaching requires! More recently I have marked some essays for University students. I helped them with the general layout, suggestions, Harvard referencing, proofreading, etc. I’ve also helped a friend with paperwork because of dyslexia. So I thought tutoring might be worth a go. I’ve done some flyers that I will hand out. I’ve created a Facebook page. I’ve also created a profile on a tutoring website. I’m just waiting on references. Maybe I could also advertise on gumtree and other websites.

2) Ironing– Well why not? I can get the flyers out & see if anyone’s interested. If so, great. If not, well at least I tried. I’m decent at ironing, I don’t hate it, and I’ll be sure to check clothing before hand. I’ve been on Ebay & ordered certain things I need.

The problem? MY ANXIETY! How the hell am I supposed to teach/ help students when I have little confidence? How the hell am I supposed to speak to people on the phone? The funny thing (and good thing) is that I can be fairly confident with people face to face. I’m not always a nervous wreck. So we’ll see how it goes.

In the meantime though, whilst I’m waiting for those to be delivered, I will get back to my usual job hunting. So back to today:

I applied for JSA again. I filled in the online form yesterday. I also did this a couple of weeks ago, but didn’t feel up to the appointment so I didn’t go. Since I hadn’t been applying for jobs, I figured that I technically wouldn’t be entitled to claim. I’ve been hiding myself away from the world, not feeling able to face anyone, never answering the phone or the door, etc. I even missed my appointment with Mind, so I’ll probably have to wait another 6 weeks for their confidence classes to begin again.

I considered applying for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), but it looked like it was more hassle than it was worth. The Jobcentre is hell enough, without people judging whether or not I’m faking my anxiety & depression. If ANYONE mentions my mental health, even asks me an innocent question like “How are you feeling?”, I can break down in seconds & start sobbing uncontrollably. It’s embarrassing. I did it last year in the Jobcentre. Do I want to go through that embarrassment again? Hell no. So I just applied for plain old JSA.

Usually they send you a text to book your appointment. When they’ve booked me in for appointments before though, it’s clashed with other appointments, such as the doctors, Mind. I have a career’s advice meeting at my old Uni on Monday to help me find a placement & a nurse’s appointment on Tuesday. I filled in the times on the form.

Today, I forced myself to go for a walk to try to help my mental health. It was so nice to be out in the sunshine. I smiled hello at a couple of neighbours. I was polite when I went to the shop. I felt anxious but I could feel my spirits uplifting. (However, I don’t always have the strength to even do this!) I plan on applying for some jobs after my walk, doing some exercise, & then sunbathing. All is well.

Then I get back, check my phone, and there’s a missed call. I Google it & it’s the Jobcentre. So as much as I hate phones, I know I have to call them. So I do. In a nutshell this is what happened:

 Call number 1. I explain about clashing appointments & not being well with my mental health.

 

                            Me: “I had a missed call. I applied for JSA online.”

                           JC: “Did you have 2 missed calls? Or just 1?

                            Me: “Just 1.”

                         JC: “We can only deal with you if you’ve had 2 missed calls. They will call you again. Your last claim is still running & it’s easier to go with that one.”

 

Call number 2. They ring me. I explain about clashing appointments & not being well with my mental health.

 

                                JC: “I’ll give you a number and you have to call them. Tell them you just need to re-book a New Work Focused Interview. That’s all you have to say.”

 

Call number 3: I tell them that I need to re-book a New Work Focused Interview.

I explain about clashing appointments & not being well with my mental health.

They ask me what date I missed my last one. They tell me to wait for a phone call for someone to re-book me.

By this point, my anxiety is very high because of all the phone calls & I’m feeling a bit low. I feel like all my efforts that morning were for nothing. I look at loads of jobs online. I keep the ones that I will apply to later. I feel that my brain is too foggy right now. And I’ll like to take my time with them anyway. So I do some yoga & plan to go on the cross-trainer afterwards. I start to feel more relaxed. But literally, as I’m finishing my yoga………………….

Call number 5.

Yes seriously, call NUMBER FIVE!!!

Call number 5. I was struggling to understand him, and like the previous phone calls, struggling to hear properly. My phone is rubbish.

His tone seemed…. I dunno, more stern or something. I explain AGAIN about clashing appointments & not being well with my mental health. He asked me to repeat myself, so I do. I tell him that I have already had 4 phone calls today about this. I honestly can’t see what the problem is!!

He books me in for TUESDAY!  For 1.20pm. I tell him that I have a nurse’s appointment at 1.30pm, so I’ll have to re-book my nurse. That appointment wasn’t exactly easy to get. But I can discuss doctor’s surgeries another time!

JC: “You have an appointment at the same time?

Me thinking: “Umm duh, that’s why I put it on the form!”

Me: “Yes.”

JC: “At the same time?”

Me: “Well at 1.30.”

JC: “You have a hospital appointment?”

Me: “No it’s for the nurse, at the doctor’s surgery.”

So he books me in for 4pm. That’s fine. What the HELL was the big deal?! He tells me to make sure I go to that one. He asks me if I have I anything else I need to talk about. I want to ask him if I can get help regarding finding work & my anxiety, but decide against it. Hopefully I don’t get a complete jackass next week & can discuss it with them.

5 PHONE CALLS TO BOOK ONE APPOINTMENT? SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!

I hang up the phone & by this point I’m in tears. I feel like he thinks I was lying. I SAID I could re-book the nurse’s appointment. I’ve been crying, i feel like absolute shit right now, my mascara is all down my face, and I have a headache. I’m having suicidal thoughts. Cheers for that.

And for what? Why, so I don’t have to keep living on fresh air, of course!

If I sell any more of my belongings, I’ll have nothing left. My overdraft is almost wiped out. Thank the Lord it’s an interest-free Graduate overdraft.

And that’s me for today. It’s now past 5pm. And I’ve still not done been on the cross-trainer. But you know what Jobcentre? Screw you! Screw you because it’s still hot enough out there for me to sunbathe! Ha! I will cheer myself up whether you like it or not. Screw you!

Ciao for now.

Unclear college options, rejected for voluntary work, and I struggle to lie

Today:

1) Rang Learn Direct ~ Asked them about 2 courses I was interested in. They took my details & told me that someone from the apprenticeship team would be in touch. I asked another question, but was just told that someone from the apprenticeship team would let me know. I just wanted to know about funding & if I needed to be in relevant employment to get on the courses. They said they’d send me an email as well. Nothing yet.

2) Rang about adult education courses in my area ~ No answer. So phoned another centre. They didn’t know what courses they will be offering but they have an open day next week. Alrighty then. I asked if the courses were free or not. They said it was dependent on my circumstances. Alrighty then.

3) Rang a local college ~ I already know I can’t do an apprenticeship with them unless I’m in paid or unpaid work. I know I can’t get get funding for a Level 2 diploma. But I know I can get funding for a Level 3 diploma. That’s through a 24+ Advanced Learning Loan. All I wanted to know was if I have to be in relevant employment for that. They didn’t know so said they’d put me through to someone else. I got an answering machine. No way am I leaving my voice on one of those things. So I left it a few minutes & rang back. Was put on hold. This was after 5pm by this point so I will try again tomorrow.

Basically: yet again, I am trying all avenues & trying to think positively. Is it so much to ask to be in a job that I want to do & that I’ll hopefully comfortable in?

The result? No answers. I have been banging my head against a brick wall for over a year now. I contact places & no-one can give me a straight answer and/or help. No-one. Not my University, not the Jobcentre, colleges, the National Careers Services, Learn Direct, and local courses through my local council.

But I managed to make those phone calls despite my disorder. Did  say already that I hate/fear phone calls? I feel sick, dizzy, can feel my heart pumping, feel like the other person on the phone is going to be so rude before they’ve answered the phone. In fact, before I’ve even picked up the phone in the first place.

But I have my better days. Where I am so determined that I just think:

“Fuck you. Even if you do turn out to be a complete asshole to me, I don’t care. This is MY life & I will do what I’ve gotta do to get where I want to be.”

A lot of the time though, the people on the phone are fine. Some of it’s all in my head. Past experiences have caused me to me paranoid that everyone is mean.

Then what happened…

• I opened my post.

OMG. Would you believe it? After all this time, I have finally been offered an interview for a job that I REALLY REALLY want! I spent over a week on that application. BUT it is ‘just’ an interview. I will spend the next few days preparing myself. But after the interview, it’s all in their hands. Chances are that they’ll pick someone with the experience.

But hey, if I go into it negative, then surely I’m giving myself even less of a chance? Nah, screw that. I’m gonna do my best. The last 2 interviews I went to ages ago went like this:

 

1) A job that I knew I was capable of (I’ve done similar), but wasn’t too bothered about. I just wanted A job.

2) A job I really wanted.

In interviews, you always have to tell them why you want that job. Do you see my problem yet?

I STRUGGLE TO LIE. I FEEL LIKE THEY KNOW.

 

Eye contact is part of the interview. How am I expected to look someone and convince them I really want a job in their company when I don’t? I just need money.

(Side note: I actually got a job with Tesco’s years ago by telling the truth. She asked why did I want that job. I told the truth. I said I was a college student, it was coming up to Christmas, so I needed money. I think the interviewer just liked me, saw I was genuine. But no, I would not recommend complete honesty like that. But for me, it’s all I have. I STRUGGLE TO LIE.)

~~~~RESULTS~~~~

1) I failed. i think that’s the only interview that I’ve been to & not been offered a job out of it. But I don’t blame them. I’d been going through an extremely difficult time. I was extremely anxious. I stuttered the whole way through the group interview. I’ve been to a group interview in the past it was fine. But for multiple reasons, I did terrible.

2) The interview went really well. I felt so much at ease because I was HONEST. I didn’t feel like I was making stuff up to please the interviewer & I wasn’t going against my integrity. I was being genuine. I got the placement I wanted.

Anyway, back to my post:

I had sent my CV & cover letter to a company asking if I could do voluntary work. They sent it back. I was offering to work for free to help others less fortunate than myself and they sent it back. How charming.

I think I prefer being ignored.

 

 

 

 

 

Social anxiety, unemployment, and (lack of) a social life. Aka “the question”.

Despite my social anxiety, I like to go out a lot. I like to see my friends and meet new people. I find that the best way to tackle my anxiety is to face it head on.

Some people will think that I’m much more confident than I really am. Some will see through my facade and target me because of it. But I’m a feisty character and can defend myself.

However, I recently have started thinking:

“Why should I HAVE to constantly defend myself?”.

People have commented on things like my appearance and my ‘shyness’. But what I have started to dislike more is the age-old question:

“So what do you do for a living?”

They almost always ask it!

It has gone like this:

• Meeting them & introducing myself.
• They ask me “the question”.
• Me thinking:

“Oh here we go again…”.

 

• I say:

“Oh, I graduated a few months ago, but I’m trying to get into a new career….”.

 

Some will look at me like dirt and mentally discard me into the nearest bin. Probably because they think I am of no worth to them. In which case, I’m not sure I want to associate with people like that anyway. Or they assume that I’m lazy. Which is a huge pet hate of mine.

Some will ask questions & maybe they’re genuinely trying to help.

“Have you tried contacting local …….. .”

 

“Have you considered doing voluntary work.”

 

You can bet your bottom dollar that yes, I have tried all of the avenues that they are suggesting. Repeatedly.

Considered doing voluntary work? I’ve practically begged to do it!

Anyhow, regardless of whether they’re trying to help or not, it’s a topic that is distressing to me, so no, I don’t want to discuss it with a perfect stranger in a noisy bar. Thanks, but no thanks.

 

At one gathering, a friend of a friend asked me “the question”. Later on, another guy asked me “the question”. I think I told him something like “It’s a secret” in a jokey way. This resulted in him thinking I was being coy & him trying to figure it out. So I politely told him that I had just spent the previous 20 minutes or so having the exact same conversation. So we actually talked about other things! Yay!

The consequences of being tired of being endlessly asked “the question”? I’ve stopped going out.

The consequences of not going out? It can worsen my social anxiety. The less I’m around people, the less comfortable I am when I am around them.

The consequences of higher levels of anxiety? Getting work. And…….

Bingo! It’s a vicious cycle.

---

So back to the current moment in time. The World Cup has begun. I have no interest in football. A lot of my friends are male. So here are my options:

1. Spend another evening in alone.
2. Go to the pub with my partner whilst he watches football with his mates. If any of their girlfriends are there, they may ask me “the question”. And then I might have to talk about girly stuff, which isn’t really me.
3. Watch the football with male friends & be bored.
4. See female friends who will talk about girly stuff.
5. Meet new people and be asked “the question“.

 

Ciao for now.

Being judged by just about everyone

Sometimes people send me a message on Facebook. Rather than it being something like: “Hey how you doing? Fancy a coffee?”, it’s “You working yet?”. Sometimes if I dare to update my status at 8am, I get comments like “What you doing up so early? You shit the bed?”. People seem to think that my daily routine is this:

---

 

• Lie in bed until about 1pm.
• Get out of bed. Get some food.
• Lounge around in front of the TV all day. In PJs. Probably watching Jeremy Kyle.
• No exercise.
• More eating & watching TV.
• Playing on Facebook during all of this.
• Go to bed.

---

The reality:

• Get up at about 8am. A bit later if I didn’t sleep well. How bad am I.
• Have a cup of tea & a healthy breakfast.
• Shower & dress just like everybody else.
• Switch on the computer & APPLY FOR JOBS. Yes, you read it correctly. I apply for jobs.
• When my brain feels fried I have a break by doing some housework, yoga, and going on the cross-trainer. I will also have lunch.
• I check Facebook messages and have a quick go on a Facebook game. I’m a bad person.

It does puzzle me though how so many employed people judge the unemployed for being on Facebook, whilst they’re on Facebook themselves, whilst at work, whilst being paid for it. I’d like to know what their employers thought of that. Granted, they could be on a break, but all day? Really.

• I check my emails. I ignore the emails for Graduate jobs because I don’t think I’m good enough.
• I apply for Customer Service jobs because that’s where my experience lies. But I usually don’t hear back from them. If I get lucky, I get a rejection email, which goes like this:

~You see the email from them.

~You don’t want to be too hopeful just in case.

~You open it and your heart sinks.

~Every effort you put in all day to make you feel like less of a loser is thrown out with the trash.

~You go back to feeling really shitty once more.

---

 

What I actually feel like doing:

• Lying in bed all day.
• Crying.

---

 

The other day when someone asked me the dread question “You working yet?”, I ignored them. Yesterday, someone else asked me. So I said “No, because I’m an unemployed scumbag”. To my surprise, he was pretty supportive. I counted how many jobs I’d applied for in 3 weeks. 43 jobs. Yes, 43.

I must be doing something wrong, right? My CV must be rubbish. I must have no qualifications. I must have no people skills. I must have no experience of anything from never working a day in my life. WRONG. So why am I struggling so much?

1. There will always be someone more experienced/ qualified than you.
2. Unemployment exists. Competition is tough.
3. Trying to begin a career in an entire new sector is never going to be easy.
4. I CAN’T ANSWER THE PHONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, seriously. I have been working on this a lot lately though & things are improving.

To tackle my depression & social anxiety, I believe in thinking & behaving positively. BUT being unemployed has a HUGE impact on your social life. I will get round to explaining this later.

Now, back to the job hunting. Ciao for now.

 

MAS Marketing

I applied for a few Customer Service roles on employment websites. Many of these jobs involve applying to a recruitment company, who I guess must then pass on your details to the company. I do usually tailor my CV and cover letter when applying for jobs. But so many of these jobs don’t say much in the description, so you just apply as best you can. After being unemployed for a while, you’ll pretty much apply for anything you can.

Anyway, I received a phone call from 0121 622 5722. I missed the call. I Googled the number. It came up with MAS Marketing. Their website doesn’t go into great detail about what they do for their clients, or what their job opportunities involve. They have a “Business Development Programme”. They state that they undertake campaigns on behalf of The Appco Group. They had feedback from companies such as “Leading Children’s Charity” and “Leading UK Banking Institution”. But let’s face it, we can all make a new website and put feedback on there. So I Googled The Appco Group.

Straight away it came up with The Cobra Group. Instantly I remembered Cobra from a personal experience with them years ago. I was a bit bored of my job and wanted something different so had been applying for new jobs. I had a phone call from WIT Organisation. I was invited for an interview with them. Here is what happened……..

---

 

I arrived at their office on Broad Street in Birmingham for the interview. (I don’t know if they have an office there anymore.) I went upstairs and sat in a reception area. I was handed an application form to fill in and had to do a maths test. There were a few other people doing the same thing too. All of them were young, like me, except for a middle aged woman, who I never saw again. She either wasn’t selected or saw sense much quicker than I did. After the form filling, I was called into the interview room.

The person interviewing me was the manager. She was lovely. Very smiley and complimentary. She was impressed that I’d trained staff at such a young age. But in hindsight, she was probably just picking up on whatever she could in order to make me feel good about myself. It wasn’t much of an interview from what I remember. It was more of her talking about the company. But the details seemed vague. I thought that I was just trying to take in a lot of information all at once. From what she was saying, I thought that I would be selling energy (for a well known provider) inside a shopping centre or somewhere similar. Like they do with TV subscriptions. Everything looked so positive and promising. From what I remember, I think that I received a phone call from them later on to join their team.

I arrived at the office again. I lasted about 3 weeks with them. A typical day would be like this;

• Arrive at the office at 11am. But I was always being pressurised to go in earlier.
• Attend group meetings with;

~Other new people

~Team leaders

~The manager of WIT Organisation

~The manager of the other company that shared the same building. They were working for charities door to door, whilst we were selling energy door to door. They may have gone by the Cobra name or it may have been another name, I’m not sure. But I do remember seeing or hearing the Cobra name in general.

• In the meetings, we were taught sales techniques, such as:

~The law of averages: Keep going no matter how many times doors get slammed in your face. The more doors you knock on, the more chance you have of getting a sale.

~SMILE: Something to do with body language and eye- contact.

• After meetings, we had to practice our sales pitches with our team leaders. The team leader would be looking at our body language, making sure we were smiling, and making sure we were sticking to our sales pitch word for word.
• Some meetings would involve rewarding people who had made lots of sales, acknowledging who had been promoted, or generally about how much money the company was making for the energy supplier. I learned, via a phone call that was on loudspeaker for the entire group, that the manager had earned £12,000 the previous week. Yeah right. If this was true, was it because she was exploiting our free labour, perhaps?
• Some meetings would involve star jumps and blasting music. Seriously. We would be jumping up and down doing star jumps in a suit. The music was so loud passer-bys would look up at the windows as if to say “what the hell?”.
• In the afternoon, at about 1-2pm, we would go “out on the field”. We would grab something quick for lunch whilst on the move. This usually entailed us getting a sandwich or a baked potato from a potato stand. I had the choice of eating a sandwich on a packed bus or waiting & eating it later on at a bus stop on my own. I have social anxiety so eating in public is difficult for me. But so is doing a sales job and on an empty stomach too.
• On the first day, I was assigned to someone & I had to shadow him for the day. He was extremely charming and charismatic.
• After meetings, we would get to our destination for the day. The team leader would hand us a booklet each with addresses in. It was addresses of people who weren’t customers of the energy supplier that we were working for. It also contained a map.
• We would go off on our own, and begin knocking on people’s doors. They’d open the door and we start spouting our sales drivel. We weren’t supposed to take no for an answer straight away. Most of the time they’d just shut the door in our faces. Very disheartening but I kept going.
• I had to write in the booklet whether they’d answered or not, if it was a definite no, if I should do a callback later. Some women would say that their husband dealt with all the bills so I’d promise to go back in the evening, which I would.
• I had to keep knocking on doors until about 7pm.
• This was winter time. So I was often very cold, wet, and feeling unsafe in areas I didn’t know. And I was attempting to look professional in smart attire whilst probably looking like a drowned rat. If I was lucky enough to make a sale, I’d get invited in so that I could fill in some paperwork with the new customers (i.e. strangers). Sounds safe, huh?
• At about 7pm, I would meet up with the other staff and our team leader. We’d get a little pep talk to try and raise our spirits again. Then we’d begin our callbacks and finish knocking any doors on our lists that we hadn’t got round to yet. Oh the joys.
• I would usually just get more doors slammed and more people saying no. And some people were so suspicious. On a couple of occasions in particular, I was interrogated as though I was committing a heinous crime! They spoke to me like utter dirt. I was just trying to make a living so that I could pay my bills. Heaven forbid I might actually want to make a career for myself too! I certainly wasn’t committing a crime though. I was just getting them cheaper gas and electricity. Saying that though, how did I not know that their current energy supplier wasn’t cheaper? I didn’t. But still not a crime, nonetheless.
• A LOT of people would be in the middle of putting their children in the bath or to bed. They’d look at us in utter disbelief that we were knocking on their doors at such a time! And believe me, I shared in their disgruntlement. I was pretty stunned at the whole charade too.
• At 9pm, we’d finish on the field and I’d breathe a sigh of relief that I could finally go home and be warm. But no, wait, we had to get back to the City Centre to the office! So we’d meet back up again, and get on the bus.
• At the office, we had to complete the paperwork of the customers we’d managed to get to sign up. If we’d made any errors on the paperwork, we’d have to bin it and wouldn’t get paid for it. That was because it had the customer’s signature on it so we couldn’t simply fill in another form. Then eventually I could leave, walking back through town alone at night.
• I’d get home for about 11.30pm. Then sleep, ready for a brand new day.

And what did I get paid for this you wonder? Zilch.

It was a COMMISSION ONLY job!!! It was £30 a sale. But if you made no sales that day, you got paid NOTHING for that day. So you do 11am- 9pm plus office time for nothing?? Why did I accept it? Because I believed all their brainwashing crap. How I would easily make sales; how I would easily become a team leader if I worked hard; how I would then make up my own team and earn more; how I would eventually be a manager of my own company one day.

I left without telling them and was lucky enough to have my old employer take me back. The grass is not greener on the other side. I went back to a job with low pay, but PAY all the same. And WARMTH. And SAFETY. I know that I am a hard worker. I believed that it was my personality that had caused me to fail. I wasn’t happy and confident enough. But after reading about other people’s experiences on the internet, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

During my time with WIT Organisation, I was told that the manager and team that I was working with had moved to Birmingham from Manchester. From the sound of it, they were all living together in the same house. What kind of company does that? From today’s Googling of them, they seem to be back in Manchester.

But if all of what I’ve described appeals to you, apply to one of their companies.

Random days with them:

1. My map-reading abilities are virtually non-existant. So I was always getting lost.
2. One time, I’d been lost for so long I felt like Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. I was so hungry and saw the Golden Arches ahead of me. I’m not exactly a fan, but I was so hungry and cold! Upon attempting to cross a very dangerous road to get there, I was almost hit by an artic lorry! I don’t think I’ll have forget the sound of that horn.
3. I was soaked right through. I had new boots on, but somehow had puddles in them because I’d been out that long.
4. My paperwork was stuck together because it had gotten so wet. I could no longer use it.
5. Another time, I was so soaked that I knocked on the door of someone I knew. It was heaven being in their area! They invited me in & tumble dried my coat.
6. I had my head down because of the rain. A car pulled out of an alley way and almost hit me!
7. I was with a team leader. He knocked on the door. A woman turn on the light but wouldn’t answer the door. I could see through the glass that she was waxing or bleaching her moustache! I was trying to tell the team leader to leave her in peace, but he was oblivious and carried on pestering her through the door. She was clearly pleading with us to go away…

And that was my time with WIT Organisation! Something to tell the Grandkids I guess!

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So anyway, back to my recent phone call and email from MAS Marketing. When I started Googling them, and also the companies linked with them, I kept coming across websites where other people have had the same or similar experiences as me. This is happening across the world, seriously. Google for yourselves. It seems that people start off at entry level, get promoted to team leader, and so on. They eventually form their own company with its own name, but all of the companies are under the same umbrella.

Names that they seem to have/ be linked with:

The Appco Group

The Cobra Group

Innovation Marketing Company

MAS Marketing

The Smart Circle

WIT Organisation

People associated with them:

Chris Niarchos, the Chairman and Founder of the Cobra Group of Companies

Lawrence Lenz

Irram Kaleem

Please comment if you have any more information. Or comment with your own experiences.

These people make money from paying people commission only. Desperate jobseekers are brainwashed into this cult-like job. People need to be made aware. How is it even legal what they are doing?