Beware of attractive, but possibly deceptive job ads which offer entry-level training in management, marketing, and sales especially if the ads state no experience required. If you decide to interview with such a company, ask many questions before accepting employment. Will you be paid minimum wage or commission? Are there company benefits? Beware of invitations for an all-day second "interview".
Midwest Expansion Group has the same address and phone number as Peak Marketing, Inc, peakmktg.com and peakmarketinginc.com.
facebook.com, Midwest Expansion Group
http://midwestexpansiongroup.com
3131 Fernbrook Lane #221
Plymouth, MN 55447
(763) 432-2801 VM answers as corporate office of Midwest Expansion Group and Peak Marketing
ABOUT
M.E.G. is a privately owned marketing firm founded in response to a demand by service and entertainment clients for a more effective, personal and results driven marketing approach.
From CareerBuilder ads:
We are a promotional marketing company that specializes in marketing, sales and promotions for some of the most exciting and well-known companies in the world today.
Domain Name: MIDWESTEXPANSIONGROUP.COM
Creation Date: 01-feb-2010
Expiration Date: 01-feb-2012
Be very aware of the hiring practices of this company. Spend hours interviewing, come back a second day to give up more of your time to learn that they don't even offer a base salary of any kind, straight commission only. Like this is what you went to college for 4 years for. This hiring practice should be illegal, it is very deceptive.
ReplyDeleteBeware of this scam! I applied to a position posted on CareerBuilder and got a call back from a girl who thought that I would be a great fit for the position they are offering. I was excited to go interview. She made it sound like this was the opportunity I had been waiting for. When I showed up, there were several people waiting to interview. I listened to the girls on the phone and realized I had talked to one of them and they were telling people the same thing I was told on the phone. I wasn’t feeling so special anymore. As I sat there waiting to be interviewed by the “hiring manager”, it turned out that I was waiting for the receptionist, Nicole, dressed in a very mini skirt, to interview me. Red Flag number one! In what job does the receptionist interview you and in what professional company do you find receptionists in club clothes?? I couldn’t help but notice how dirty the carpet was. There were such huge stains everywhere. It was disgusting!
DeleteShe was convincing enough that I showed up for what they call an “observation day”. What it turned out to be was a retail position in Best Buy selling Direct TV. How awesome! I wasted 3 hours of my day to see if I qualified for a retail position. After meeting up with the rep who was also trying to convince me that I could be an owner of my own company just like this one, in just 6 short months, I found out he has been there for much longer than six months. Isn’t that a multi-level marketing scam? To add to the misery, I would be getting paid commission only. This is the biggest scam ever! I went home to Google the company and found multiple scam reports on them. Big mistake on my part but I should have looked them up before I took the first interview and saved myself the time I will never get back. It doesn’t stop there. I get a call from the owner of the company, JT, later in the evening to express his interest in me. Weird business practice but now it makes sense. I was not very impressed with him as he repeated himself several times which led me to believe that he was trying to sell me hard on the company. I recently took a position with a “real” marketing company where I can utilize my 4 years of college. I found out that a co-worker also went through the same thing with another company in the same office and was also interviewed by the receptionist, which inspired me to write this. I cannot stress enough to do your homework on the job ads posted with “no experience necessary”, “will train”, etc. They have to get as many people as possible to apply because there is a fool born every day and possibly one is going to walk through the door .
They are now starting as something called Improv Marketing in Mankato MN owned by a Lester Leonel Acuna.
ReplyDeleteI got an email from a Nicole Daniels with the address midwesteg@yahoo.com (real professional, guys) and then a follow up call from Nicole using the same number in the post only speaking for Improv Marketing.
After Google brought up nothing about the company (not sure why I didn't just put in the number) I found Ms. Daniels Facebook, and off that the companies Midwest Expansion Group (aahhh, that explains the email address) and Peak Marketing.
I gotta say, after creeping through her pictures, I can see how Nicole in a mini skirt could sell some poor guys on taking the job.
I recently got an email from them to set up an interview. As a recent college graduate I am very excited about starting my first career but I don't know what exactly what I want to do. They were the first company that replied to my resume and I automatically got excited. I called them up to schedule an interview. I got a voice mail the first time which didn't strike up a red flag for me. I just left a nice message explaining what works best for me to come up to Plymouth for an interview. I got a call the next day that they don't schedule a week in advance for an interview so I have been a little hesitant about going to work for them. A business should be able to schedule something 1 week in advance. Their website also doesn't specify much about pay or what the company really does. Getting suckered into the glitz and glamour of a first time response is great but I am so thankful for this blog because it might have just saved me tons of time and money!
ReplyDeleteI worked for this company for a little while. The job ads are very misleading. Luckily, they have enough young people to fall for it. It is not a marketing company. It is simply working in a retail store selling satellite television for minimum wage. Although there are commissions if your customer cancels and a lot of them do, you will not be compensated. I learned how to talk people into buying something even if they didn't want it. Although, celebrated at the office, I felt like a loser snowballing people into buying something they didn't want. We role played constantly and had conference calls all the time. I felt it was like being brainwashed. There are two girls recruiting everyday all day for new hires. If the job was so great as portrayed in the job posts then why would there be a need for recruiting so heavily? I would highly suggest doing your homework on this company before taking an interview. It is just a sales position and you will work long hours and holidays.
ReplyDeleteI was called last week, by Nicole for a job interview today at 1:15 pm in Plymouth. She explained that these is a sales and marketing job, and within 6 months you could become a manager.
ReplyDeleteShe said that it would be working in a retail store selling products for Direct TV. She also said, that I would receive base pay, plus commission.
After thinking about it long and hard this morning and looking up the company, reading all the response that people had endured from even going to an interview, I had decided not to waste my time and gas driving way out to Plymouth if this is a big scam!
I could smell the BS from the get-go, but decided to give it an honest shot, because it IS true that you can make really good money doing what they do. The problem, as I came to find out, is that you have to "drink the kool-aid" (they will even USE THIS PHRASE in their meetings) and be an uncaring shark who accosts anyone and everyone while they are just trying to do their shopping. Then you basically wear them down until they either buy DirecTV from you or get fed up with you. Let me be clear, I worked with them for several months: UNLESS YOU DON'T CARE ONE OUNCE ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE, THIS IS NOT A GOOD JOB!! Then there is the added "pyramid" aspect to the business structure. It is not a "scheme" in the usual sense, but the person who brought you on board DOES get a percentage of what you make, and anyone you bring on board subsequently will make money for you. The whole thing just feels dirty. I absolutely hated myself everyday on that job. JT Schulz, the owner/operator, is a first class jerk. (Honestly, I am restraining my language here when I describe him...a wholly unlikable guy) He is a moron who makes a fortune off of other morons, high-school drop-outs, and people who are desperate, as I was when I took the job. He makes a TON of money, I'm talking WELL ABOVE six digits, and all he does, literally ALL HE DOES FOR WORK is interview more suckers everyday for about 2 or 3 hours, some of whom, like myself, give it a shot and make him tons of money while we make a pittance. Shame on him. I left that ghastly place, and good riddance. I say to 99.9% of everybody reading this, THIS IS A SUCKER OPPORTUNITY FULL OF UNLIKABLE PEOPLE. But, and I truly say with complete honesty, for the right person, one who doesn't give a damn about another living soul and who is willing to drink the kool-aid and devote their ENTIRE BEING to the job, there could be a real future for you in it. Me? I could not be more glad to be out of there and will always regret all the time I wasted.
ReplyDeleteI have saved myself some time by not going to this interview, it's not a real career but something that has you working for hours on in with tons of " EDUCATION" As if the 25-30+ year olds don't already have years of experience, LOOK don't waste your time with this ENTRY LEVEL CRAP, all your doing here is building someone else business. There is nothing to gain here. I have years of experience and tons of failed business ventures so I'm not just talking out of my ASS.
ReplyDelete