I applied on LinkedIn for a Marketing Assistant position in Manhattan. The position was listed as entry level but the job description didn't make any sense for an entry level marketing role. Obviously, I didn't read the description before applying, so I only noticed the discrepancy during interview prep. They texted me to invite me to interview (and I clocked it as weird that they texted instead of calling or emailing, but not weird enough to decline) and mentioned in the text that the job was based in New Rochelle, not Manhattan. I found this weird, but when I looked at their website, I saw that they have multiple offices in the area so I chalked it up to being a simple error and made a note to ask about the location in the interview. When I joined the Zoom call for the preliminary interview, I discovered it was a group interview. I got the impression the two girls on the call with me didn't realize it was going to be a group interview either. The format made no sense for an initial screening. The interviewer asked all of us the same questions, just one at a time. When he asked about our current roles, our past experience, why we applied, and what we're looking for from a company, it became clear to me that not only were we in an ambush group interview—we hadn't even applied to the same job listing. While I was talking about marketing, they were specifically referencing sales. When the interviewer got to the part of the interview where he told us more about the company, the first thing he said was "we have a management training program"(immediate red flag) which he explained is broken down into stages so that within a year you could be managing an office. At this point I decided I definitely didn't want the job, but then the interviewer turned it over to us for questions, and I decided to give him a little bit of a hard time. I asked about the management training program's success rate, as in, how many people who are hired for this program complete it and begin heading up their own office within a year? The interviewer hemmed and hawed, gave non-answers, kept saying that it was just so hard to say. After a couple minutes of this he finally told me that if he had to guesstimate, he'd say probably about 20% of people successfully complete the training. I also asked about compensation, as it wasn't listed on the job posting, and he said that all new employees complete an initial 2 week training and onboarding period and that at the conclusion of the first week, the employee and some unspecified entity within the company will review the different pay structures and decide which one is the best fit. So you don't even know the pay until you're hired? Huge alarm bells. I asked what he meant by different pay structures, if that refers to the way the compensation package is structured/what's included in it or the amount you're being paid. He said they have different models, like commission only or a base salary plus commission. I asked if the pay adjusts as responsibility increases throughout the training program and he said yes. I asked if he could talk about what those numbers look like at the different stages and he hemmed and hawed again, gave a meandering non-answer that amounted to "it's so hard to say!" Finally, he said "some people at the office make $800 a week, some people make $2000 a week, it all just depends so much." At this point, (and honestly any time he didn't want to give more details) he said that we'd get more information in the second interview. One of the other candidates on the call asked if the role was hybrid or on-site and asked what the hours are like. Tthe interviewer told us that it's on-site and that the hours are noon to 8pm Monday-Friday and that they work half days on Saturdays. If she hadn't asked that question, he would *not* have volunteered the fact that employees are expected to work on Saturdays. No idea if they'll invite me for a second interview (I assume not because of the skepticism I displayed) but I'm confident that I do NOT want to work for Embrace Management and that others should steer clear as well.
