Mis-sold sales "career"

Before I go any further I must say that I WAS successful at the final interview stage but have had grievances at every stage of the process which is why I'm here on the reviewcentre.com website.

Initially applied for sales job in South West region offering 23k basic plus OTE of up to 40k car, phone, laptop the whole kaboodle.

Was contacted whilst still on my degree in April via reed.co.uk application and was then contacted back end of May when I had finished uni offering me an interview in their Bristol office at short notice (2 days).

A lot of missed calls back and forth throughout the process some good advice given but little in the way of information regarding the role I had applied for.

Assessment day was average, a very long day with an awful lot of sitting around with absolutely nothing to do whilst they conducted "interviews" (they fill in a form asking you what your salary expectations, sectors you are interested in are and where you are willing to go). The 3 minute presentation was different to anything I have done before with some people coming back in mortified at being grilled by recruiters and managers alike.

A lot of buzz words thrown around and big company names like Barclaycard and GSK with the tag line of the day that was "creating rock stars of the sales world".

Was successful at the end of the day yet left not sure what was next did I have a job?

Turns out it was another interview this time in Bournemouth. I live in S.Wales and had during my first assessment day said that I was happy to work a commutable distance from home perhaps further if a company vehicle was an option. 2 1/2 hours away with no traffic is a stretch but I was willing to relocate for the right job if necessary.

Bournemouth process was near identical to the previous in Bristol plenty of busy looking people running around with complete rubbish written on their clipboards (I'm 6 foot 3 so could see over the shoulders of a few). Of the 35 people in the group I'd say around 25 had literally given up by 4pm after an hour of sitting around the process was dragged out until after 7pm!!! Many missed trains and I myself had been up since 5am by this point.

Still no real clue as to what the role entailed quite a few skeptics voiced concerns over sites like this and how poorly Pareto fared on them which garnered plastic responses about people only have anything to say when its bad or they must be disgruntled after not getting the job.

Eventually found out I was successful along with another 13 people and still didn't know what the job was really about, questions regarding the role, working patterns, hours and progression were carefully answered and always ambiguous which left me suspicious. Was given ten days notice to relocate which I was willing to do and was still receiving calls daily about my preparation and my contract only for them to turn around 3 days before start date and say that the hours were fixed, no flexi time and regardless of position you will be on the phone day in day out even at management level.

On 8 separate occasions I was asked my availability as I already had a holiday booked at the end of July which I am under no obligation to change and would not do so with pressure to reduce my time away a constant reminder of their need for commission.

The assessment days are average and after the initial half a dozen phone calls you find yourself spending over an hour a day telling someone the same thing repeatedly.

If you want to work with "warm" leads (you will be cold calling people who did not tick the box in the small print about 3rd party products and services)on a salary that is achievable in the majority of call centres then this job is ideal for you.

Then again you could just apply directly to a company that offers the role with its actual name of customer service representative and do so within your local area.

Successful in wasting my time but a lesson well learnt. DO NOT be sucked into the sales spiel if bothering people on the phone and getting paid for it is what you want to do become Phonejacker mark 2.