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“If you have any morals, stay well away.”

written by RodolfoDavenport on 15/10/2016

I cannot articulate strongly enough how much I would not recommend Pareto. They are unethical, and possibly very damaging to your career.

I gave up a secure, if boring, job where I was treated incredibly well, to take on something new and more challenging. I wanted something that was intellectually more interesting than my previous job.
After passing the assessment day with Pareto, I was placed into a role that 'fitted all my requirements' ...

I wanted something Monday-Friday. Commutable from home and that did not involve much travelling, and with some flexibility of hours to ensure a good work/life balance.
I wanted something consultative, where I could build relationships and genuinely help clients. I am especially passionate about young people/education so something that linked to that, ideally.
I made all of this clear to Pareto.
They told me they had the perfect role...

The company I was placed with told us in the induction that they were consultative in their sales and cared about their customer service. We were told they took time to train each new employee, that we would be given support, development and training.
In the actual job I was to be placing young people into employment, which sounded, from what they told us, perfect for me.
They told me they valued doing the right thing above all else.

They lied.

I was repeatedly forced into pushing clients to make the wrong decisions, so that my manager would get her commission.
I was told to make young people take jobs they didn't want, so that my manager would meet target.
I was told that profit was more important than the future of a young person.
We spent 99% of the time cold-calling, which was never in the job description, and were micro-managed constantly. We had our calls monitored and criticised. Being stuck in traffic for an hour and a half on the way to work was not an acceptable excuse for being 5 minutes late, but we were expected to work through lunch and stay late in the evening.
We were sent all over the country for 'training' with little notice, and I was often forced to travel on a Sunday to stay overnight.
We didn't even get paid sick days.

Meanwhile Pareto didn't deliver any of the promised training. When I raised some of my concerns with them during a standard feedback call I was told, 'that's just sales.' -- all they cared about was meeting their own targets and making a profit for themselves.


4 months in to the job, whilst I was actually meeting targets, I asked my manager about the possiblility of moving to a different (non-sales) role that suited my skills better - I was immediately forced to resign.

I don't know what kind of person succeeds in these jobs, but morally, they're not all there. I am happier to be unemployed.