Tommy Shelby

Review of Playfair & Co. Marketing

45 minutes late to the first interview, having sev...

45 minutes late to the first interview, having several of us receive parking tickets for general incompetence. Two interviews rounds (three hour ramblings x2) on about 'sales and marketing' they deceptively tell you that it's commission based door knocking selling gas with no base salary/hourly rate. They circumvent the illegality of not paying wages by calling workers 'contractors' and not 'employees' and you find this out in an 'oh, by the way...' method at the tail-end of the second interview.

Beyond that, I would recommend sussing out this company if you are a backpacker who is looking for relaxed work whilst looking for opportunity to boost their skills with no long-term commitment, evident by the 95% populace of contractors who emigrated.

The partners and people in the company also seem great. The office was outstanding with views of the entire city located in South Melbourne. But the interview process was borderline disgusting with deceptive interviewing practices.

Summary: Deceptive interviewing practices prying on the job desperate and unaware.
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This is the interview process (I wish I knew beforehand).

1. If you are invited to the first round interview/appointment, I recommend taking public transport as there is 2P ticketed ($7.40) parking out the front and 1P parking around the block ... but the interviewer turned up 45 minutes late and several of us received very expensive parking tickets. You'll fill out details on paper, repeating your resume in handwritten form and then wait.

Then one by one you will go around the table telling your story; your past job experience, who you are, what you like to do etc. essentially conversing one on one with the interviewer with an audience of 16 listening going one by one until everyone has been called up and had their turn. You will be told you will receive a call later that day if you will advance to the second round interview/appointment, and to not feel hard done by if you do not receive that call.

2. If you attend the second round interview/appointment, you will have coffee with a contracted team leader who will run through a booklet with you. This is not one on one, you will be with a handful of other candidates. The team leader(s) will tell you a little about their story and advance to a booklet. You will chronologically run through a booklet with the team leader, explaining the values of the company, the requirements that the company expects from their contractors (i.e. training at the office for an hour before each shift, employee drinks etc) and then you must adhere to the bragging of the companies flexibility, being able to call in as a contractor and say 'nah, I'm doing so and so on Saturday I won't be working.' This is uniform amongst contractors, but this appears to be an odd selling point. Then a run down of the role. You will be door knocking in selected neighbourhoods, or walking from business 2 business or lastly attending special events with the requirement of selling gas.

You will then, for the first time be told that you start at the bottom of the 'contractors' ladder as a contractor, earning a commission rate of $70 per sale of gas with a minimum requirement of ten sales per week. If you sell 10-14, that rate will go up per sale (and so on so on incrementally as you sell more) and the $70 will be forgone for a slightly larger amount. This is when you will understand why you are called a contractor and not an employee, discovering after six/seven hours that you will not receive a base rate.

3. You will then fill out a questionnaire before having a meeting with two people, asking you questions to determine their capabilities in training you for the role. This is not a test of your competencies, but your answers will determine whether a team leader can exert the effort into making you a sales person.