Michigan Talent Bank Scams? (Lansing, Southfield: credit, wage , jobs)

[deb68]

Originally Posted by staninalone

My finance lost his job in march and has been desperately searching for an IT job since. His decision to go on unemployment was based of the fact that we have a son and a house. After three months of searching and getting nothing we receive a phone call telling him about a job that is very interested in him, they set up the interview in the Saginaw office and tell him that they will most likely have him start on the day after the interview. Now keep in mind that we think this is an IT postion, with a pay scale around what he was making before. So a full tank of gas and a 45 minute drive later he finds out that Michigan Talent bank has sold his resume and information to some company ( Universal Gas & Electric) who proceeds to tell him that the job is door to door cold sales calls based on commison of 8$ a sale. They then tell him that if he doesn't take this job that he will be reported to unemployment and his benefits will be cancelled....... Is this legal? How can anyone with a house and a car and a child pay their bills off of that kind of money? Any advice!?

Don't worry you should still receive your unemployement! I took a job that was nothing like my field at all-then I quit the next day..I actually told the truth to M.A.R.V.I.N all they did was send me some paper work to fill out and received my unemployment the next time around.

If I were you I wouldn't bother saying you got a job at all and just continue to collect. MI Talent Banck does not sell your name- just in case you should report the job to them or better yet call chanel 2 news hall of shame!

[mrsrchuch]

I set up an interview with this company for a management position. Upon arriving I was ushered into a room with about 25 other applicants. We were given a presentation about the company and then vaguely was told of the available positions and a round about of what they pay. Note there was no personal interview as I was informed. Nor did they even care if you had experience. You were told to call back between 4:30pm-5:15pm to see if you were selected for a second interview. Wow I never had a first! The second interview would be working for a whole day to see how you fit in. Your day would begin at 9am and end at 8pm. We were informed to wear very casual clothes and flat shoes. Wow a second interview where you work for them for 10 hours without pay! How generous is this! Come to find out they advertise in the paper weekly and set up interviews at 1pm and 3pm daily. So out the 20-25 that show up for each interview session, maybe 8-10 are selected to come back for a second interview which is actually working the whole day. If they do this for each session they can actually do quite well working people under the guise of a second interview. Lets see 6 interview sessions a week and you can have yourself up to 48 people working for free for one day, send 6-7 out a day and you have a weeks worth of work for free. What they do is load you up in the van and you do door-to-door sales. No one gets hired for the position they are applying for. They must do the door-to-door sales first then maybe if you are good you go onto training other poor unsuspecting fools. There is much more to this company and I have sent a long email to Fox 2 Detroit Shame on you to see if they might be interested in investigating this company.
I have checked them out and they are based in Canada. They are a prominent company just not the affiliates here in Michigan. Basically this group is having you do the work for them while they sit back and collect upfront commissions and get residuals based on customer retention. I am experience with this type of business and know what they are up to. You do the work and get a whopping $8.00 per sale and they laugh all the way to the bank with the rest! Lets hope someone can stop this company from taking advantage of people. Actually the two guys running the Southfield office should be stoned for what they are doing. To answer your question about can they get away with reporting this to unemployment, unequivacally no! They are blowing smoke just try to strong arm your husband. You do not have to take any job that has no guarantee of what you are going to make. You truly should write to Fox 2 Detroit about this. Companies like this need to be put out of business!

[CMike11]

I worked for Universal Gas for a short time.

What they do is that you need to show up at 9 am for training & role playing each day. Then at about 11:00 am there is a meeting.

You are then given a trainer. You then, along with some other victims, go in the trainer's car. You go to lunch and then your trainer gives you streets to go up and down, door knocking, selling natural gas. He then leaves you on your first street and you do this until about 9 pm going door to door. In a manner of speaking, they kidnap you.

If you do join the company, you sign an independent contractor contract. To my knowledge it is illegal for a company to tell an independent contractor what hours and/or days they must work. However, Universal does it anyway. Oh yeah, and you are supposed to work six days a week.

The problem is that Universal literally sends out hundreds of agents a day doing this, so by the time you get to the person's door, the person is hostile seeing yet another Universal agent. Sometimes, they have already have seen another agent earlier that day.

It's very hard to make anything close to a living doing this. Universal, realizes this. They try to get you pumped during the meeting, you may manage to get some sales, and then you realize how hard it really is and you drop out.

Basically, if you have a heartbeat they will hire you. And if they think you have any potential whatsoever, they will make you a trainer, where you do this to other people.

What Universal banks on is that they recruit so many agents, that they still have a flow of sales coming in, although the turnover is higher than 99%.

Universal is able to get away with it because the job market in Michigan is so horrible. In a good job market they would have even less chance of keeping the few that they do.

I feel sorry for those who are going in to be interviewed, thinking they might get a "real" job. If you look at their listings in Career Builder, they advertise for about 8 different positions, which are all the same thing, which is going out an door knocking until 9 pm.

I also feel it's wrong that many people who are looking for jobs already are having financial difficulties. It's not right to mislead them into wasting their time, gas, and hope, for a job where they have very little chance of making any type of significant income.

[jodischmidt1]

Thank God I found this post!!! I was scheduled for an interview with them this week. Has anyone put in a complaint with CareerBuilder, etc.?! I really wish the media would report this story...anyway, thanks for the warning guys!!!

[magellan]

Originally Posted by CMike11

I feel sorry for those who are going in to be interviewed, thinking they might get a "real" job. If you look at their listings in Career Builder, they advertise for about 8 different positions, which are all the same thing, which is going out an door knocking until 9 pm.

Ahhh, that's what all those "Energy Sales" jobs listed in the paper and on Careerbuilder are for.

Universal Gas and Electric Employer Info on CareerBuilder


My wife was kidnapped for almost an entire day by a company advertising "marketing for major retailers, sports teams, hotels, etc.", which turned out to be door to door coupon book sales. I felt so bad for her.

[scottmi]

Originally Posted by staninalone

My finance lost his job in march and has been desperately searching for an IT job since. His decision to go on unemployment was based of the fact that we have a son and a house. After three months of searching and getting nothing we receive a phone call telling him about a job that is very interested in him, they set up the interview in the Saginaw office and tell him that they will most likely have him start on the day after the interview. Now keep in mind that we think this is an IT postion, with a pay scale around what he was making before. So a full tank of gas and a 45 minute drive later he finds out that Michigan Talent bank has sold his resume and information to some company ( Universal Gas & Electric) who proceeds to tell him that the job is door to door cold sales calls based on commison of 8$ a sale. They then tell him that if he doesn't take this job that he will be reported to unemployment and his benefits will be cancelled....... Is this legal? How can anyone with a house and a car and a child pay their bills off of that kind of money? Any advice!?

My best advice is not to EVER, & I mean NEVER deal with those talent/job recruiter companies.

I mean, think about it: Why go through all the hoop-jumping and interviews to simply GET IN WITH A COMPANY WHO WILL SELL YOU TO A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT COMPANY, AND USUALLY WITH ZERO LUCK?

And in many professions where interpersonal communication IS required for interviews (Doctors & Lawyers really only need credentials to get a job...personality helps, but isn't necessarily required always), why would you want some faceless company do the selling of YOU instead of YOU selling yourself personally?

IT is a hard sector to get jobs in nowadays and will only get worse thanks to outsourcing to countries like India and the ever-changing market. You husband may want to consider going back to school and getting a new degree that can prove he is up-to-date on the latest stuff, or do industry certification if that's what is commonplace. Worst care scenario, have your husband get some sort of Associate's Degree in a Medical-related field and then combined with his existing IT degree, hope that he can get in with a hospital.

[scottmi]

Originally Posted by us2indaup

True, Michigan Works isn't very effective, but in all honesty they haven't much to work with. In my opinion as a long-time job hunter, they're as effective as Monster or YahooJobs or any of the internet job sites. My complaint about all of them is that they're geared toward white collar, degreed, or professional positions. We blue collar workers are the backbone of America, where can we go to seek jobs?

Actually, MichiganWorks is WORSE because from what I've seen before, all they do is grab ads/listings from local newpapers AND places like Monster/Yahoo/Craigslist and post them on clipboards in physical offices. By the time people off the street see them, the jobs are probably already filled.

MichiganWORKS should be teamed up with Government jobs around the state and be the sole supplier of employees to state-funded positions. That means in order to get a job you'd have to go through them and to look for work you can always be sure the stuff you're looking at isn't being looked at by the average joe not going through MichiganWORKS.

[fr8lnr]

Leave Michigan.Had a looser Gov re-elected back in.I left and now things are much better.Good living, good job,good home,Plus Good weather.Michigan is a dumping ground for Canada garbage(Granholms former home).She doesnt want toyota in the state,or any other business.Michigan would be a good place to make into a federal prison.Not many borders to fence.(Escape from NY)LOL.With Canadian Granholm as the Warden.

Really though,Ive had enough of MI and there is nothing there but problems,unless your in the right place at the right time for a good job.Lived there 46 years,used be a fantastic state.But work has left the state and we had to go also.Friends have done the same.Still have family there(retired or very good jobs)keeping me informed of the market.If it improves ,We may move back.

[magellan]

Originally Posted by fr8lnr

Leave Michigan.Had a looser Gov re-elected back in.I left and now things are much better.Good living, good job,good home,Plus Good weather.Michigan is a dumping ground for Canada garbage(Granholms former home).She doesnt want toyota in the state,or any other business.Michigan would be a good place to make into a federal prison.Not many borders to fence.(Escape from NY)LOL.With Canadian Granholm as the Warden.

Really though,Ive had enough of MI and there is nothing there but problems,unless your in the right place at the right time for a good job.Lived there 46 years,used be a fantastic state.But work has left the state and we had to go also.Friends have done the same.Still have family there(retired or very good jobs)keeping me informed of the market.If it improves ,We may move back.

You'll move back when everyone else has done all the heavy lifting and reformed the state? Oh, well we're all waiting with baited breath.

[Br1234]

never mind.