Calee Inc. review: Do Not Work For Calee 3

As a recent college graduate interested in Marketing, I was looking for a job this last December. It is almost impossible to find a marketing job listing forum without Calee Inc being listed. Their "Entry Level Sales/Marketing" position is a complete joke...and I will tell you why.

Initially I thought this might be a promising company. The job use catchy copy like, "You'll enjoy significant earning potential and performance-based promotions that many MBA's would envy!", and "move quickly through our training program into management." I thought, hey couldn't hurt to check it out...so I called and arranged an interview.

Showed up to the office, and was unpleasantly surprised when I opened the door to 5 other people waiting for an interview. All of the fellow applicants had college degrees, and were thinking the same thing I was...what is this place?

The initial interview consisted of a 10 minute conversation with a "manager" who asked "where do you see yourself in 5 years" and "would you be alright if I needed send you to New York for a week?". I was waiting for a specific description of what the job entails, but it never came. Leaving the first interview, I knew something wasn't right...but I still wanted to see what this place was all about (maybe to tell those in my situation about my experience). They invited me a second interview that would be an all day affair, and they would go over exactly what I would be doing. So I thought why not.

Walking in the door for my second interview I wasn't surprised when I saw 6 people waiting to be interviewed. I checked in, and was brought into a small room where I was introduced to the guy I would be shadowing that day. We get into his car and drive 30 minutes south to Kent, WA...his designated area.

On the car ride he explains what he does and asks not to discuss compensation until lunch. In a concise description, he is a business-to-business salesman who sells paper products. I thought, hey could be worse right? Well it got worse. The first business we walk into he introduces me as his associate (an associate who is on an interview?). He gives the speal about why their paper products are better, and the person simply doesn't have the time, nor the interest in his product. After a few more times being introduced as his associate to random businesses that weren't interested...it was lunch.

"What kind of compensation do you think would be fair?" was the initial question he asked sitting down at a fast food restaurant (that I payed for). I sad, "Well I'd imagine your compensation is largely commission based, but I would assume there is a base pay with commission added on top." Incorrect. It is solely commission based. Right then it clicked...the magical "Ah Ha" epiphany hit me...I had figured out the shady business model of this shady company.

Their goal is to hire as many people as possible because there is no financial risk involved in the hiring process. Since it's solely commission based, the more people they convince to be a door-to-door salesman...the more money they make. Other companies such as T-Mobile, Quill, Sprint, etc. use Calee because they can expand their door-to-door sales team without paying any salary, hourly wage, or offering benefits. They sell the job to prospective college kids with the notion that they will advance to manager (the position of the manager who interviewed me first) within 6 months. The guy I was with had been doing it for over a year, and was considered one of the top 2 guys in the company...so it doesn't happen like that.

I played nice and went about the day with this poor guy. At the end, he went over the 6 principals of selling for Calee, and I was called into the head honcho's office for my "final interview". She looked at my resume for 20 seconds, asked me 2 questions, and offered me the position. I told her I would get back to them...of course I didn't, and now have landed a job in the online marketing field.

Don't sell yourself short...this company takes advantage of skilled people. The managers sit at their desk all day interviewing dozens of people, while the Calee work force is out their selling their a**es off in hope of one day achieving the manager position. It is a modern day pyramid scheme that has a high turnaround, and survives on enticing new employees. They purposefully confuse and hide information from you to meet their hiring quotas. I write this complaint to save those out there looking for a meaningful job in this down economy. Do not be the person who works their ### off for Calee management. The person who never gets promoted and isn't even given a base salary. Calee does not offer a long-term career opportunity! Save yourself time, and look somewhere else! Trust me!

As a recent college graduate interested in Marketing, I was looking for a job this last December. It is almost impossible to find a marketing job listing forum without Calee Inc being listed. Their "Entry Level Sales/Marketing" position is a complete joke...and I will tell you why.

Initially I thought this might be a promising company. The job use catchy copy like, "You'll enjoy significant earning potential and performance-based promotions that many MBA's would envy!", and "move quickly through our training program into management." I thought, hey couldn't hurt to check it out...so I called and arranged an interview.

Showed up to the office, and was unpleasantly surprised when I opened the door to 5 other people waiting for an interview. All of the fellow applicants had college degrees, and were thinking the same thing I was...what is this place?

The initial interview consisted of a 10 minute conversation with a "manager" who asked "where do you see yourself in 5 years" and "would you be alright if I needed send you to New York for a week?". I was waiting for a specific description of what the job entails, but it never came. Leaving the first interview, I knew something wasn't right...but I still wanted to see what this place was all about (maybe to tell those in my situation about my experience). They invited me a second interview that would be an all day affair, and they would go over exactly what I would be doing. So I thought why not.

Walking in the door for my second interview I wasn't surprised when I saw 6 people waiting to be interviewed. I checked in, and was brought into a small room where I was introduced to the guy I would be shadowing that day. We get into his car and drive 30 minutes south to Kent, WA...his designated area.

On the car ride he explains what he does and asks not to discuss compensation until lunch. In a concise description, he is a business-to-business salesman who sells paper products. I thought, hey could be worse right? Well it got worse. The first business we walk into he introduces me as his associate (an associate who is on an interview?). He gives the speal about why their paper products are better, and the person simply doesn't have the time or the interest in his product. After a few more times being introduced as his associate to random businesses that weren't interested...it was lunch.

"What kind of compensation do you think would be fair?" was the initial question he asked sitting down at a fast food restaurant (that I paid for). My response, "Well I'd imagine your compensation is largely commission based, but I would assume there is a base pay with commission added on top." Incorrect. It is solely commission based. Right then it clicked...the magical "Ah Ha" epiphany hit me...I had figured out the shady business model of this shady company.

Their goal is to hire as many people as possible. Because there is no financial risk involved in the hiring process (completely commission based), they are ALWAYS hiring. The more people they convince to be a door-to-door salesman...the more money they make. Other companies such as T-Mobile, Quill, Sprint, etc. use Calee because it offers a "new form" of "marketing/sales"...meaning why not try a solution where they can try door-to-door sales teams without paying salary, hourly wage, or offering benefits.

They sell this job to prospective college kids with the notion that they will advance to manager (the position of the guy who interviewed me first) within 6 months. The person I shadowed had been doing it for over a year, and was considered one of the top 2 sales people in the company...so where's the upward mobility?...non-existent.

I played nice and went about the day with this poor guy. At the end, he went over the 6 principals of selling for Calee, and I was called into the head honcho's office for my "final interview". She looked at my resume for 20 seconds, asked me 2 questions about the 6 principals, and offered me the position. I told her I would get back to them. Of course I didn't, and now have landed a job in the online marketing field (which is a great field to get into by the way).

Don't sell yourself short...this company takes advantage of skilled people. The managers sit at their desk all day interviewing dozens of people, while the Calee work force is out their selling their a**es off in hope of one day achieving the manager position. It is a modern day pyramid scheme that has a high turn-over, and only survives by constantly hiring new employees. They purposefully confuse and hide information from their applicants to meet hiring quotas. I write this complaint to save those out there looking for a meaningful job in this down economy. Do not be the person who works their ### off for Calee management; who never gets promoted and isn't even given a base salary. Calee does not offer long-term career opportunities! Save yourself time, and look somewhere else! If this helps one person, it was worth the 15 minutes it took me to write.