Honestly, I admit that this started as me not investigating what I was calling, and I'd like to preface this as I'm not at all angry. As such, I think that my story regarding CutCo or Vector Marketing would be a little less biased than those who have fell into its trap.
When I was on monster.com, looking for jobs in my area (a small town; my current job is nearly an hour away), I noticed a posting stating that it was a Customer Service job that would pay several dollars above my current level, and that it was from Vector Marketing. It honestly sounded like a temp agency, and when I saw that my town was listed as one that they needed positions filled, I called the number listed. At no time was I advised exactly what this entailed, so I figured it was what I thought it was. Having applied to a temp agency before, it was a nearly identical process.
So, my time was set up and I got there. The area was pretty standard for an office to be set up in for a company that places employees to satellite locations/other companies.
I went to the office suite and that was where I got the feelings that something was going on with that place. The admin I spoke to on the phone sat at a folding table with a pretty dated computer, and the walls were adorned, not with Vector Marketing, but CutCo. I was handed a clipboard and sent to another room that was progressively filled with individuals ranging in types. Elder individuals and late teenagers alike. They discussed how they were hard up for money, unemployed, but it was clear that we were all from very different walks of life.
Fortunately, with my current job, I can afford a smartphone where I started researching this company to get an understanding of what it was. Here are links to some of the sites I researched at that time (I don't remember all of them as this went on about three months ago or so):
Their actual site
Petitiononline.com petition regarding CutCo/Vector
Rip-Off Report
Now, the over-bearing opinion from the latter two links happens to be that CutCo and Vector, synonymous to each other apparently, is a scam and a pyramid scheme. But there was an overwhelming level of participation from apparently individuals who disagreed with this, so I was intrigued to see exactly what would happen.
To start, we went in to meet the manager who would be interviewing each of us (so they said). They took us in, two at a time, and it was easy to tell that they didn't care much for the pairing, it was just a quick way to process us. Some were dismissed, some of us were kept. Of about 14-15 people, eight of us were asked to stay around.
Then the "group interview process" started. It was more of a sale on joining on board than really an interview process. The manager was friendly, stating that this would be his last interview group before being deployed to Afghanistan. But he was pretty blunt, explaining the hierarchy and the mission statement of the company. And then we got to the products discussion:
Knives, y'all. Basically, the concept of CutCo is that you advertise for yourself all over, and then people call you for a demonstration. Think Avon/Mary Kay meets a Kirby vacuum salesman. You purchase your starter kit, you manage your advertising, and hopefully at the end of the day, you reap benefits from it.
But supposedly eternally sharp knives are not cosmetics. People run out of lipstick and will need to call you to buy more. This company bases sales around a product that, according to them, is indestructible and eternally sharp. (For the record, I wasn't very impressed at anything knife related, but their scissors were pretty awesome.) The kit was something around $170, or you could basically rent them in case you decided the company and the position wasn't for you.
While he stood there, explaining everything, I was pretty quiet at that point. Definitely not a place for me, I decided. It appeared that the other seven were pretty invested in the idea, but I didn't exactly try to strike a friendship with any of them, so I didn't have a chance to ask.
After that, he called us back one at a time. I sat down and said, honestly, "I'm sorry, I don't think this is going to be a good fit for me."
He responded with, "Yes, it seemed that way during the group interview." Probably because I wasn't engaged.
So I just shook his hand and told him that I wish him well, and hope he stays safe during his deployment, and headed out.
My personal opinion about CutCo and Vector Marketing is that... they are definitely a pyramid design regarding how they do things, but they're no different than, again, Avon and Mary Kay. The only thing is that their product is incredibly hard to sell when you're working with home audiences, and they probably have not perfected exactly how to work with their employees. Employees in larger cities or with wide social circles will do particularly well, but not everyone has this sort of benefit.
Or wants it, necessarily. So, I would say anyone that looks at CutCo/Vector for a job opportunity should do their research, hear out worshippers and naysayers alike, and really think if it's going to work for them in the long run.
My two cents! I'm off~
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