I received a call to interview for a job I applied for at a dealership. I really wanted to work for this one particular dealership as I am loyal to their product. I scheduled an interview.
First of all, at the initial interview the guy interviewing said he was hired by the dealership to conduct a two day class on sales (which I do not need) and would be making selections for his recommendations for hire from his class. Ultimately, the general manager of the dealership would still make the hiring decision, but would likely select from his recommended candidates who took his class and passed.
The class would cost money too, but he would NOT give me the amount, claiming the dealership management had not settled on that amount but would tell me the following day. He said this was to weed out those not serious about getting hired.
Any red flags so far? A trainer doesn't know how much he is getting paid and thus cannot tell me how much he would have to charge me for this training, which I don't particularly need? His selected recommended candidates are not guaranteed to be hired even after spending the money and passing?
Well, I went to the first day of training. Not until 4 hours in did this guy finally give us the price. $250. He kept selling the class at various points, trying to justify the fee that he kept putting off telling us. Now it is a refundable fee if we left the job within 60 days and if we did indeed get hired after 30 days. So one would get their money back regardless... eventually. He also guaranteed placement with another dealership if this one did not hire for some reason. That isn't bad. He said he would give all this to us in writing too.
Later in the training day, I interviewed very briefly with the actual sales manager of the dealership. Turns out the dealership works with this guy all the time. How is it that he did not have the price figured out right away if he works with this dealership all the time? Does he negotiate every time he works with them? Not likely. Red flag.
Also, the REAL problem here is that I would have to start working on MONDAY. I had no option to give my current employer even a week's notice. I asked this general manager if he might be holding the class again in a couple weeks or a month and perhaps could then allow me to be hired in that rotation. He said no.
As I am not willing to burn my bridges, and want to retain my current employer as a fall back (my employer has always said I can go down to part time or leave and come back if I needed to), I REALLY did not want to proceed with this high-pressure hiring process at this point.
At the end of the training day, not long after he disclosed the fee amount (and the class started to grumble), the trainer started one-on-one final interviews where he would determine who he would recommend. Turns out the dealership only needed 3 employees (out of a class of 10). Though he swore he would place us at another dealership in 30 days, I really don't want to sell cars for anyone BUT the dealership I had originally applied to. You have to believe in the product. I am not going to sell a product I know sucks. Either way, I was a shoe-in for a job at THIS dealership (from my own assessment, 80% of the people there were complete morons). I told him about the fact that the dealership required that any hire start on Monday (and would not permit people time to give notice to their current employer) and this trainer said he was unaware of that fact. So he didn't ask them what their hiring window was and he is doing the recruiting and training for them? Not likely. Red flag.
I then launched into my various objections to the whole process. Nicely, but honestly. I told him not telling us the fee up front or even in the first hour of the second day was being perceived poorly by the class (we were ALL complaining about that fact when he stepped out of the room). I told him I object to an employer that doesn't give the respect to allow for a week's notice. I told him he basically has a system where the only people that would get hired would be unemployed - and thus unlikely to have $250 to gamble with - OR people that are employed and have the money BUT would be fine with just leaving a job with no notice (an integrity/reliable issue and thus a poor candidate on loyalty grounds). Either way, the system would not likely find the optimum candidates who would be loyal to an employer AND have the money to pay the stupid refundable fee. It was intrinsically flawed to prevent the optimum candidates from passing.
He understood my predicament and again acted like he did not know that the dealership wanted people to start immediately. He actually let me leave the class without payment (though I had pretty much completed the whole course). He ALSO said I could call him... basically he said I should wait a week or two, and then speak with the general manager again as they will have likely LOST a new hire by then (showing how pointless his own selection process really is). He said that even if this dealership did not hire me, that if I was STILL unemployed a few weeks from now, to call him and he would get me hired somewhere for sure.
Not sure if I believe him at this point, but at least we parted ways positively and I supposedly got his blessing and backing as a reference.
Well, I guess the question I have is simple. Would YOU have left at any point in this crazy situation? I felt I did the correct thing here, though I REALLY need a better paying gig. Something just did not smell right. He did at least break it off smoothly and positively, but was this just to prevent negative online reviews? Hmmm.
Automax Sales Training Reviews
I received a call to interview for a job I applied for at a dealership. I really wanted to work for this one particular dealership as I am loyal to their product. I scheduled an interview.
First of all, at the initial interview the guy interviewing said he was hired by the dealership to conduct a two day class on sales (which I do not need) and would be making selections for his recommendations for hire from his class. Ultimately, the general manager of the dealership would still make the hiring decision, but would likely select from his recommended candidates who took his class and passed.
The class would cost money too, but he would NOT give me the amount, claiming the dealership management had not settled on that amount but would tell me the following day. He said this was to weed out those not serious about getting hired.
Any red flags so far? A trainer doesn't know how much he is getting paid and thus cannot tell me how much he would have to charge me for this training, which I don't particularly need? His selected recommended candidates are not guaranteed to be hired even after spending the money and passing?
Well, I went to the first day of training. Not until 4 hours in did this guy finally give us the price. $250. He kept selling the class at various points, trying to justify the fee that he kept putting off telling us. Now it is a refundable fee if we left the job within 60 days and if we did indeed get hired after 30 days. So one would get their money back regardless... eventually. He also guaranteed placement with another dealership if this one did not hire for some reason. That isn't bad. He said he would give all this to us in writing too.
Later in the training day, I interviewed very briefly with the actual sales manager of the dealership. Turns out the dealership works with this guy all the time. How is it that he did not have the price figured out right away if he works with this dealership all the time? Does he negotiate every time he works with them? Not likely. Red flag.
Also, the REAL problem here is that I would have to start working on MONDAY. I had no option to give my current employer even a week's notice. I asked this general manager if he might be holding the class again in a couple weeks or a month and perhaps could then allow me to be hired in that rotation. He said no.
As I am not willing to burn my bridges, and want to retain my current employer as a fall back (my employer has always said I can go down to part time or leave and come back if I needed to), I REALLY did not want to proceed with this high-pressure hiring process at this point.
At the end of the training day, not long after he disclosed the fee amount (and the class started to grumble), the trainer started one-on-one final interviews where he would determine who he would recommend. Turns out the dealership only needed 3 employees (out of a class of 10). Though he swore he would place us at another dealership in 30 days, I really don't want to sell cars for anyone BUT the dealership I had originally applied to. You have to believe in the product. I am not going to sell a product I know sucks. Either way, I was a shoe-in for a job at THIS dealership (from my own assessment, 80% of the people there were complete morons). I told him about the fact that the dealership required that any hire start on Monday (and would not permit people time to give notice to their current employer) and this trainer said he was unaware of that fact. So he didn't ask them what their hiring window was and he is doing the recruiting and training for them? Not likely. Red flag.
I then launched into my various objections to the whole process. Nicely, but honestly. I told him not telling us the fee up front or even in the first hour of the second day was being perceived poorly by the class (we were ALL complaining about that fact when he stepped out of the room). I told him I object to an employer that doesn't give the respect to allow for a week's notice. I told him he basically has a system where the only people that would get hired would be unemployed - and thus unlikely to have $250 to gamble with - OR people that are employed and have the money BUT would be fine with just leaving a job with no notice (an integrity/reliable issue and thus a poor candidate on loyalty grounds). Either way, the system would not likely find the optimum candidates who would be loyal to an employer AND have the money to pay the stupid refundable fee. It was intrinsically flawed to prevent the optimum candidates from passing.
He understood my predicament and again acted like he did not know that the dealership wanted people to start immediately. He actually let me leave the class without payment (though I had pretty much completed the whole course). He ALSO said I could call him... basically he said I should wait a week or two, and then speak with the general manager again as they will have likely LOST a new hire by then (showing how pointless his own selection process really is). He said that even if this dealership did not hire me, that if I was STILL unemployed a few weeks from now, to call him and he would get me hired somewhere for sure.
Not sure if I believe him at this point, but at least we parted ways positively and I supposedly got his blessing and backing as a reference.
Well, I guess the question I have is simple. Would YOU have left at any point in this crazy situation? I felt I did the correct thing here, though I REALLY need a better paying gig. Something just did not smell right. He did at least break it off smoothly and positively, but was this just to prevent negative online reviews? Hmmm.