This is a more anecdotal post, because I randomly thought about it when I was just sitting on the couch, so this is the time I was approached by Cutco for a job selling knives. It was after school when I was a junior in High-school, and I got a text from an unknown number saying I was recommended for a job as a salesmen. Now for some background, back then my old number previously belonged to a woman named Tammy who apparently signed up for every single scam under the sun (I hate Tammy) and as a result would constantly get calls about back payments and insurance and crap that Tammy had signed for. Having this experience, I wasn’t unfamiliar with scam texts and calls, but I was bored and it wasn’t a bot, so I asked who recommended me, and the person responds with the name of someone I go to high-school with. This piqued my interest and I reached out to that buddy to confirm if this was true or if his name was picked up by a scam site or something. He quickly replied that it was in fact true, to which I got excited, I had been looking for a job lately so this seemed perfect! I responded thanking him and then responded to the text and agreed to an interview. I learned from my friend that this was for the company he worked at, Cutco, which sounded familiar so I trusted it for the time being. I did the video interview and started chatting with the interviewer about the job. He told me about how he knew some of my friends who he also hired and a bit about the job, and as he kept going I started to get a deeper sinking in my stomach as time went on. I realized that I didn’t fully trust this, and as he was talking I looked up on a separate window a bit about Cutco, and was not too enthusiastic about their practices for selling. I didn’t have much experience with sales back then, but something in my gut was telling me something wasn’t right, and as soon as I came to that conclusion, the interviewer put the final nail in the coffin. He said that once I were to start, if I chose to accept, that I would begin by selling to family and friends, and this is what really turned me to a no for the job. Imagining myself selling crappy knives to my grandmother was the first image that popped in my head and it felt dirty and exploitative for both her and me, and I was not a fan. I politely listened to the interviewer, said something along the lines of “I’ll think about it” and then never followed up. Looking back, I’m very happy I didn’t say yes, because even though I had friends who made decent money working with them, I didn’t think it was right asking family to spend money on knives as a way to start out the job. Having learned a lot about sales this semester, I can confidently say I was completely justified in turning down that job.
BoweryJE22
Really good post! I find it really funny that you were stuck with a ladies phone number who signed up for all those scams. It is pretty exciting to be recommended for a job and if I were in your shoes I’d be pumped about it too. I also think that you made the right decision by not working for CutCo.
Working for a sales-driven company whose methods at best make you uncomfortable and at worst are unethical is a terrible experience. It is these types of jobs that have helped to create the salesman persona.
This is a really funny story but I’m sure you have learned so much from it. First, it is important to sell in an ethical way that is mutually beneficial to you and the customer. Second, something that stood out to me was how you gave her a “think it over” because you didn’t want to say no outright. This shows that it is important to set an upfront contract so you don’t receive this answer and then end up getting ghosted.