As students work to balance school and paying the bills, they are always looking for the dream job - great pay, flexible hours and opportunities for advancement, but some jobs may be too good to be true.
Vector Marketing, a company that sells Cutco knives, may be one of those jobs. They recruited on campus Tuesday in the Keathley University Center.
Student feedback regarding Vector has been mixed. Students Against Vector Exploitation, or SAVE, has a petition online with more than 1,300 signatures from people who are against the company.
Members complain that Vector promises no telemarketing, yet once hired, employees have to make their own appointments for demonstrations. They are asked to attend mandatory training and conferences unpaid. And they have to buy their own demonstration set, which can cost $150 or more.
Most SAVE members say they were unaware of the costs of working for Vector before being hired.
Jared Scheel, a senior mass communications major, declined a position with Vector in 2002, turned off by what he saw in interviews and training. He described an office that was unprofessional, with temporary furniture and bar graphs on the walls showing the company's success without actual figures. He guessed that no one working there was older than 22.
His interview was mostly a sales pitch for the company. The job was pitched as highly competitive, but he sensed that they weren't too particular about who worked for them.
"Truthfully, I think he would have hired anybody," Scheel said.
"I came to the conclusion that ... they were a scam. It was obvious that they were an illegal pyramid scheme from their management organization. I realized that there were some serious issues with their system."
When Scheel declined the position over the phone, he said the receptionist became vicious.
"She immediately snapped," Scheel said. "The entire facade of professionalism broke apart at that moment, and she started attacking me personally."
Chase Larson, a sophomore marketing major, has had a much better experience with Vector. He worked there last summer, and he has already been promoted from sales representative to assistant manager. He said he has made good money and improved his customer service and interviewing skills.
He discredited SAVE's claims about Vector.
"There's 1,000 signatures on [the petition] out of what, 100,000 employees," Larson said during a shift at Vector's office. "And half of what they say is good."
He added that students now borrow a sample set instead of having to buy their own. He stressed that the company was under new management and conceded that the old manager had been dishonest, though he did not go into specifics.
Larson added that Vector management was "completely honest" during his training.
Vector Marketing gives scholarships to high-performing students and gives matching donations to his or her school.
Kirk Purdom, director of development at MTSU, and Martha Turner, director of the Career and Employment Center, confirmed that Vector has given money to MTSU, but both declined to say how much and on whose behalf.
Turner admitted that she did not have much student feedback regarding Vector, but she said students have done well there.
"It depends if they're assertive and aggressive, if they can make it on their own," Turner said. "My suggestion to a graduate is to investigate and not fall for a high-pitched sale."
Vector has been sued by the states of Wisconsin and Arizona for deceptive advertising. According to The Washington Post, workers in Wisconsin earned less than $3 a day on average selling cutlery for Vector.
According to Milissa Reierson, Information Officer with the Tennessee Department of Labor, no complaints have been filed against Vector in the state.
However, Reierson said the department did not have Vector Marketing listed as an employer in the state. Vector has an office at 3354 Perimeter Hill Dr. in Nashville.
For more information on Vector Marketing, go to their web site.
To see some of SAVE's complaints against Vector, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/savecampaign.
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