What should I do? RE: job offer

Fit_mommy

Fit_mommy

Cathlete
Hi girls.

I could really use your help.

As some of you may have read in other posts, I am currently looking for part-time work. I signed up on a couple of job posting sites...monster.com and snagajob.com.

I applied for a work from home position with a company called NHCD. I forget what exactly that stands for at the moment. lol I got a call last night from a woman there. I have the job if I want it but DH and I aren't sure about this. What do you all think?

This company sells a kind of medical and dental insurance as well as beauty products and vitamins. There are several work from home positions that can be attained with this company but all must start out in one particular department for a few weeks before moving on.
You can choose to be an independent contractor for the company which means they don't pull your taxes from your pay and you get a 1099 at tax time and have freedom to make your own hours, and you get paid on a commission type basis. You can also choose to be a w-2 employee where your hours are set and you get a set salary which is very low.

The department that you start off in is called "lead generation". They supply you with a list of phone numbers which are people who have, in one way or another, shown an interest in this company's products. I would call them and try to set up an appointment for a salesperson to call the prospective customer to sell them the product they showed interest in. Now as a 1099 employee I will get paid $4.00 per successful lead which means I have to get them to arrange an "appointment" in order to make the $ on the phone call. The woman who called claims the average # of successful leads one gets an hour is 4 so that's like making $16.00 an hour before taxes. As a w-2 employee I would get $8.00 an hour and have to work 10am to 2pm mon-fri. Once taxes are taken that is crap so I will not do that.

The company requires you to have internet access (done), a land line telephone to make calls from (done) and an unlimited long distance plan (not done) in order to work for them. They created and offer thier own l/d plan or I can get my own. To use thiers I would pay $18.95 per month/flat rate out of my own pocket so that the telephone calls would not be charged per call. I do not get this money back. I can arrange for my own l/d plan but they are expensive...more $ than what this company has arranged.

Anyway, I don't want to get too long winded here...here's the internet site the woman gave me that explains how the company works and the positions that are possible including the lead generation one where she says everyone starts.

www.flutternet.com

What do you think? I don't want to get taken for a ride here. Sounds like it could be impossible to make a dime as an I/C but taking an $8.00/job is useless for me!!! HELP! Yes or no?

I told her I call her back by tomorrow with my answer...

Thanks ladies!:)
 
Wendy, I would be very leary of anything like this especially since you are going to have to cover some expenses out of your pocket. Be careful with these types of things, it was such a good thing, everybody would be jumping on the bandwagon and it would be difficulty to get a job with them. I don't want you to get taken for a ride either. Can you check them out with the Better Business Bureau?
 
Anything that sounds too good to be true....

Wendy, have you thought about learning something like medical transcription or medical coding? These are careers where you can actually work very productively from home.

Good luck! It's a tough market out there right now...

Marie
 
Wendy,

I normally just view the forums, but I was compelled to answer
your question about your job offer. Based on what you have
described, I would stay far away from this one. I signed
on for something similar a few years ago and was badly burned.
The owner of the company was a fellow college classmate of mine,
so I thought the company would be a legitimate one.
While my situation was slightly different, I was working for
a market research company and was assigned to call people on
supposedly qualified lists.

A few things to beware of:

--the supposedly qualified leads, for me, half the folks I spoke
with claimed to never have expressed an interest in the product.
It takes a very strong ego to have hang-up after hang-up.
--added expenses(for me it was all the time and money to
drive to a FedEx office to mail in finished product,
i.e. the completed surveys.
--'hidden' penalties. I was not paid for many of the calls I made
because I didn't follow the appropriate format for the calls
(and I wasn't told the appropriate format to begin with.

I hope this helps, let us know what you finally decide.

NancyL
 
Thanks for your input ladies.

Marie: Jane was kind enough to give me info on medical transcription and in the future, this could be a very real possibility for me but right now, unfortunately, I do not have the time/money to invest in the schooling. Thanks for the suggestions though!:)

DH and I kinda thought it sounded a little wierd as well.

They are in the BBB on line and they have had complaints filed against them for several different reasons but all by customers as opposed to employees so that made me think wow, maybe they ARE legit even though they've screwed up a few times-who hasn't messed up? But I can't convince myself of that so I guess I will steer clear of it.

Thanks! :)
 
Wendy - good decision. Sounds like what they do is hire on as many suckers, er ah, people that they can to make cold calls (you know - the calls you get at night in the middle of supper) to people who are probably taken out of a phone book, figuring that at least some of the calls will be successful. The low salary or no salary is a dead give away. There are better opportunities to work from home out there - keep looking. You'll find something.
 
Wendy,

I don't mean to be nosy and I guess I missed your other posts about it, but I thought you wanted to be a stay at home mom?? Have you changed your mind? I know when I quit my FT job to go to school FT it was a HUGE adjustment that I really did not end up liking. Against what I always thought, I HAVE to have a job to feel like a productive member of society.

You never realize how much self confidence you get from a job until you leave one to not work. It was a huge suprise for me.

Well, you know what they say...."the grass is always greener on the other side". That was true for me. I still plan to go to school, but I need to work too, atleast part time if not full time.

That is why I ask. ;-)
 
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