Cydcor and Top Consulting Large false promises St. Louis Missouri

Ahhh Cydcor, this has been a long time coming but with the upcoming school year upon us it only seems fitting. I worked at a Cydcor company about a year ago and never did anything about it but now I feel like my story needs to be shared, as I won't be uncontrollably angry like some of the reports you read about Cydcor are. But I will still be uncontrollably angry.

So to begin. They ruined my life. Literally. I was a December 2012 graduate from Truman State University with a BA in Math. Thanks to a horrendous job market and Boeing literally closing down some 15 job applications I was in the decision making process of getting hired for; I was quite desperate, come June, to get a job. A Real, job.

Suffice to say, I couldn't find anything. I decided I would return to school to get my teaching certificate and teach HS Math (a bit sooner than I expected) as it would delay loan payments and I could still work part-time. It was all cleared to go, I was going to start school in June.

Then Linkedin sent me an email, and one of the job listings was a company called Top Consulting. Their website is extremely bland of information (their current one much more up to date though still devoid of any real information); but the job posting looked creative enough. Their requirements were something to the extent of (1) hard working (2) degree isn't a substitute for hard work (3) team player (4) must tell a joke. I though it was creative enough, and since I didn't really want to go to school again (I had just gotten through 5.5 years of school, enough is enough) I called them up.

I got an interview without giving any information except personal like my name and number (strange right)

The office was small, cramped, and shared with somebody else (I was told I would meet person A, but instead person B was there.) (strange right)

I was easily the youngest in the room, with people ranging from 30-40 to several who looked 50+ (strange right)

The interview was extremely short. To be blunt, I was a "stud" as I could easily talk to anyone and had a history of managing people as a swim team manager. They really wanted me as it comes to find out later.

Needless to say, I could go on but let's skip a bit.

I take the job. I don't go to school, I take the job. Biggest mistake so far as right now, I would be teaching highschool. Instead I am jobless still on the job hunt as I refuse to do sales.

Other posts will describe back-faced under dealings; let me tell you. I actually worked there for 6 months. This is my experience.

I got promoted in 9 days which was a company record. To get promoted, you had to do 550 in productions or 116 dollars 4 of 6 days in a week (this was ATT uverse). Sounds cool. At the time there were about 7 other "leaders" which were called "client mangers" or "account managers" or "corperate trainers" why so many names is beyond me. There were also about 6 "future leaders" which basically meant they hadn't met the requirements.

You know, I honestly didn't mind it. I enjoyed talking to people and the prospect of simply hitting some number goals meant that I didn't need anyone else to do well. And for a bit, things did go decently.

So it's July, and were about 20 people in the office. This is important. The "Boss" Chris tells us that we are ready to just "explode" and promote several assistant managers by the end of the years.

August, we were about, 15 people in the office. Chris tells us that we are just set to "explode" and we've never had so many studs. Oh I should mention that in July I got to go on a conference to New Orleans to meet many of these people that riproff reports hate. All those Senior National Consultants? Met em all. It was actually exciting, as I could see that there was potential there. Afterall, they couldn't just have 30+ offices from nothing right?

Well, come September, we're down to about 10 people now (5 leaders and hovering between 1 and 5 FL) and Chris tells us still that we are ready to explode. Like seriously? Starting to get a bit suspicious. It is this month that several good friends and leaders were inexplicably fired for the most laughable reasons. One wanted some time off to go to his Mom's Wedding. The other quit because that guy got fired. Like what? Also in this time Chris fired another leader, one of his roommates. Awkward.

So enter October, and we're still like under 10 people as we hover. For a bit I think we didn't even have 5 leaders. Still, "ready to explode!" And he fires our HR manager. Now, normally when you fire someone, there's a two week notice thing, you make sure you have a replacement... In this situation, his plan was for me to fill in as the HR Manager while I helped find someone new. Meanwhile, said ex-employee didn't even finish out the week. What?

Strangely enough, this is where things went from bad to worse, as I learned about the "backbone" of this infrastructure that is and makes up Cydcor. And it's disgusting.

In a normal job situation, how would you expect interviews to go? If I wanted a Creative Artist, I'd probably look for resumes with Creative Artists, or Art School, or Cartoons, or you know? Something Art related? How many people would be brought in? Probably like 10 optimistically, I mean how many people fit that role??

My job was to bring in as many people I could book. Didn't matter if they were a 110 (if you write 110 fast and scribble it, looks like NO). I actually got paid 0.25$ per person that showed up for the interview. My job was to cold call, badger, and try to book as many people to come in for interviews knowing well in advance that over half of these people were not going to get a second call. Reasons included age (yeah can't be over 30 though Chris is), parents, job status, how you dress, I mean, I can't even believe I am listing some of these things; it's childish! I asked him, why the hell are we wasting so much time on people we know you aren't going to hire? Like seriously, one afternoon he did 35 preliminary interviews. Not one second (which is when they come back for that 6 hour job shadow). He blew an entire afternoon 110ing people which means that the previous day, the HR (so myself) blew an entire day making many many phone calls, booking over 50 interviews, and not one hired person. You serious?

The job practice, is horrible. It's laughable. The fact employees can be fired for the most laughable reasons is alarming. I had a friend, mind you she was a stud, not show up for work one morning. Fired, on the spot. Normally I'd agree, however, you might hesitate to fire someone, if you WATCHED THEM the previous evening GO TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM

Or maybe not, I don't know. When that happened, I began to fear for my own job. I'm not making great money but at least it's a job not to mention I'm going through health issues and he's working with me. Despite this, and despite the promise "to explode!" I began searching for another job. Found one (another sales job, sigh, more waste of time but that's for another post). Needless to say, when I approached him late November to tell him that I was going a different direction with a job that promised twice the pay, reimbursement, and benefits (yeah, no benefits at Cydcor) he got extremely pissed off and told me that I stabbed him in the back and that I should show loyalty or something. I almost laughed because I didn't even have to come in; I wanted to end things peacefully but he felt insulted that I would leave.

Maybe I wasn't such a stud afterall.

Or maybe, maybe the whole thing is stupid. Maybe the whole thing is built on a false promise. Maybe the whole thing requires you to commit to it 100% and get beyond lucky and find other people willing to commit and then they'll find more people to commit and then you can get your own office and create your own company and make your own rules.

Or not. I worked there for 6 months and had some ups, some downs, but mostly disenchanting. Because I made the choice to work there, I missed out on a school opportunity. I could be teaching. Instead I am no closer to accomplishing anything than I was nearly two years ago. All built on this false dream.

Honestly, I would advise anyone asking to NOT work for any company of Cydcor. You might get lucky, but the turnover rate for Cydcor companies is over 90% and quite frankly that's terrible. You can check very easily by looking at the company. If it's anything with Inc. after the name and they're doing "outsourced sales and marketing" or something along those lines, I'd bet a million bucks they're from Cydcor and I wouldn't take the job. For example, Atlantic Business Consultants Inc, Oryx Inc, and Unique Creations Inc are some that are/were in the St. Louis area trying to recruit me. In fact, Oryx used the exact same words I would use to recruit people. It was literally verbatum. I laughed and asked if they worked with Cydcor. She said she didn't know. I told her hon, you do, and I just quit a Cydcor company a few weeks ago. Thank you for your time.

If I could give a rating, I'd give a rating of B for b*******. What they're saying does not match what they're delivering. Have a nice day