strategic marketing inc. smartlink internet marketing clients and potential employees DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THEM! west palm beach, Florida

I read the reports on here (the two i found) and still went on this interview, the economy is bad, times are tough and thought why not give it a chance. AVOID EVEN TRYING TO INTERVIEW WITH THEM!

I Initially met with Mary, who took 3 personal calls while I was trying to present my portfolio in her office. no apologies, no excuses, sat there having a personal conversation without a courteous "hey i'm in an interview i'll call you back." Terry popped in 20minutes later, no introduction, no hello or a shake of hands, demanding his wife as to why she hadn't given me the 'tests'. this is where i completely agree with the other people on this site, i can see how he must abuse her, she was terrified, stuttering and shaking to give me the tests - which was a waste of time IQ test, copy editing, memo
writing, questionnaires that took an hour to do! the location to take it all was in a middle of a loud hallway, with no respect for focus or concentration.

Mary left for the day to attend to her children and Terry took over, he chomped on his lunch while "interviewing me" which consisted of flirting, talking about various restaurants, my nationality, etc etc. not to mention the number of personal calls and emails, I was even able to gather the cruise details and tax or not to tax about his personal trips with the speakerphone call to the travel agency. This went on for over 2.5 hours! as i went through my portfolio he scrutinized why the client was wrong to want such a design or copy. I can see how big of a liar he is and how arrogant and degrading he can be. within an hour i was wanted to leave, and he kept pushing me to stay, or wait or make excuses to prolong the torture.

also, anyone interested in the position should know that you must sign a contract that requires you to put in outrageous amounts of hours, a 12 week notice if you want to leave, otherwise you will be heavily penalized meaning yes he will dock your pay, you do not get a sick day, a vacation day or a holiday for SIX MONTHS and theres fine print to your medical and dental benefits. You are expected to work pretty much 24-7, because the client is depending on you THE ONLY DESINGER ON STAFF!

at the end of it all, he proceeded to lecture me as to why my nine years of experience, education and skills did not apply in the palm beach market, and that my salary expectations were WRONG. i couldn't find a courteous or professional way to leave, and my every attempt to hint and get out failed.

***At the end, he claimed i wasted his time, threw my resume, and stormed out knocking over things and ignoring them. I had to find my own way out!***

females be warned that this is not the healthy environment to grow or expand your career, go somewhere else, take less pay but dont go here. CLIENTS BE ADVISED there are much better designers out there that will take better care of you, be honest with you and not attempt to rip you off or manipulate.

Not sure how they have been in business for so long, they have no design department, no creative team or consistency. From what i gathered in my 4 hours of touture was that they only hire entry level production type designers that
they can take advantage of, quote from terry, "i've never paid more than 20K -30K for a designer. the only reason this position is titled creative director is because it looks good to the clients, it's a one man show, writer/designer..." any legitimate candidate wanting to expand your career, steer clear of this waste of time and insulting degrading
environment.