The Ivins Group/Executive Sports Steel Town Promotions and many many others when it sounds too good to be true, it ALWAYS is monroeville, Pennsylvania

I encountered Steel Town Promotions at a university career fair.  They present themselves as a "sports marketing" firm with clients like the Pirates, Wheeling Nailers, and more.  I figured it was more of a sales job but opted to leave a resume anyway.  I received a phone call 2 days later and set up an interview.  I sat for about 30 mins waiting for my interview, in which time I saw about 10 other people also waiting to be interview.  I would guess they probably spoke to 50 people just that day.  I met with a guy named Rhett and they hype up the entrepreneurial spirit of the job while not going into specifics about just what you'll be doing.  I was invited to come back for another interview, where I was basically going to follow around one of the salesmen and see how his job is done.  

I arrive for the follow-up dressed in a suit and tie as I was instructed to dress professionally.  Three mins in the car, and I realized what we were actually doing:

***We were going door-to-door of businesses and asking the employees if they wanted to purchase Entertainment Books.***

You know, those big coupon books.  And we went to every business: hair salons, doctors offices, Target, Denny's, big and small.  You know when you see a sign at the front of a business that says "No Solicitations?"  That's there for people like us.  Also, those signs didn't stop them.  

So we were out from 9am until a little after 5pm with a minimal break for lunch.  8 hours.  Pay is solely based on commission.  The guy I was with sold around 14 books, and at $5/book, he made $70.  $70 in 8 hours.  I don't know about you, but I didn't get a university degree to make less than $9 an hour.  Imagine if it rains.  Or if you get sick for a while.  Or if you get assigned a bad area (or even a dangerous one).  You make absolutely nothing.  Also, any mileage or tolls you spend aren't reimbursed.  They talk about how you can write it off on your income taxes, but I'd rather be reimbursed.  

The managers are going to talk your ear off about how they're really looking for managers and executives but use the sales position as a weeding out process.  Considering the amount of lying I saw in the field (oh I didn't see the "no solicitation" sign, everyone in town has been buying these books today, I only have 2 books left, etc) I would not be surprised if this was not entirely true. The managers make $1 from each item you sell in the field, so their incentive is to just get as many people out there selling as they can, canvassing as much ground as possible.  It sounds like a big ponzi scheme in almost a way.  They're also going to tell you how they're only selecting a limited number of people for the job, but I saw way more than that during the follow-up day.  

To their credit, you do some sports work.  Their big selling time is apparently in the spring when they going around trying to sell ticket packages for the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Again, door-to-door though.

Finally, you're hired as an independent contractor.  This has a number of downsides that I don't think most people realize.  First, I believe you receive no insurance benefits.  Also, yes you can write-off your tolls and mileage from your income taxes, but filing as an independent contractor is much more complicated than for a normal employee.  You are also not guaranteed worker's comp, which is risky.  Additional risk comes from accident liability.  If you are driving while in the course of your job and have an accident, you are completely liable and the business is not liable at all.  Considering the amount of driving this job entails, I considered that highly risky.

Just a few things to aid in anyone trying to Google and find this info:
Steel Town Promotions (Steeltown Promotions)
http://www.steeltownpromotions.com
1-412-431-0423
50 S. 7th Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15203