Strategic Campaigns Smart Circle, Granton Marketing, Innovage, Cydcor, DS Max, and numerous others. Liars, deceptive, unethical, brainwashing, No benefits, 100% Commission, Run away screaming now! Kansas City Missouri

Please, whatever you do, do not waste your time on these criminals. I can assure you they are not what they seem. I was in desperate need of a job not long after graduating from college, and they prey upon thousands of people in a given year who fit that same demographic. I was planning on working for a year or more to save up for grad school expenses, but this "job" left me worse off financially than I was to begin with. 

Allow me to explain the recruiting tactics of these people to you! 

First off, after you submit a resume to one of their many online job postings (they are always hiring by the way) you will recieve either a phone call or email almost immediatley asking you to come in for an interview. Considering the job market we currently find ourselves in, you would not think that a young grad with an organic chemistry degree would be of immediate interest to a "marketing" company right? Still, it was nice to feel wanted, and being an unpaid pharmacedical intern for another summer was about my only serious prospect. 

In my case, they asked me to come in for an interview on the very same day I submitted my resume. Again, I found this odd, but I put on my Sunday best and made my way downtown towards the River Market where their office is located. In the waiting area, there was another 5-6 people who looked about like me best I could tell. Nervous college grads anticipating their first interview in a "real job". In retrospect, I think a job at McDonalds would of been a wiser career move, and it pays better as well. 

The interview itself was bizzare, to say the least. They asked me virtually nothing about my academic/scientific background. I had spent the previous summer as a lab intern doing DNA sequencing and PCR analyasis, which many people find interesting to discuss. Instead, they asked very general "small talk" types of questions you would be more expecting to hear from a drunk person at the next bar stool over. They also gave almost no insight into what the position I was applying for entailed, other than they do marketing for fortune 500 companies. It lasted less than 10 min and I was told I would recieve a call later that night if they decided I would be of interest to them. 

Sure enough, just like every other human that applies for a job at Strategic Campaigns, so long as you have a pulse and can speak English at the preschool level, you are called in for a second round interview. I was told this would invlove an all day job shadow with one of their top account managers. I was actually quite excited at the time. I though I perhaps had found a great resume builder for the future. Most chemists have the rather unfortunate meme of being introverted and not verbally articulate, so I was eager to help expand my repitiore and skill set. Little did I know the ridiculiousness which would take place the following day. 

After arriving the next day for my job shadow, Nearly all the people I saw in the waiting area on my firtst interview had got called back also. We also began to hear strange chanting and shouting towards the back. It was sort of sounding like a religious cult of some kind. 

I am then introduced to the person who I was going to be shadowing and he seemed pleasent enough, but he gave off a very strange vibe. Sort of a sociological cross breed between used car salsemen and serial killer. We are then (myself and another individual who was on the job for the 3rd day), escorted into the back seat of an extremly run down Toyota Echo that looked as though it was only a few steps away from the junkyard. 

I asked numerous questions regarding where the hell we were going and what we would be doing once we got there, but those questions were met only with vague revalations about client visitation. 

What became readily apparent, after we stopped and parked at a random strip mall over 30 miles away from the office, is that we would be doing door to door soliciting for 100% straight comission. Me and the other person took one side of the street while our fearless "leader" took the other. By this time, I was concerned about being misled. Since when is door to door soliciting "marketing".

I called a friend to do some digging on the net regarding this company and I came to learn that companies like this have been screwing people over like this for decades. The girl that was with me had overheard my cell phone conversation and asked me about it. I replied that I had no interest in this supposed "job" and had called my friend to come pick me up. Instead of defending the company, she expressed her desire to leave with me as well. By the time my friend had arrived to pick us up, my "leader" began texting me asking where we were. I explained that I wanted nothing to do with the company and to please not contact me again. His reply was that I was obviously not smart enough to capitalize on this winning lottery ticket and that it was my loss. I literally laughed out loud at this respose and hung up on him. 

Read up on these types of companies people. Almost every one of my college friends have had nearly identical situations on interviews with these supposed companies. Their youthful charisma can suck people in and leave you broke and high and dry. If you aspire to be a lying door to door salesmen, then Strategic Campaigns might be right up your alley. I can guarentee you that they are hiring. They are ALWAYS hiring. The only way they can survive is by a steady crop of victims. Do yourself a favor and don't become the next one. 

Best of luck,