Call it whatever; they'll call you

I have been looking for a job for over a year and I have a huge gripe. It amazes me how many ways employers can disguise a telemarketing job listing. They give it fancy names such as "Account Executive" or "Sales Associate" or "Appointment Setter" or "Customer Service Representative," but it all boils down to the same, mind-numbing, gut-wrenching, robotic, repetitive, cold-calling telemarketing job.

It's obvious these employers know how horrible these jobs are, or they wouldn't go to such lengths to disguise the job listing to fool people into calling to apply for them. Their "Help Wanted" ad should read as follows:

"Wanted, people to make cold calls, using a script and calling people during their dinner hour to bother them into buying something."

You can really spot them when these job listings says, "Are you tired of your dull, unexciting job? Want to manage your own team and make lots of money doing it?" or "Wanted, Energetic, Talented, and Driven Future Entrepreneurs." (That last one is a direct quote from a "help wanted ad" to sell a brand-name vacuum cleaner.)

They make it sound like you are the only one who is "a perfect fit" for this "amazing experience"... Once you get there, you know immediately what type of job this is when some hyper, over-zealous "Team Leader" wearing a really cheap looking suit with tennis shoes, starts telling you how "lucky you are to become a member of such a terrific team..." and it turns into a "group interview" and you are shown a table with a bunch of knives on it.

If you are reading this and are one of those "employers" doing this, please go change your help wanted ad to the show the truth. You will have plenty of "takers," I promise.

Susan Martin
Everett