Mom thought the dude was alright at first until he refused to tell us from which company he was from and he used the oh so famous, “you sound so professional on the phone, so I assume you wouldn’t be backing out on this meeting of ours” crap. And that just gave him away.
I have a few speculations regarding this phone call:
One, he knew my Mom’s whole name, which she never gave away in the blogosphere.
Two, if Mom was really headhunted, the headhunters should’ve known that she had already retired and from what company she came from. And they could’ve also passed by her blog and my blog and the two controversial entries for crying out loud.
Three, he said their business doesn’t conduct things online. Well, do a Google search and look for 15th floor Octagon and there are tons of sites about it. Either advertising or ranting blogs. The presence of the ads adds to the speculation because he said that they don’t conduct business online. Well they contacted a friend of mine through e-mail a while back! Why couldn’t they contact my Mom the same way too?
Four, is around 7 in the evening still part of office hours?Five, he said on the phone call it was for an interview. He said on the text message it was for a soft launching. So ano ba talaga?
Six, he was able to make my Mom blindly agree to meeting him. How? By not divulging any details besides Ortigas or Makati in the phone call. He just texted the exact place and time. So much for professionalism. Do you just text potential employees for your company?
Seven, he never mentioned what company he was from. When Mom asked about Pharmanex, he pretended not to know what it was. I mean, is the 15th floor of the Octagon Building so big that offices wouldn’t know what offices are beside them?
Finally, he texts Mom at 2:30 in the morning, saying “[...] You can’t make a decision with only bits and pieces of information [...] I promise you, I will answer all your concerns.” So how the heck could she make a decision while all the while you refuse to give her information? So she effin’ has to go there to make an effin’ decision? It’s very easy to answer questions over the phone, so why couldn’t he do that? Why couldn’t he give Mom a straight answer? Why does he have to do it through text messaging? And what’s with the angry tone in the rest of the text message?
I don’t know about you guys, but, if that’s how a company does it’s recruitment, then count me out.
Anyways, before the haters start attacking all over again, let me just say this (again): we are not condemning the company. We are condemning the recruitment style.
Thank you, and have a nice day.
PS I’m bracing Mom for the attacks. They might come in a few months.
PPS I’m on top 1 on Google when you enter “15th floor octagon!” LOL
November 10th, 2007 at 2:41 am
and I was told by Noemi that she and Lauren received the same call. someone must have been giving away our mobile phone numbers. and thanks, BA, for being vigilant on this. :)
November 10th, 2007 at 2:46 am
[...] By the way, read BA’s interesting piece, What are they up to? BA has written the bits and pieces that I missed in this post. [...]
November 10th, 2007 at 2:48 am
Mom: Lagot na sila kasi kayo na ang natawagan nila.Hehehehe. My blog has attracted a number of angry commentators in the two entries. Pano pa kaya sayo? :D
November 10th, 2007 at 9:26 am
now i’m envious… darn, i was gunning for that top spot on google for this stuff. :P too bad their comments were really getting out of hand.
November 10th, 2007 at 10:27 am
bursky: Si Maki na ulit yung nasa top. Hehehehe. And yes, their comments were indeed getting out of hand. :p
November 10th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
hey BA, sorry i haven’t gotten around to posting; it’s still a draft in my dashboard :) but i’ll let you know. let’s spread the word around these nasty little callers. you know i hate being bullied. lalo kung ibang tao pa na kilala ko ang hinaharrass!
the other thing that pisses me off is that someone didn’t mind giving away my phone number to those people. sana man lang if they knew it was a bit shady, they didn’t refer other people to be bothered. i wouldn’t do it to my friends, kahit kumagat ako don.
and boy, your commentators really wouldn’t back down, huh? mashado ng taking to the next level yan. hehehe
November 10th, 2007 at 6:42 pm
I received a call too. And that was only yesterday. Does it seem that there’s somebody (a blogger possibly?!?!) giving out cellphone numbers of bloggers to recruiters like them?
November 10th, 2007 at 6:48 pm
ris: I had to shut down the comments section kasi ang lala nila tapos ang sarado ng mga isip! Hahaha. But there are more of us blogging about it now. Lagot sila.
Prudence: It looks like someone is indeed giving away numbers of bloggers! Noemi and Lauren, too, were called. I think the person who gave away our numbers made a big mistake. Lol.
November 10th, 2007 at 7:18 pm
[...] What’re They Up To?, Scam? and Questionable Methods by BA Racoma [...]
November 11th, 2007 at 12:17 am
Haha, getting on top of Google can be dangerous BA! :p help!!! haha baka dumami ang spammers. Hehe, will they call us again BA? :p
November 11th, 2007 at 12:21 am
Should i block comments on that post about the Sunday Phonecall, or allow other bloggers and recruiters to lash each other on that post? ek :p I’ll be monitoring about comments getting out of hand in my blog if ever they land there
November 11th, 2007 at 12:22 am
Maki: I’ve got a feeling blacklisted na tayong dalawa. :)) Pero gusto kong may tumawag ulit para pagtripan! Ganun yung ginawa namin ni Mama. Ako nagcoach sa mga text message niya na namention sa blog nya eh. Hehehehe.
And hmm, yung kung papabayaan mong open yung entry, di ako sure! Sa akin nakasarado pa rin eh. XD
November 11th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
Nakuuu. You’re looking for trouble again, BA. Mwahahaha.
I can’t wait!
November 12th, 2007 at 12:21 am
Tiff: No I’m not! It’s them who’re looking for trouble. XD High profile bloggers ba naman ang subukan i-recruit
November 13th, 2007 at 10:47 am
gawa na ng “How To Know If You’re Being Recruited by on the Phone” subtitle “The Legend of 15th Floor Octagon Bldg.” LOL
November 14th, 2007 at 5:34 am
hi BA, same thing happened to us. This Basil Semilla gave us a call at around 6:30 PM on a Friday and when I asked who he was, he just said his name and that he is a consultant from a multinational company. That definitely gave him away. I called my husband immediately to warn him that Basil would probably try to give him a call in his office number. I think that someone is giving away our numbers, nahahalata ko parang mga bloggers ang nadadali e.
Or baka naman may nangtitrip para mapagusapan sa mga blog sila? what a sick idea if that is the case. I will also post something about this in our blog. in the works pa nga lang.
November 17th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
it’s funny how i also got the same call… just minutes ago! hahaha. my mom was the one who answered the phone first, my mom was aking her questions but this girl on the phone refused to talk to my mom, kailangan ako daw ang makausap! then she started blabbering real fast, i didn’t get most of her words since i was busy in front of my computer. she asked me also to meet her on wednesday, 15th floor octagon centre. she said she didn’y want to discuss things over the phone and i should come by their office without bringing any resume or anything, just a valid id. what’s more weird with her offer is that i get to earn 15-20k a month. wow, so much for being a student, nadaig ko pa mga full time office people.
and she even said that i was “one of the recommended students in UST”, and i said “really?!”. hahaha. i laughed a bit since how can i be a “recommended” student by my university, i haven’t done anything special to proove of my worthiness? creepy nila. good thing i was using the computer so i got the chance to google the company.thanks for all the information. :) your blog is a big help!
November 18th, 2007 at 8:08 pm
sugarplum fairy: Ang lala naman siguro kung may nangtitrip. Hehehe. XD At siguro di nila alam na medyo negative ang reactions ng blogs sa kanila
Charmaine: Noprob. Buti na lang may Google! Woohoo! :D
December 5th, 2007 at 10:12 am
B.A someone’s back in my blog and he’s jealous about the traffic you and me get because of this … calling us “bandwidth whores” It’s not my most popular post but it only gets like 2 or 3 hits a day with only like less than a minute of reading time. Sorry na lang sa kanila dahil high profile bloggers din ang nadale nila other than us who get a lot of traffic. Even if they want to put down the entries, someone will write and write about it in the blogosphere. Tsk, tsk.
December 5th, 2007 at 11:02 am
“One, he knew my Mom’s whole name, which she never gave away in the blogosphere.
Two, if Mom was really headhunted, the headhunters should’ve known that she had already retired and from what company she came from. And they could’ve also passed by her blog and my blog and the two controversial entries for crying out loud.”
The distributor should’ve at least said where he got the contact info of your mom.
“Three, he said their business doesn’t conduct things online. Well, do a Google search and look for 15th floor Octagon and there are tons of sites about it. Either advertising or ranting blogs. The presence of the ads adds to the speculation because he said that they don’t conduct business online. Well they contacted a friend of mine through e-mail a while back! Why couldn’t they contact my Mom the same way too?”
Not all distributors use the Internet to market the company or search for leads. Since we are considered independent business units, we go about our own business through our own means as long as it is within the rules. Inviting through email though is definitely not part of the system so either the distributor isn’t part of the Synergy 1 group or wasn’t doing it right.
“Four, is around 7 in the evening still part of office hours?”
Since students or employees are doing the business are part-time, 7 PM is still well within our business hours.
“Seven, he never mentioned what company he was from. When Mom asked about Pharmanex, he pretended not to know what it was. I mean, is the 15th floor of the Octagon Building so big that offices wouldn’t know what offices are beside them?”
I believe his intention was to clarify what your mom knew about Pharmanex. Some people are only familiar with Nu Skin, the first division of NSE. Some people have only been told that the whole thing is a pyramid scheme, which is obviously false. If he chose his words correctly, maybe the whole conversation would’ve ended better.
“Five, he said on the phone call it was for an interview. He said on the text message it was for a soft launching. So ano ba talaga?
Six, he was able to make my Mom blindly agree to meeting him. How? By not divulging any details besides Ortigas or Makati in the phone call. He just texted the exact place and time. So much for professionalism. Do you just text potential employees for your company?
Finally, he texts Mom at 2:30 in the morning, saying “[…] You can’t make a decision with only bits and pieces of information […] I promise you, I will answer all your concerns.” So how the heck could she make a decision while all the while you refuse to give her information? So she effin’ has to go there to make an effin’ decision? It’s very easy to answer questions over the phone, so why couldn’t he do that? Why couldn’t he give Mom a straight answer? Why does he have to do it through text messaging? And what’s with the angry tone in the rest of the text message?”
OK. This is where the distributor screws up badly. He obviously wasn’t consistent with what he said. He should’ve set the date and time and given the address during the phone call, not via text unless your mom didn’t have anything to write with. It also doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that texting the person at 2:30 AM is definitely off the mark. If the guy knew any better also, he should’ve just called the following morning to answer questions and clarifications.
My final assessment is that the guy is obviously new to the business or hasn’t learned the art of communication yet. He’ll need to spend more time with his upline executive to fix those problems.
December 5th, 2007 at 9:56 pm
@ryan- I think that’s a far better way than lashing out bloggers. Just state your point and it will be eventually disclosed. Every blog is open for moderation and not insults.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:20 am
We all screw up every now and then. In any case, I’ve retracted my statements on my blog with a new entry. Hopefully, this will all die down and we can all go back to our happy lives.
January 16th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Last night, my wife got a similar call from Jihan Ongpin (09177961157) offering the same part-time job in 15F Ortigas. At least ive read to all this blogs before she get to dress up this morning and warned her that this job is not for her since she is an Interior Design graduate and the job is not in the field of Interior design as I found out this morning from all the blogs and later through confirmation from the caller on what company they belong (NSE PHILIPPINES) (the caller didnt give the specific details of the job and just said to come to 15F Octagon Tower). .
.. Reading to all those blogs, Ive noticed that the bloggers havent really investigated on HOW THE CALLERS GOT THE LANDLINE/CELLPHONE NOS, NAME, AND SCHOOL graduated. be it high school, college or any school. Maybe the bloggers defending the company at the 15F Octagon tower may shed some light on this - -Im not condemning anyone or any company - just want to know how they get it..
Possible Sources of Information
A. Yearbook Publishers - This is my primary suspect since Ive read on most blogs that they got the details from the school they graduated. And they knew that the one they are calling are fresh graduates… (Verified with the school that my wife has graduated that the school always asks first of company details before giving out graduated students records and details.
B. Yearbook itself ?? -
C. Other Means
I again solicit information to shed light on how those callers/recruiters got the contact name,school and current details. This maybe a case of leaking privacy information to companies of yearbook publishers or any companies IF THIS IS ONE OF THE CULPRITS.
February 12th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
I perfectly understand from where all of you guys are coming from. Let me just clarify, it is not company policy that our members won’t mention a company name, we do mention our name…which is NSE Philippines and we do have divisions within the company, and we have an option to mention that instead. Yes, it is a marketing strategy much like what traditional businesses do when they think it’s more appropriate. It isn’t misrepresentation, it is just allowing people to have a chance to look at the whole business opportunity package, free from UNFOUNDED/MISGUIDED/INCOMPLETE pre-conceptions about the company from a minority. We always reiterate that the opportunity IS NOT FOR EVERYONE. I myself was very negative about network marketing before I joined, but thanks to their strategy, I was given a chance to SEE THE WHOLE PICTURE. Only people who are unsure of themselves would avoid looking at all facets before making conclusions. The OJT thing or job offer script is NOT a company policy, what we offer is mainly a Business Opportunity that’s why we stress and ask, in the first place, if one is OPEN to EXPLORE OTHER POSIBILITIES. Because, if the answer the answer is NO, an appointment would NOT be insisted. But most Filipinos kasi say YES when actually they mean NO or NOT SURE. Nevertheless, granted that you gave into the appointment. Definitely, the presentation IS NOT entirely a waste of time. All data are backed up by credible research institutions which, of course, I can’t mention here. Moreso, at the end of it, NO ONE is COERCED to do something HE DOES NOT WANT TO DO. It is entirely UP TO YOU. Parang pag nag-aapply ka rin ng job. Pag punta mo ba ng company, sure ka ba na you really want to join it before going there? Di ba most often than not, you’ll know more about the company when you’re already there and then, you will be in a BETTER POSITION of deciding wether you’ll join the company or not. Ganun rin sa min, we want to give people a chance to hear our side first before they decide. For those of you who opted not to look at it. I dare you to take a chance, look at the opportunity and aftewards, tell me if you already knew beforehand most of what you’ll hear/see. Most likely, at least 80% of the info. you’ll get would be new to you. I guess you can trust yourself to make intelligent decisions afterwards…or can’t you?
February 12th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
I’m not going to repeat myself as I’ve done in the past months. This entry’s another open bait. So I guess I’ll just be closing comments to this entry as well.
I’ve already made my decision. It’s up to you guys if you want to call it intelligent, or not. But if you’re asking me, I trust myself, I trust my guts. I don’t need people questioning the intelligence of my decisions just because I already knew beforehand what I would or would not be doing, which is not going to any presentations (or job interview, or leadership seminar, or whatever you want to call it). Good day.
July 6th, 2008 at 9:41 am
[...] continues to get comments for his two posts, here and here (with a few write ups from Angelo who always come to our rescue in similar situations), but he has [...]
September 7th, 2008 at 6:33 am
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