It’s pretty standard practice to just delete that random Instagram DM promising you a guaranteed way to make money selling Lulu Lemon leggings. Multi-level marketing, AKA a glorified pyramid scheme, is easy to get sucked into and hard to escape. You know how it goes — you spend countless hours making cold sales and recruiting other helpless souls to do the same exact thing, all while people at the top earn the profits. While some of these exploitative companies are easy to spot, others have evolved, masking themselves as legitimate job opportunities and ensnaring vulnerable people who are just looking to make some money for the monthly rent. Several of these companies (colloquially known as “Devil’s Corps”) snake their way onto legitimate job sites, presenting themselves as something they’re not in an effort to mislead candidates. Here are some sneaky tricks to look out for.
The company has a generic name, with something like “inc.” plastered at the end.
Many MLMs are the exact same corporation operating under different labels in order to recruit as many people as possible. Their employees are expendable numbers, and using a variety of vague names is an easy way to get those numbers.
You can’t find much about them online.
Unless it’s brand new, any legitimate company should have its fair share of online reviews. If you can’t find more than a couple of lines about the company in the entire Internet, that’s a red flag. If everything you do find doesn’t align with what the company advertised, that’s even bigger red flag. For instance, if the job posting describes the company as a marketing agency, but online reviews label it as a temp firm, you should raise an eyebrow.
The job has some fancy yet vague title, like “account manager.”
The description for the job is also pretty vague, and seemingly lacks any specific requirements or expectations. Moreover, it makes some impressive guarantees, such as a six figure salary within a year.
It’s encouraged to work for commission.
You may be assured a base salary along with commission, but taking a higher percentage of commission is heavily advised (and the base salary alone usually calculates to less than a minimum wage). Of course, you’re promised to make a ton of money as long as you’re willing to “work hard.” It’s all on you!
They reached out to you.
One of the biggest red flags is if you discover this opportunity through a recruiter’s email. With some exceptions, most legitimate jobs won’t actively be searching for you; you have to go to them. However, an MLM is desperate for people, and has no qualms about directly reaching out to potential candidates. They may even express interest in hiring you before an interview, which unfortunately usually only happens in dreams.
It’s not as though you can’t make any money working for a Devil’s Corp. But you definitely won’t be making as much as they promise you will. Chances are, you’ll be slaving away for over 10 hours a day, going door to door only to be rejected, your idealism shrinking with each knock. And if you do happen to strike a sale, the majority of the money won’t be going to you. Think of ants in a colony: the corporation is the queen, sitting on a throne and reaping the benefits of the hard workers. If you encounter one of these: run the other way.
