This company almost qualifies as a scam. They spam users on job search websites such as Handshake and Glassdoor with various offers for the same position that they just list under different names. You apply and they get back to you the next day via email to schedule an interview, but they take 3 to 7 days to follow-up with you to let you know whether or not you moved on to the next interview. To me, this communicates that they have zero respect for your time. It took 4 weeks to complete the interview process. There are 3 interviews total in the process that are about an hour each. The interviews are on Zoom and are recorded. The truth is they are just selling you a product, and if they get any sense at all throughout the interview process that you are not interested in purchasing their training program, they will most likely not hire you. The first interview is a group info-session about what they expect you to do to become a Digital Reporter for their company. You will need to complete Notary Public training and take the Notary Public exam in your state on your own time and on your own dime if you are not already a Notary Public. This can take hours. The cost and requirements differ by state. This is time you will be investing and it is unpaid. Veritext also expects you to pay for their training or training they are partnered/affiliated with, which is several hundreds of dollars. You must then pay another several hundreds of dollars to take an exam and pass it. If you don't pass it, you have to pay another couple of hundred to retake it. Then, Veritext requires their Digital Reporters to become CDR certified even if it is NOT legally required to become a Digital Reporter in your state. The CDR training can cost anywhere between about $400-$1,300+ according to the AAERT website they direct you to. Then, you must pay another few hundred dollars to take and pass the exam for the CDR. Again, if you do not pass the exam, you must pay to retake it. On top of all of these massive, up-front expenses and investments you need to make just to get started if you are not already a Notary Public or CDR certified, Veritext requires you to purchase your own equipment. This sounds like a good idea until you find out how much equipment they expect you to buy. In the info-session, they tell you that you will just need a "DR Kit" if you don't already have one, and they claim that the maximum amount of money you should expect to spend for all of the equipment is $1,600. Then, they send you a list that is a mile long of equipment they actually expect you to purchase. The list includes various types of cables, headphones, and a few different types of audio recorders and microphones that are hundreds of dollars each. There is no way you are only spending $1,600 on equipment. It looks like the list hasn't been updated to reflect the impact of inflation on the prices of this equipment. Add it all up, and you find that you are spending thousands of dollars just to work for them. After all of these steps, they expect you to shadow another Digital Reporter for a few weeks without pay, aka unpaid training. They claim there are "bonuses" and "incentives" you can earn for hitting certain metrics, but they are "up to $1,000" or such, which is not good pay. It could be quite a few weeks before you even see a paycheck. Any respectable employer will sponsor their employees' training, pay them for their time training, and provide the employees with the equipment they are expected to use. This is the first and only employer I have ever encountered that has all of these expectations and unnecessary requirements and who are not willing to sponsor their employees. The local champion for the Colorado region in the final interview seemed arrogant, like he looked down on me as if he were a superior human being. You could tell by his facial expressions, his body language, and the way he spoke during the Zoom interview. It was almost like he was mocking me during the interview, rolling his eyes and smirking at inappropriate times. However, he could not answer my basic questions when he asked if I had any. Either the "champion" was being dishonest during the interview and didn't want to answer the questions, or he genuinely didn't know the answers to the questions about his own company that he is supposedly a champion for. He could not tell me how many hours or how many jobs a week I could expect working for them. It sounds like you can't have a set, stable, and solid work schedule. He communicated that the number of hours and jobs varied and was dependent on the local schedule. Therefore, the number of jobs and hours you may work are unknown and undetermined. Also, their job listing states the pay for this position is between $26/hr.-$58/hr. Apparently, it depends on your state. I asked for $48/hr. due to my extensive work experience and education, but was willing to negotiate down to $40/hr. Veritext wanted to offer me only $33/hr. which is the entry level wage for Digital Reporters in Colorado (for someone with only a high school diploma or GED equivalent, not taking college degrees or prior work experience into consideration.) They seem to only want suckers who are willing to pay for all of these training courses, exams, and equipment, but who are unaware that their work schedule and the number of work hours is not guaranteed and may not even be worth all the work and investment, and who is willing to provide cheap labor despite the enormous up-front costs just to work for the company. They repeatedly kept saying that they need Digital Reporters badly throughout the interview process, and I can absolutely see why. They repeatedly keep saying they need Digital Reporters badly, and I can absolutely see why. This company and companies that operate similarly should not be allowed to advertise their training programs and courses on job search websites under the guise of being an employer. These are very deceptive practices and they should be investigated, I also suspect they are posting ghost job listings (fake job listings) because they are posting numerous listings for the same job under various position names (i.e. Legal Digital Reporter, Political Science Digital Reporter, etc.) This behavior from employers should not be allowed on job search websites, in fact it should be illegal.
