Pros
As I see it, the only pro about working here was the fact that you could share a sense of mutual commiseration with you coworkers. Much like the military, many cults, and high school football teams, Management at CalFirst place their employees in a state of liminality that only has the adverse effect of banding the disgruntled employees together against big brother. Your fellow employees will be the saving grace on this sinking ship. This place is the heart of darkness. The hurt locker. I'll tell you now what I was told on my first day at CalFirst.... "Start looking for another job". I know what you are thinking, that there is something wrong with all the people writing these reviews and it will be different for you.... unfortunately, that is not the case. If you are happy to collect a meager paycheck to pound away senselessly at a computer, like an automaton making redundant phone call after redundant phone call, looking out the window longingly at the freedom you used to have like a monkey in a zoo, this job could be a match. Are you ready to sit at your desk on Christmas eve, trying to call 100 people who got the day off? Are you prepared to ask your manager if you can make a personal phone call because your kid is sick, and have him say no? Where do I sign, right? If you are a human, with human standards of ethics, decency and self respect, this might not be the right place. There is absolutely no reason that you need to dress up in a suit and tie, wake up at 5:30 am, and make 80 phone calls a day to rude people for 40k a yr at this solemn joke of a company. You will be treated like a child here, literally.
Cons
With pros like that, who needs cons! Like many people, I chose to leave my position for another job... The turnover rate here is high, but it is not because they fire anyone... People leave because they hate this job, not because they can't hack it. I will try to paint as good a picture as I can for you. - Terrible management. not just in terms of absolutely degrading their own employees, but also trash talking other employees and sales managers behind their backs. Absolutely zero dialogue between sales teams and upper management, resulting in unrealistic goals and outdated, useless sales tactics. At all times, your manager is waiting to steal the deal from you. You are not taught any of the pricing, documentation, etc, and are essentially generating leads for your manager to feebly try to close. I have never seen so many charismatic, willing and intelligent people be systematically disenfranchised as my coworkers and myself were here. - Miserable hours. The only upside is beating traffic. Be prepared to fell stressed out if you are awake past 10, and I'm sure you are going to love getting dressed in the pitch black because its still night out when you wake up. - Commissions do not get payed, and if they do, they are paid literally, drum roll please, a YEAR LATER. Be prepared for every deal to be qualified as a special circumstance, and your commissions to be cut in half. This is not a commission based job- it just doesn't happen. You are a salaried telemarketer. - You will have exactly 100% cold accounts. Do not expect to have even one account that we have done business with before. You won't. As a matter of fact, expect to have many accounts that have either been beat to death by deft salesmen for YEARS, or have been absolutely screwed by this company in the past, and have blackballed us moving forward. - Company culture is non-existent. It's supposed to be sales right? Morale is important. This company does nothing to show you that it cares genuinely about its employees or customers. Your significant other will never be able to see where you work. Your cubicle is the only space you will have, and time spent out of it will be viewed negatively by management. Imagine, making 80-100 phone calls a day without fail, never missing a deadline and still being told to get back to your desk like a kindergartener.