Originally Posted by The Sneak  Don't do it. It is a total waste of time and you will learn very little at ERAC. It is NO different than going to work at blockbuster video, being called a 'mgmt trainee', and working at the front desk. They have branch/regional managers/corp too...
I did not have a business degree when I started at ERAC. However, I did have a sociology/economics double major with a 3.9 cumulative GPA. I only took the job bc I graduated during the absolute worst part of the dot com crash and there was just nothing out there. Plus, my cousin was an area manager in another group...and he really sold the company to me.
After just a few months, I saw through the 'buy in' and 'the deal'. They are so incredibly dishonest that they do not even teach 'mgmt trainees' the real workings/underpinnings of the company (which is that the real profits are generated when a rental vehicle is sold off - often at a price exceeding what they paid for it!...Your branch's day to day performance means very, very little to the profitability of the company).
Many of the area managers and up achieved those positions during a fairly narrow time period of company growth. The company only promotes due to turnover...and the turnover rate is staggeringly high. Branch level positions entail 50-60 hrs/week, dealing with a difficult segment of the population (cash renters and those who have been in motor vehicle accidents). You will have no time, energy, or positive mental outlook/sense of satisfaction/self worth. Trust me on this. Their idea of marketing consists of bringing donuts to body shops and insurance offices. You won't even get to eat lunch, several times per month. You will find your mgr changing your time card behind your back. These things HAPPEN - not in isolated instances - but are real, systemic, and widespread.
You will not learn a transferable skill set, unless continuing to work in retail environment is your goal.
I lasted 10 ungodly unbearable months there before quitting. I've been out for nearly 5 years. Do I make a million dollars/year like some of the liars on this site? No. However, I will make 90k this year. I'm 28, and my net worth is $200,000+ - putting me above the 95th percentile for my age bracket. I left to become a lowly CSR for a mail order/web retail company...and I'm now the web marketing manager for an 8 figure locally owned company with flexible office hours, no dress code to speak of, telecommuting options, and real control over my own future, to say nothing of my direct input and impact of the company's bottom line. I report to the VP. How did I get here? Hard work, lots of training, independent learning, and smarts. I will be a legitimate (not an E-millionaire, or even more dubiously...an erac-millionaire) millionaire before I am 40 yrs old by virture of smart investing, income/bonuses/profit sharing, and living smartly. GOOD LUCK getting there with ERAC...hell, they try to weed out most folks before they are even fully vested in their terrible retirement plan packages...
ERAC is a total Amway scam. There are Amway folks out there worth millions. Is that indicative of the experience/career an Amway representative is likely to have? Of course not. The one thing you never get back is time. Part of me will forever be bitter and angry that ERAC wasted a year of my 20s...not just wasted in terms of work/career building, but wasted a year of my personal development potential because I was so goddamned tired from working 60 hrs/week, attending mandatory after hours functions etc, that I had no room left for any life outside of work. I'm not exaggerating, and neither are the scores of others with staggeringly similar experiences.
You have a business degree? Hold out. Don't take the 1st thing that comes along. I know that when you get out of school, you are eager, you want to take on the world, you like the buttering up/attention you get from a 'recruiter' who gets into your head about the 'ERAC dream'. Trust me, there's a reason they salivate like hungry sharks over you...And that reason is a 70% new hire turnover ratio. Churn and burn, they call it.
Push for the Pfizer gig, or find something else. Go to grad school NOW - there is zero possibility of going to grad school while working at ERAC. Trust me on that. Hell, bartending or something like that would be a much better move than ERAC.
TRUST ME |