help!

I am set up to do an interview for the wayne county office in Detroit, MI this thursday. the girl that set me up on the interview is a friend of a friend and she claims she likes the job, good benefits, incentives, etc. i dont know whether to believe her because shes only been there a month and may still be blinded by all the promises (she does get a cruise if im hired). after reading everything on this site im extremely hesitant. i might go on the interview just to see how it goes and for the experience. any information on this office or anything you think may help me please let me know.
thanks!

[formererac]

Is the friend that set you up on the interview an HR rep? If she's not HR and she' a management trainee, she gets more than just a cruize. This is one of the reasons many former employees recognize ERAC as a sort of cult. They force you to get other people to apply to ERAC in order to get promoted. She may be a friend of a friend, but she's not thinking of you. She's trying to further her own career.
That being said, is renting cars really what you want to do for a living? If so, by all means apply. ERAC is probably the best company to be working in. If not, don't bother taking the job. Do something you will enjoy, or you'll regret the time you waste there, and trust me you will spend a lot of time at work. The hours are pretty brutal, and the pay doesn't make it worth it.

shes not an HR so she must be a trainee. i had originally applied in a different location (grand rapids, mi) because i had some friends move there and ive been looking for my 1st "real job" out of college. well long story short, a friend told me she had a friend who works in the detroit office, she put me in contact, and now the girl in detroit really wants me to work there even to the point of telling me i should decline an interview in grand rapids. i found out she gets the cruise and actually confronted her about it but she was honest about everything. she went to the same school as me and is a recent graduate also. but i figure that she is probably still thinking shes on the fast track to success. and yeah renting cars isnt really what i want to do for a living but i had heard that it may give me some overall management experience. should i just pass on it?

[formererac]

It depends on what you want to do for a living. If you're looking for management experience, ERAC can help you with that. It looks good on a resume. Just be aware that the hours are long, and you work weekends. If you work at an airport or one that caters to tourists, your hours will be kind of crazy. For example, not getting two days off in a row. No summer vacations and forget about Christmas. That's the busy season. Your pay will be pretty crappy. Teachers, police officers, and firefighters will all make more than you and have more prestigious jobs. You'll have to put up with alot from customers, dealerships, and body shops.
But, if you want to work in retail, this is the job for you. It does have good opportunity for growth. But, it's really a sales focused job. So, if you don't like sales, I would suggest taking something else. Oh yea, and you have to wash cars in your suit and tie as well. Not fun. What did you get your degree in? What kind of management do you want to do?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I am set up to do an interview for the wayne county office in Detroit, MI this thursday. the girl that set me up on the interview is a friend of a friend and she claims she likes the job, good benefits, incentives, etc. i dont know whether to believe her because shes only been there a month and may still be blinded by all the promises (she does get a cruise if im hired). after reading everything on this site im extremely hesitant. i might go on the interview just to see how it goes and for the experience. any information on this office or anything you think may help me please let me know.
thanks!

I'd go to the interview just for the interviewing experience (especially if you haven't had that many "real" post-college interviews). In addition to a cruise the girl that referred you will probably gets a $1000 bonus (at least that's how it is in my group), so she I'm sure she does have some ulterior motives. A buddy of mine at ERAC and I came up with the slogan "I guess friendship is worth a thousand dollars" after seeing email announcements of people that referred their "friends" :)


How long have you been looking for a job and do you have enough financial resources to keep looking? If you haven't been looking long and have some bank cushion, I would look for something else. Plenty of other jobs offer the same kind of experience while not subjecting you to the hours and all the other b-s that go along with retail work.

Basically you have to ask yourself, what do I really want to do with this college degree that I invested thousands and thousands of dollars to earn? Don't just take the Enterprise bait because it's the first "professional" sounding job that shows interest in you. That's the kind of mentality that they prey upon.

As far as how the "management" experience at ERAC looks on your resume, I have heard different things. Some employers know that ERAC will hire just about anyone with a pulse and will view that as you being lazy and not waiting till you found a real job. On the other hand, some view the ERAC experience as evidence that you are accustomed to busting your tail and putting up with an immense amount of b-s and long hours.

i am the original poster of this topic-

just wanted to let you know that I went on to do the 3 interviews and was eventually offered the job. over that span of time though i scored an interview in scottsdale az, at a company another friend works at and was offered the position there so i took it (the weather as compared to michigan was a plus also). i actually thought alot about which job to take because each of the interviews i had with enterprise were really helpful and actually more challenging than the company i hired with. and the people i met at erac during that time really did seem to be good people. i asked them straight up answers about the negative side of their job and they answered honestly about the long hours and grumpy customers. the girl who referred me has been there 2 months now and still seems to really like it there. who knows maybe the detroit wayne county offices arent really that bad? i guess i will never know as im off to work in arizona real soon. thanks for the replies!

[NewFish]

I'm in the northeast and I start working at ERAC tomorrow. I just found this blog today and it's scaring the hell out of me. Can anyone give me some advice so I can at least get through the winter.

[iriswalt]

Well it is a very hard job, but it will make you wonder why you went to collee. you could have done this job while you were in high school. people look down on you and you will wash cars in the freezing cold outside with a suit on and also in the summer. I recommend looking for another job while you start your career here. keep in mind once you start it is very hard to go on another interview with any other company because you work from 7 till 7 every day and 4 hours on friday. good luck

[iriswalt]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

i am the original poster of this topic-

just wanted to let you know that I went on to do the 3 interviews and was eventually offered the job. over that span of time though i scored an interview in scottsdale az, at a company another friend works at and was offered the position there so i took it (the weather as compared to michigan was a plus also). i actually thought alot about which job to take because each of the interviews i had with enterprise were really helpful and actually more challenging than the company i hired with. and the people i met at erac during that time really did seem to be good people. i asked them straight up answers about the negative side of their job and they answered honestly about the long hours and grumpy customers. the girl who referred me has been there 2 months now and still seems to really like it there. who knows maybe the detroit wayne county offices arent really that bad? i guess i will never know as im off to work in arizona real soon. thanks for the replies!

as a trainee there is no stress, it when you move up and get promoted is when the job sucks

remeber this as well. how many people WANT to admit defeat so soon in a job? after 4 weeks at erac i'd been on my orientation which was a laugh, been to a go-kart track, was driving around in a load of brand new cars and learning the ropes. i also had a job that required a degree, and a future which would entail a lot of cash!

but to be honest, i knew it wasn't for me. i just didn't want to admit that i'd made a mistake, and a pretty damn bad one at that. as time went on, the job went from ok to bearable to just plain shit. new staff, a great bunch of people to work with, and as weird as it seems, the weather (i joined in the middle of a northern european winter) all contributed to me staying a while longer. eventually i quit, just before xmas, and am now very happy in a job i absolutely love. something i don't think i said once, and meant, about erac.