Just got my degree in business. Do I really want to work at ERAC?

So I've just recieved my degree in Business and i'm thinking about joining ERAC. The recruiter told me I could make up to $36,000 as a "management trainee" but that seems kind of low for 50 hours a week and I do actually have a real solid degree. Also, I'll be attending graduate school but yet I want something to put on my resume. So i'm thinking If i'm going to kill myself for 50 hours a week plus grad school it better damn well be worth it.

At Pfizer I could make $45,000-$65,000/year + commissions as a pharmaceutical sales rep. Plus I get a company car. So if that falls through I might have to go with ERAC :-(

Hopefully you will get the pharm sales job. If you are thinking about grad school, you won't have much time to study or even go to school. You work from 7 am to at least 7 pm every day, sometimes later. I'm not saying that ERAC + grad school is impossible, but it will be very very very very difficult. I'd try to find something else to do while attending grad school.

What type of job would be flexible enough now for you to attend grad school?

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

Originally Posted by New Grad

So I've just recieved my degree in Business and i'm thinking about joining ERAC. The recruiter told me I could make up to $36,000 as a "management trainee" but that seems kind of low for 50 hours a week and I do actually have a real solid degree. Also, I'll be attending graduate school but yet I want something to put on my resume. So i'm thinking If i'm going to kill myself for 50 hours a week plus grad school it better damn well be worth it.

At Pfizer I could make $45,000-$65,000/year + commissions as a pharmaceutical sales rep. Plus I get a company car. So if that falls through I might have to go with ERAC :-(

I agree with what a few others have said. It would be incredibly hard to go to grad school while also doing ERAC. The main problem is the hours. You never really know exactly when you will get to leave for the day. Sometimes you can get out 15 minutes after the office closes. However, many times you'll have to go fetch cars or get cars ready for the next morning and you may be stuck there an hour or more after the office closes. A girl I worked with was working on her masters, but she did it online. Flexible hours, no commuting, etc. Still lots of work, but that might be the only way to pull it off. A friend who joined erac about the same time as me took 2 grad courses a week at a college about 30 mins away. By the 3rd week he missed 2 classes because his office was always staying so late to drive around and get cars. He ended up leaving and finding a 9-5 job so he could stay in school.

Also, I can't speak for every group, but most of the upper management types at ERAC where I worked weren't exactly thrilled if an employee was going to grad school. I flat out remember sitting in a training class where we got to meet the group GM and while going around the circle table a girl mentioned to our GM that she was getting 2 masters degrees... her virtual one from Enterprise, and another one from college xyz. The GM actually got slightly agitated and told her that while it was nice she was going for her MBA, it wasn't need for ERAC and that she should consider putting it on hold because it could interfere with her work/life balance.

I understand that you want something to put on your resume, but if you are going for your masters, you should look for a company that rewards people for obtaining one. You'll just end up getting stuck at ERAC and not having time to look for a real job.

I wish you the best of luck with the pharm job!

[Usedtobleedgreen075]

DONT DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ERAC WILL RUIN YOUR LIFE. YOU WONT HAVE TIME TO THINK ENOUGH TO EVEN CONTEMPLATE GOING TO GRAD SCHOOL. THIS PLACE IS LIKE A BLACK HOLE AND IT WILL SUCK YOU IN RUN THE OTHER WAY AS FAST AS YOU CAN AND NVER LOOK BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, I think it's a great idea to lisent to these people. They really seem to have their shit together. ERAC only made $9Billion last year. Their owners spent their own $$ to buy a competitor. Why would you want to work for family run company that grows everyday and sells a product that will always be needed? That's crazy. I guess my 7years here and my $115K/year job is just a fantasy...

Originally Posted by ok1245

Yeah, I think it's a great idea to lisent to these people. They really seem to have their shit together. ERAC only made $9Billion last year. Their owners spent their own $$ to buy a competitor. Why would you want to work for family run company that grows everyday and sells a product that will always be needed? That's crazy. I guess my 7years here and my $115K/year job is just a fantasy...

You addressed none of my points. NONE. Good luck, asshole.

Originally Posted by ok1245

Yeah, I think it's a great idea to lisent to these people. They really seem to have their shit together. ERAC only made $9Billion last year. Their owners spent their own $$ to buy a competitor. Why would you want to work for family run company that grows everyday and sells a product that will always be needed? That's crazy. I guess my 7years here and my $115K/year job is just a fantasy...

this still doesn't change the fact that the original poster will spend his first year washing cars in a suit, taxing customers around, and being shit on by management and customers a like...since he is going for his MBA, it is doutbful that he will make ERAC a career. afterall, why the hell would anyone with an MBA rent cars for a living? does anyone at erac even have a MBA?
while i do think ERAC does teach some business skills, you don't learn much actual business skills untill you reach the level of ARM or higher...anything less than that and you are micormanaged in every concievable way and are making little business decisions.
since the original poster is not in it for long term (and neither are 75% of the new hires), it's not worth his time
and btw, erac did not make 9 bill last year...you are including assets. or hasn't your virtual mba taught you that?

[dabanker]

First off, there are many businesses out there that will not only encourage you to pursue a higher education, but they will also pay for it as well. And for the comments from Mr "All-American Enterprise" earning 115,000 a year. Do you have an MBA? Not a Virtual MBA....Try putting that one on a resume! Plus, the original poster here is on the fence on what to do. I'm sure your comment really sold the green dream. Way to go. By your arrogance and ignorance I can either assume you are in "upper management" or not telling the truth. Either way, keep believing in yourself sport. The reality is, is that you never had and never will have control of your career at Enterprise. You could be let go tomorrow for any of a dozen different reasons, all of which, you would have no control over. Ninety-five percent of your success with that company has been coincidental...Sorry!