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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 7, 2002)
Students uncover good, bad in summer marketing jobs ■Studentscan make money as representatives for marketing companies, but not without investing a lot of time and work By Danielle Gillespie Oregon Daily Emerald As summer approaches, market ing companies are stepping up their efforts to recruit sales representa tives by offering students the chance to make big money, but lots of cash doesn’t come easy. Many of these jobs require long hours and lots of hard work. Career Center Director Larry Smith said even with the downturn in the economy and lack of intern ships available, he does not think the level of student interest in these marketing jobs has increased be cause they require such hard work. He said students have several rea sons for wanting to work in these jobs, whether for sales experience or making money during the summer, but only students who are interest ed in the opportunity will pursue it. “I don’t even think that with the economy down that more students will be drawn to this type of work,” he said. “If it’s not their cup of tea, they most likely won’t do it.” In summer 2000, senior Alissa Scott worked about 80 hours a week and earned $14,000 selling books door-to-door in Louisiana for South western, a marketing company. “I would recommend this to any one. It puts life in abetter perspective and you develop your personality,” she said. “It’s great on your resume.” Smith said Southwestern and Vector Marketing Corp. are among the most active campus recruiters for student sales representatives. Southwestern has worked through the Career Center for about 20 years to recruit students for selling books in the United States. Vector Marketing offers students a chance to sell Cutco Cutlery, a line of kitchen knives, in the United States and Canada. Tye Thompson, Southwestern district sales manager, said repre sentatives make an average of $7,200. However, the money does n’t instantly roll in the minute a stu dent gets hired. Thompson said representatives must buy their own books as demonstrations for sales, ranging from $30 to $260 and this purchase goes onto their account as money they owe the company. He said when representatives start selling books, the money they make will be used to pay back die company for the demos, and the remainder goes onto their account as earnings they will receive at the end of the summer. Southwestern sends representa tives to various states and each rep resentative is responsible for find ing a place to live. They have the option of riding a bike or using a car for transportation around town while selling books. In addition, every Sunday representatives are required to drive to meetings often four hours away from where they work. The company does not pay for any transportation costs. Senior Korren Hough worked for Southwestern in summer 2000 and earned $2,000. She said because she had to move three times during the summer around Mississippi and Louisiana, it made her summer earn ings lower than other representatives’. “I think it was a good experience overall, but I don’t think it’s for every one,” she said. “I don’t think there is a harder job and working 80 hours a week is almost incomprehensible. ” Vector Marketing spokeswoman Jennifer Wright said its representa tives make an average of $2,000 to $5,000 in a summer. “This job is not easy,” she said. “It creates some degree of effort, and it is not a job that you can just show up at. A representative needs self discipline.” Wright said Vector Marketing has a three-day training session and does not ask its representatives to relocate for the summer. Most rep resentatives stay in their hometown and can continue working at Vector while attending school. “The hours are really flexible, and at the training sessions, repre sentatives can set up a schedule for how much money they would like to make, and how many hours they would need to work to meet this goal,” Wright said. Representatives sell products through pre-scheduled in-home ap pointments and are paid a base rate of about $14 per appointment along with commission for their sales. The base rate pays the representa tives for completing the presenta tion regardless of whether they sell the product. The company does not pay for gasoline because represen tatives can decide the location of their appointments, Wright said. “If I could offer a word of advise, it would be to go out there expecting to work your tail off and do exactly what they say and you'll be fine,” Scott said. Hough said students thinking about doing this type of work for a summer job need to approach it with an open mind. “Be expecting the worst, and it will be better,” she said. E-mail reporter Danielle Gillespie atdaniellegillespie@dailyemerald.com. 2002 It's here Now! UO Summer Session Registration. w A Register for Summer Classes. Book Your Summer in Oregon Summer session starts June 24. Pick up your free summer catalog today in the Summer Session office, 333 Oregon Hall, or at the UO Bookstore. You can speed your way toward graduation by taking required courses during summer. 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