Media Plus Consulting - Anyone heard of them before?

Through my University, I received an email from a woman with Media Plus Consulting, supposedly an international gig where you will be traveling 300+ days a year. Once accepted, employees have to attend a training session in Belgium.

I have never heard of the company, but it sounded extremely interesting so I applied. I have an interview coming up and have found some questionable posts about the company's tactics.

Any one here ever heard of them? I need to figure out if I even want to go to this interview as it requires travel and a hotel room to get to the interview city.

Any help or advice would be great!

Thanks

I looked at this organization myself and found some unsavory things. Then there are people saying this is just a bunch of "pissed off employees with no credibility." I have learned from bitter experience (with another org) that bad reviews do have a grain (in my case, bagfuls) of truth in them. If I were you I would stay away.

Skeptical wrote:

I looked at this organization myself and found some unsavory things. Then there are people saying this is just a bunch of "pissed off employees with no credibility." I have learned from bitter experience (with another org) that bad reviews do have a grain (in my case, bagfuls) of truth in them. If I were you I would stay away.

I have a family member recently hired by this company can anyone give me any concrete negative info about this company, or its business practice before we make a final decision on this company and spend money moving over seas.. thanks

Can anyone out there give me any verifyable information regarding this company. I have a family member recently hired and want to know about anything negative before making a decision.

Thank you -

Jet wrote:

<quoted text>
I have a family member recently hired by this company can anyone give me any concrete negative info about this company, or its business practice before we make a final decision on this company and spend money moving over seas.. thanks

I worked for them in 2010. There are many pissed off former employees of this company because it is a very difficult, and high stress job. They only want the most aggressive, hardest working people to work for them. It is kind of like being on the apprentice, and every month they fire people. There is nothing wrong with this job as long as you are willing to work for very low pay, you really do enjoy traveling and working in another country, and you have no problem being away from all of your friends and family in the united states. It is an incredible adventure, but it is not for everyone, and about 90 percent of the people who are lucky enough to be selected to work for this company, are either fired or quit after about 60 days. All that you can expect to make working for this company is about $30-35,000 during your first year. To me that is pretty low, considering that you usually have to work about 70 hours per week.

I left the company after 60 days because I missed my girlfriend in the states, I did not like the fellow employees that I had to work with, and I could make much better money back home. I am not pissed off about this company, for my time spent over their was an incredible adventure, but there is a very specific type of person who can do this job and enjoy it. I was just not that person.

Hi,
I'm scheduled to interview for a sales position with Media Plus but I've read some questionable things about them online. What do you know about the allegations that:

Employees are forced to work illegally on tourist visas instead of work visas.

The company sells advertising in investment publications. Although the publications are printed, they are not distributed so the advertising sales are a scam.

Employees regularly fired without warning, often losing salary and commissions they had earned but not yet received.

Is there any truth in these claims? I'm not sure what's real and what's angry former employees complaining online.

I' worked with MP for over 2 years and I can tell you that things changed a lot recently! It has always been a difficult and very stressful organization to work for, but lately it is just not duable anymore! They are losing money every day due to the fact that their publications are not up to the level of quality they claim to be! Media Plus has a terrible reputation and all the talented people that used to work there, and really cared about the consultants, left! Now the company is managed by unqualified people who don't even have a clue what they're selling! They are simply using the consultants without giving anything in return, so my advice: stay away!!!!

I worked for them for more than two years also and to answer the questions above, they do distribute where they say they will. People are only fired if they are not up to par. If you are fired or let go, you get whatever pay you are owed. You can make more than 35K, I did, added to the fact that I was not paying for an apartment/car/etc... it saved a ton.
It is true that many of the talented people left recently, but i'm told by a friend who still is there that they are rebuilding, like many companies in post 2008's crisis, and hopefully the company can be strong soon if they hire the right people. Basicall, if you do not believe in advertising, don't apply.

GYA wrote:

I worked for them for more than two years also and to answer the questions above, they do distribute where they say they will. People are only fired if they are not up to par. If you are fired or let go, you get whatever pay you are owed. You can make more than 35K, I did, added to the fact that I was not paying for an apartment/car/etc... it saved a ton.
It is true that many of the talented people left recently, but i'm told by a friend who still is there that they are rebuilding, like many companies in post 2008's crisis, and hopefully the company can be strong soon if they hire the right people. Basicall, if you do not believe in advertising, don't apply.

We are also from KC and my son, graduating from ku in may, was offered a position with this company. He has no "advertising" sales experience but has been in sales. It would be great if he could contact you by phone to discuss this. Thanks

I recently also got offered an International Media Sales Consultant position at Media Plus Consulting so I would appreciate any insight/suggestions from current/past employees. One of my main concerns includes not being able to find enough leads on my own to meet the sales target of 30,000 Euro/monthly and then get fired after just a few months. I need to make a decision asap so any suggestions would be extremely helpful!

Media Plus Consulting was the best opportunity for me right out of college. I went to a top tier University and graduated at the height of the recession in 2007. Had to leave the USA for opportunity and I love adventure.
My experience at Media Plus was truly amazing! I was employed for over a year. Recruited in San Francisco to Belgium for a few weeks of training and was assigned to work in Tirana Albania. The first week in the country I met the Prime Minister and the entire experience built confidence and character that has been unmatched in any job thus far.
My next project was in Costa Rica, amazing!! My partner never left and still lives there today.
My resume excerpt for MP is below and has landed me sales and marketing oriented jobs at: CBS, The British Government and Diageo.
Emerging Market Project Director, Media Plus Consulting, Brussels, Belgium 06/08 – 11/09
• Persuasive sales presentations to pitch CEO’s, Ministers, Country Director’s to the EBRD and World Bank
• Sold placements in our investment analysis publications on Albania and Costa Rica, with vast readership
• Managed sales teams on projects in Europe and Latin America

Contributions wrote:

Through my University, I received an email from a woman with Media Plus Consulting, supposedly an international gig where you will be traveling 300+ days a year. Once accepted, employees have to attend a training session in Belgium.
I have never heard of the company, but it sounded extremely interesting so I applied. I have an interview coming up and have found some questionable posts about the company's tactics.
Any one here ever heard of them? I need to figure out if I even want to go to this interview as it requires travel and a hotel room to get to the interview city.
Any help or advice would be great!
Thanks

I flew all the way out to Kansas City for the interview. I only hope you took the advice that was given about the questionable nature of this company. First off, the big thing; if you get past the interview stage, TRAINING IS ANOTHER INTERVIEW. This is not made explicitly clear for a few reasons. Considering the fast pace of the company, you could start the day after training is done. However, you are not technically employed at all during the 2 week training period; they will make cuts. I asked myself, why would they fly a bunch of Americans out to Belgium if they weren't hired? One, common sense would dictate that subletting an apartment, selling your car, and leaving everything behind for an interview seems a bit nuts. Also, why so many Americans? 10 of 12 in my group were all Americans, recently out of college and not a lot of job experience. Second, a US passport goes unquestioned in the world. You're most;y shipped out to developing nations and would be conducting business illegally on a tourist visa. Americans read as "Big Business". Then your job is basically conning money from various companies under the guise of an "investment journalist", when you're really just out to sell. It all sounds too good to be true because it IS.

Lorraine wrote:

<quoted text> may I contact you?
I flew all the way out to Kansas City for the interview. I only hope you took the advice that was given about the questionable nature of this company. First off, the big thing; if you get past the interview stage, TRAINING IS ANOTHER INTERVIEW. This is not made explicitly clear for a few reasons. Considering the fast pace of the company, you could start the day after training is done. However, you are not technically employed at all during the 2 week training period; they will make cuts. I asked myself, why would they fly a bunch of Americans out to Belgium if they weren't hired? One, common sense would dictate that subletting an apartment, selling your car, and leaving everything behind for an interview seems a bit nuts. Also, why so many Americans? 10 of 12 in my group were all Americans, recently out of college and not a lot of job experience. Second, a US passport goes unquestioned in the world. You're most;y shipped out to developing nations and would be conducting business illegally on a tourist visa. Americans read as "Big Business". Then your job is basically conning money from various companies under the guise of an "investment journalist", when you're really just out to sell. It all sounds too good to be true because it IS.

I am offer the position BUT it seems different ... also different name.... may I contact you?

Hi to all!

I am also offering a job at this company and I have to take a very quick decision if I'm accepting or not! What do you advise me? Please help me because it's a tough decision and I really don't want to leave my country if it's bad there, but I also don't want to lose this opportunity...

I wrote a review in august and it has never been published. WHy??????????

Hey guys, I am attending their training program next month yeah in a lil bit more than 10 days). Do some of you start then too?

Can you please write it again?

lorraine wrote:

I wrote a review in august and it has never been published. WHy??????????

Can you please write it again?

Hi all, I have just been asked to fill in the questionnaire and send them a video of myself lasting about 3 minutes. After that, they have contacted me, saying they liked my answers and want to fix a skype Interview. To me it seems after reading your comments that they just hire young people fresh out of college or UNi. I am almost 40, can anyone tell me if there is anybody at all of this age?
Cheers

I've worked for them about 10 years ago. In my case I was forced to r*p-off people. A project running in the provence of Quebec, Canada was about to fail. Because of my background they considered me to be experienced so my manager and I replaced the consultants that were there.
It turned out that the two of us weren't able to save the project either. Meaning, we just couldn't find enough advertizers among "the captains of industry" we interviewed. The 10 or 12 that did advertize payed between $2500 and $60000 for their "promotional message" (never say advertisement we were tought!). I asked my manager Robert Fernhout (moved to Thailand) what would happen with them. This is what happened. Instead of a readership of e.g. 300.000 which was the case when a report was actually published, only 20 copies were made and each advertizer received one as proof that the issue was published. Expensive advertisement don't you think? To get out of the country without getting arrested I had to lie my way out of the hotel and through customs. Now, I'm not saying that this happened with every report, but after my experience I heard from ex colleagues that this happened in other cases as well.
Another thing is that Media Plus has several press agencies. So for example you work for "International Press". As soon as you made a sale you handed in your notes at the head office. This way your colleague that worked for another subsidiary e.g. "Media Television" knew exactly on what basis you made a sale to someone. Knowing that, it wasn't really hard for your colleague to make another sale a few months later. Chances were that an unlucky "captain of industry" could get hit by more or less the same company up to 7 times in just a few years. Same company, only using different names.
In those days they were still based in Belgium. Later on they moved the company to Cyprus. I guess because regulations are much tighter over there... Mwoeahahahaha!
If you are thinking about working at Media Plus, you don't need to wonder what my advice is ;0)!
P.s. I still have their handbook for the international consultant. It's quite funny!