Experts urge caution for direct-sales jobs with mixed results

A promise of the potential to earn thousands of dollars and an exciting opportunity to be your own boss — working for a direct-sales company might seem like a worthwhile internship for students, but it works better for some than others.

Direct-sales companies, where people are selling or offering a product or service, typically pay their interns only when they have made a sale or a job is completed.

“I actually don’t remember signing up for it. I just got a random call one day from this girl who wanted me to go to an information session,” junior TJ Ragsdale said. “I guess I did sign up for it, though, on a piece of paper in class.”

Ragsdale interned for College Works Painting, a company at which the interns paint houses and manage teams of painters.

Interns from College Works Painting pass around sign-up sheets in large classes to recruit students.

“You don’t get money until you actually get a job done,” Ragsdale said.

But interning at College Works Painting proved successful for Ragsdale, who later was a contract recruiter for the company from August 2014 to January 2015.

“For me, personally, it worked out. I was able to finish the whole internship, and I made about $15,000, and they gave me a free trip to Cancún,” he said. “I think it’s really good for people who want to get into entrepreneurship or sales.”

Pete Murphy, a sophomore intended business major, also interned at College Works Painting. Unlike Ragsdale, Murphy said he dropped the program after about three weeks.

“I decided that it wasn’t the optimal use of my time,” Murphy said. “I spent some money on gas and a lot of my own time.”

Despite the 20 to 25 hours per week Murphy invested into the program, he did not receive any compensation from College Works Painting.

“I don’t think anyone should go into it for the money,” he said. “You’re not going to make as much money as you think you will.”

Murphy instead chose to earn money during the summer doing freelance painting and construction work instead.

Andriy Rusyn, co-president of Carolina THINK, UNC’s entrepreneurship club, said he is skeptical of direct-sales internships.

“I don’t even know why you’d call that an internship, when an internship is to get actual experience from somebody,” he said. “Multilevel marketing does not fit any of that description. I mean, you’re clearly just a salesperson for somebody else.”

Camille Mason, the senior assistant director for Kenan-Flagler’s undergraduate business program at UNC Career Services, said she advises students to be wary of these sorts of internships.

“What I say is just be cognizant. Your time is valuable, just like their time is,” she said.

She said students should choose opportunities that are important to them and their future, and not because they were tricked or forced into an enticing offer.

“Is this job or internship position going to get you to that career you want to get into?” she said.

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