Strategic Employment Partners reviews

Incompetence meets absurdity at every turn, this “business” is a rollercoaster ride through the murky depths of corporate dysfunction, and has changed their name multiple times to avoid its poor public image. Not to mention, the elusive "CEO". Despite constant references to him, you won't find a shred of evidence of his existence online. No LinkedIn, no website, not even a Google search yields any results. The role is essentially telemarketing and solicitation, where company “leadership” will advise you to, “put yourself in the mindset of a police officer calling parents to report that their child is dead” when spamming people 3x per day over the phone/email. The sales tactics employed by this circus of a company are as scummy as it gets. It's like a scene from a parody movie, set in technical recruiting amidst the worst job market in tech since the Dot-Com Bubble or Great Recession, but with poorly executed and obsolete tactics straight out of 80s/90s movies like Boiler Room. They cling to outdated strategies in a tech market that's evolving faster than they can comprehend. They develop their talent funnel by bait-and-switching job seekers with fake listings, then interview said candidates so they have new material to pitch companies who posted roles on various job boards. Other tactics include "phantom pitching" fake candidates to hiring managers to win a “job order”, as well as asking job seekers who they've been interviewing with for lead generation—then pitching competing candidates to those companies. As for the work culture—imagine a dysfunctional family reunion where everyone's secretly plotting their escape. Throughout the offices in various states are instances of salespersons being PIP’d/fired after being ripped off on their commission. The compensation structure is a SCAM. They claim to be paying a $43K salary while requiring you to clock in/out throughout the workday ($20.63/hr). This $43k will increase by $1k with each placement until you reach 9 placements, then you can earn 5% commission. Most employees never even reach 9 placements. Meanwhile, SEP charges companies between 20-25% of a placement's first-year salary. Career development and training includes watching Zoom recordings during the first week of onboarding, then throwing you into the fire to start soliciting potential hiring managers. Any training after the first week includes watching Facebook clips from the Wolf of Wall Street’s sales seminars or movie scenes. In Denver, the walls are unironically adorned with trite motivational posters. Among them is a black and white portrait of Michael Scott with the quote: "I knew exactly what to do... but in a much more real sense. I had no idea what to do." There's also a painting of a goldfish with a sharkfin strapped to its head (bicycle helmet-style) with the quote, "Mindset is everything". A banner with the company logo pasted over a stock image of hands "all-in..ready..break!" style, as well as Kindergarten classroom-esque paper machete sales milestones. When there are (inevitably) internal office issues, they pull employees you into private rooms to interrogate them with a 3rd party HR company that is hired solely for SEP to feign professionalism and avoid lawsuits. As other reviews have noted, they will attempt to guilt-trip you if you have a doctor's appointment or other necessary obligation that causes a brief absence. Steer clear unless you enjoy working for a circus run by clowns in tacky business casual clothing. SEP is a massive scam and a house of cards waiting to fall.

The role itself is patently absurd in 2024. You are soliciting potential hiring managers over the phone based on ads that you find on different job boards, as well as spamming them over email. The sales training includes watching video tutorials, one of which extols the speaking abilities of an early 20th century German political leader. The sales strategies used by the company are unethical and include posting fake ads for companies that have not signed a business agreement, "phantom pitching" fake candidates based on descriptions in job ads, as well as exploiting information given by job seekers for lead generation. The management and culture (or lack thereof) is bizarre. The pay is far below market rate and the hours include unpaid overtime (which is certainly illegal in Denver). This is not a serious organization.