Should I take a job with a shady debt collection agency?

Should you take the job? How are you going to feel about having this company on your resume when you're feeling less desperate? Will future employees take you seriously if they see that you used to work for this company?

Just some things to think about...

Most of the modern economy consists of the production and distribution of useless and/or harmful things. A major subsector of the useless/harmful sector is the usury sector. Nowadays it is nearly impossible to do anything without borrowing money, even if just to establish credit.

Working for a bill collector, you will merely be taking your place in the modern economy.

Will you be the one calling people asking for money? If not it might not be bad. However, if you have to call people asking for money it will be a miserable existence. First, if you are not a total a$$hole, you won't be any good at it. You will have to demean people when you call them and you will vulgar things said to you constantly. You will get hung up on alot and feel like you are harassing people. If that sounds cool to you though, go for it.

yes sir... wrote:

Will you be the one calling people asking for money? If not it might not be bad. However, if you have to call people asking for money it will be a miserable existence. First, if you are not a total a$$hole, you won't be any good at it. You will have to demean people when you call them and you will vulgar things said to you constantly. You will get hung up on alot and feel like you are harassing people. If that sounds cool to you though, go for it.

Not entirely true.

I worked for one of these companies right after college for like 6 months while finishing a thesis. I worked like 4 days a week. It was not fun work, believe me, but you'd be surprised at what works.

There were always the tough guys who would bend the laws to... well... sound tough and everything, but they were just douchebags. I used to avoid the "script" and just talk to the people. I gave them my 1st name and typically gave them a call back number. I treated them well and frequently had people tell me that they would pay "my" bill because I was nice to them.

Beware of this, though: If it is an auto debt and they are local, you might be asked to attempt a repo. You would not be the one repoing, but you would go along with the guy. I refused to do this, every time. It is not worth getting punched or shot to collect some ratty buick from 1990.

Stick to the phones, be a nice person and you might have some success.

Keep in mind that this is a horrible job. Don't take the job thinking it might be a good future. In my head, you are really needing work and just want somewhere to work.

Actually I have a friend who has been in this business for 15 years. She is very smart and a great speaker but without higher education and this was a great way for her to move up and make good money ($70,000 - $80,000/year when she was doing well.) She also educated herself on law/case law that helped her when talking to people. She is definitely not a jerk; she is very reasonable and was able to reason with people over the phone. She also did quite a bit of "research" on the people so that she already knew of ways that they could pay. She also has a great "phone voice" which I think helps with this job. Her strategy was to work with people and get them to agree to pay what they reasonably could. Having debt is not fun, and she would try to find the best way for the company to make as much. But she also made people want to pay. She thinks that in a way she is helping people. The alternative is them being taken to court and/or going bankrupt if/when they don't pay. And she needs to feed her family.

She never broke the law, however. It would be hard to work for a company that did that. As for the resume, if you can back up your achievements, I don't see how working for this company would be worse than having no job. Especially if you are successful at it while still being nice.

Part of being an adult is doing things you don't enjoy in order to support those that depend on you. Take the job and keep looking for another one elsewhere. Get out as soon as you find a less worse job and never put the collection agency on your résumé, unless you feel it would benefit you in some future job interview to say that you didn't approve of the unethical behavior and left after a few months. Be careful where you apply this strategy, though, as there are a lot of sleazy managers at companies that do value ethics.

If you only accept positions that you know you'll enjoy, chances are you'll never earn much money and will spend a lifetime being jealous of those who do. If done right, work sucks. It's just a means to better you and your family.

I know this thread is too old, but I just want you to know that we are hiring :)

Please check our website

https://www.staffingdebt.com/

Hey tinamoran,

Is your company same as this agency?

https://www.backdoorhires.com/

The Mafia has a respected collection representative:ME!