Scam Alert: The Latitude Group

The Latitude Group claims it represents array of big name clients, such as the Oakland As, Disney World and IMAX. If reselling bundled tickets counts as marketing representation, then I guess they do. But from my recent experience, I doubt their supposed clients would see it that way.

Casting itself as a partner with any powerhouse company appears incongruous. The Latitude Group resides in a dank, five-story 1980s office building plopped between the exhaust from the 580 Freeway and the back parking lot of a Kinkos/FedEx in Emeryville. The paper label taped on the building's directory announcing the firm's 500 Suite residence further points to the unlikelihood of many, if any, high profile clients. As does the elevator that doesn't reach the firm's 5th floor office, reception area overrun with awkwardly-overdressed, young professionals, the cheap wide screen tv playing I Am Legend and the unkempt and seemingly clueless secretarial pool chatting among themselves. Talk about false marketing.

The ploy is twofold: 1. that The Latitude Group is a marketing firm and 2. that the "management training program" actually involves a paid position. The only marketing going on here is in the company's self-billing where it proclaims its status as a reputable firm in ads that saturate bay area job boards. While the positions may not involve cold-calling per-se, they require endless cold-knocking. The "marketing" requires wearing professional attire to knock on doors -- the business-y disguise increases account executives' ability to wiggle into local businesses unobstructed -- and hawk a variety of "entertainment packages," unsolicited.

The marketing involved goes no further than devising the post-wiggle pitch. There's no direction or interaction with big league clients or media conglomerates, no campaigns developed on the client's behalf, no storyboards or PowerPoint presentations. The "training" program is commission based and you're not being paid for your time unless you're selling.

Let the job candidate beware!