It started in December when "Jessica" from The Maine House Group left me an unsolicited voicemail in regards to a job that I'd applied for earlier that week. I keep a good record of my job searches, and checked my CareerBuilder records before following up. It turns out that I had never applied for this job, and judging by the buzzwords in the description, like "young and trendy sports and entertainment marketing firm," "rapidly growing customer acquisition group," and "we plan to take over the world," it was the kind of job I'd only apply for if I was hard up for money and couldn't manage to sell any of my vital organs on the black market. It was peculiar that she called out of the blue, but I figured maybe she simply reached out to me in error.

It wasn't long before Jessica continued to leave voicemails, about 3 times a week and sometimes at odd hours of the night, nearly begging me to come in for this interview. I never took a single one of their calls. This persisted for about a month, until their "HR" department sent me an e-mail scolding me for missing the interview that I set up.

These scammers backed off as soon asI sent them a "friendly" response to their inquiry about why I was a no-show to the fictitious interview, but I wanted to post this here to warn job seekers NOT to engage them in their bizarre phone calls and e-mails. Scammers are getting smarter these days, and many of the confirmed scams/MLM's change the name of their companies every couple of months to avoid getting caught. (Northeast Consulting Group, Colossal Marketing Concepts, Bold Acquisitions are just a few other dodgy "employers" I can think of.) I'm sure Maine House Group is just a new name for an old scam.

For those who are new to the job market, scam artists similar to Maine House Group prey upon those who are fresh out of college or entry-level marketing professionals, luring them in with promises of unlimited earning potential. They are really commission-only door-to-door sales gigs. Many people have reported going on an interview and being forced to follow a salesperson around (often in shady neighborhoods) while they sell cell phone plans or whatnot door-to-door. I've been searching long enough to know what to look out for (always Google the employer's name plus "scam" before setting up an interview!), and I hope that this report will steer you away from MHG toward a more honest career with a reputable marketing firm.

Hopefully more job seekers will chime in on this thread. And while I'm not exactly clear on what Maine House Group does, or what kind of clients they serve, I'd caution anybody against contracting their services.

Good luck with the employment search, everyone, and be careful out there!