Should I Choose My Dream HR Career or Accept a CEO Role at an MLM Company?

Hi Guys!

I'm Mahi, I have 4 years of experience in Real Estate in Jaipur. I joined as an Executive Admin in 2005 and after 2 years, I was promoted to Assistant Manager-HR in 2007. I was the only person responsible for all HR activities. I started my career with this company when I was in the second year of B.Sc in 2005. Currently, I'm pursuing an MBA in HR from Symbiosis, Pune (2008-Batch). I am only 23 years old.

I have experience in Admin and HR. Due to some family problems, I left the job in July 2009 as I was unable to contribute 100% to the company.

Now I am mentally prepared to rejoin a company in the same field (HR). I interviewed with 3-4 companies but did not find a suitable location, package, environment, etc. Finally, a few days ago, I read an advertisement in the newspaper for the position of "Trainer & Developer" at an MLM company (Jaipur's First Limited Company) and appeared for the interview.

Now, the dilemma is that the management was quite impressed by me and offered me the position of CEO in the company instead of Trainer & Developer.

I am now in a big dilemma about what to do. I always wanted to be a part of HRD in any reputed organization. Although the position of CEO itself has a very good reputation, standard, super senior management authority, etc.

But... being a CEO in an MLM company, is it worthwhile in your opinion?

Please, guys, help me out. 😕

Regards,

Mahi

An amazing story. Someone with just four years of experience and doing his MBA got an offer of a CEO! What to believe? The offer of CEO to someone who got four years' experience sounds very irrational at the onset. CEO's positions are generally attached to companies which have great worthiness and reputation. Such companies will never look for employees working in the real estate business to employ as their CEOs. By the very nature of the job responsibilities, a CEO is required to have more than 15 years of credible experience and a strong track record of success at the top levels of similarly reputed medium/large organizations.

I would advise Mr. Mahi to investigate the whole episode to reaffirm transparency.

Regards,
Ravi

Does it stand for Chief e-scapegoat officer; if it is a Ponzi scheme company...?

One can write a book later - a James Hadley Chase kind of thriller with a corporate background, from the comfort of one's cell and in illustrious company of greats like "Satyam" Raju!!

When they advertise "trainer & developer," it means you need to hire people, train them, and develop them to sell their product on a commission basis.

When they say you are a "CEO," it means it is your own company/own fate, with the people you hire yourself who will all be working on a commission basis.

So they may call it by many names - "CEO/CFO/HR head/trainer..." - it is up to you to decide finally. Good luck!

What is the package they offered you as CEO? Or do they mean you are your own boss, your CEO, your chairman, director, MD - everything because it is your own home commission business.

Dear Mahi,

I am not going to talk about the insanity in the situation. So what if you can become the CEO ;-) (Psss: I know a guy who is just out of B.Com and became the CEO of a company because his dad owned it... in such cases, people find it normal - whereas I find some people like this abnormal).

Get back to your situation now:

Are you interested in working for an MLM company by the way? Are you aware of the process? What benefits has an MLM company got to provide in terms of learning, especially in the profile of Training & Development? Hope you collected the required information on that.

Now get back to what they offered you:

Hiring is not an easy process. People tend to look at other qualities they have in mind and try fixing the picture and the person (like a jigsaw puzzle). Make sure you re-evaluate yourself and see if what they have felt about your profile and assumptions on that make sense.

I completely agree with Soordass here because you will be the person who will decide to hire, train, and develop the network (or introduce strategies to develop the network). It's like an all-in-all role :-) Nothing wrong on their part.

However, what you need to do is analyze if this will benefit your career. See what their long-term goals are. Do they have any history of business in their track record to evaluate? Are they legitimate? Does the MLM seem to have any potential of surviving longer? Something reputable like Amway (or at least has a strong vision to become like one?)

You need to take a call. Nothing absurd about their offer. You need to analyze if this is something you can take forward.

Good Luck!

None of the above-mentioned individuals has provided you with a positive response, indicating there may be something suspicious regarding the company you are discussing. The rest is up to you; if you decide to proceed, ensure that you are prepared for whatever challenges may come your way.