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Davies - not Davis
Cardiff 1 Maybe that's why you can't find me sweetheart X

I went into GDS cardiff completely mis-sold! I was interviewed by John Walder who later that very same day told me that I actually had the job. The first week went ok for me personally, I made many new friends through training and the staff appeared to be friendly and willing to help. During the first week John booted off one girl who had already told her friends and family elated that she had a job with a really "cool" company and was naturally upset to find out that the job wasn't really hers to begin with... that was also the other 12 guys' indication of what had really happened. On the last day of training another girl was booted off being promised that she could come back a week later when another group come in.... She never recieved any call.... Became depressed and ended up going on JSA. However the problems had barely begun.

During my second week and by now with my own team I started to find my leads and make calls.... I was even instructed by a member of staff how to actually call my leads and make a pitch.... It involved a lot of deceit which even John himself advocated and laughed at, even making a passing comment about how one guy in the company implcitly lied to a CEO's wife that her husband was involved in a serious accident. The most pathetic and common one however was the old blackberry gag, I recall one girl named nadia constantly using it and getting really pissed off at the secretaries when they wouldn't give in. I mean for crying out loud, they are secretaries they have every right to not give us anything and why should they?! I would do the same if I were them.

I even recall one dedicated employee telling me "you are not paid to talk to secretaries", quite true, but I was also not told that I had to lie and deceit them in order to get through. This job was "soul destroying" as one of my colleagues put it, altogether we began as 14 from the first week and I watched that number drop day by day until I left. Towards the end me and some of the others from our training group used to get together and talk about our feelings towards the company and our plans to leave for good. What finally tipped me over the edge was knowing that I couldnt [***] my way through the company any longer, when I walked out I had Oliver Smart down my back ordering everyone to just "pitch" and that was all that he wanted to hear from us.... For one, I hate lying. Two, It was a waste of perfectly decent leads. And three, why attempt to get through a whole pitch to people who are clearly not interested in what you have to say. E.g. The secretary doesnt make the company's decsions and even if they did but not interested, then what?

I remember the boiler room setting, I remember people pitching underneath tables, I remember my team leader openly talking about the drugs he takes, I remember the abuse we got if we weren't getting through to CEO's, I remember the huge staff turn around, I remember the senior staff turning into dicks after training week. I even remember saying goodbye to people on a friday evening anticipating that I would see them on Monday to be told their absence was regarding "company politics"... And yes, it was the same response to any individual that happened to. I remember on the first day everybody from my training group was so happy that they landed this "career", which ended up with almost everyone criticizing it. But one thing I ask everyone to remember is dont work or do business with tgis horrible company!

do people currently at GDS read this?

What makes you say that?

Even if they did and got to know who I am, so f**king what?! They can't do anything to me! To be fair though, I can't say that everybody there were evil con artists, in fact the company did have a lot of good people there whom I think were genuinely nice and really did make an effort to bond with their subordinates, I would say Ray Davies is one of them, Roachy was another and even John Walder was a really nice guy, in fact probably one of the nicest guys in the whole company, I just don't agree with any of their work ethics and I'm not sure whether the correct type of morality is embedded in them, for that however I blame the company not them. I just think they are victims of this company and like all people wanted to some good earn money and were good and making it. I must say that there were a few members of senior staff particularly from Bristol that I didn't like, not to mention some of the annoying team leaders from Cardiff 1 and Cardiff 2. I worked in Cardiff for just over 6 weeks, I wouldn't say it was hell, but certainly not worth the train journey from Swansea every day.

Great read! as a former GDS employee who left on his (or her?) own terms I'm loving the attempts to play down the chatter by Bex.  A valiant attempt but Web 3.0 is not good news for GDS (or similar companies) These conversations are only going to increase I'm afraid

On the plus side, Bex, you'll have no problems getting a new job!  the skills learnt at GDS are invaluable.

For anyone reading this who's just been pitched and is doing some research- it really is as bad as it sounds.  Don't spend your budget on this stuff.  Can't talk about events as only worked on publications but when I think about what I used to sell; how I was told to sell, it makes my skin crawl.  I do miss the office banter though

I worked at GDS for about 6 months and though it was fun at times i hated the actual job, its was basically being a telemarketer who yells at people..pretty pathetic. When I quit my manager, Frodo begged me to stay and even got me a deal on my last day trying to change my mind. I denied this offer. Though some people are nice and I loved the group I worked with the stories of drugs and alcohol are 100% true and so are the lies that you tell to try to sell people. The publications are fake there is no circulation, I know this for a fact since when a new publication was announced I was sitting next to my coworkers as they made up circulation numbers and people to use. The whole place is a sham. I dont know how they stay afloat but it will be busted sooner or later. I mean look there is no one over 30 that works in the NYC office. I cant speak for the UK offices since I have never been there. But doesn’t that tell you something about your future? The fact the 80% of the staff is between 21-28 years old. Chances are you wont be there long. The turnover rate is insane. Being there for 6 months my group was like a revolving door people would come work for a day or a week and then just quit or get fired. It was sad. Now that I have been out of that atmosphere I realized what having a real job is. I don’t get yelled at by my boss to stand and lie and im also not watching people drink Jameson whiskey under their desks. To all of those at GDS who haven’t realized it yet will realize it at some point.

Is Harry Zapata still there?   I remember him from the NYC Office.  He was the worst of them all!

do u know where ben gibbs is..or dr.ben, he works for gds?? got a message from him yesterday??is he a fake DR.

I'm pretty sure Dr Ben is not a real Dr....and probrably not even called Ben.

I`ve been considering a job position with GDS & I was pretty excited about it, but I`ve just found this site with all these confusing & horrible comments & testimonies about the company & thats now put me in a very doubtfull position. It`s usually said not to listen to others, specially when the opinions are so mixed. I`ve always been told to try it for myself to see what its like, but I really dont know what to do at this stage. I was about to quit my job soon to try GDS, but it seems like I`m gonna have to put that on hold until I do some more research on the matter. Can anyone enlighten me any further on this subject please ?! Shall I try it out for myself or not ?! What do you advise ? Thank you.

Job Hunter - if you have read this blog and cannot work out what is going on there you won't last 3 weeks.  Keep flipping the burgers.

keep your self esteem and find a real job.

Hey Job Hunter,

I currently work at GDS, and yeah it is bloody hard work, even though the logistics of it should really be quite simple. Im not sure about the things which have been said on here about scams or whatever, all I can say is this place isn't for everyone. You DO have to find your own people to call in your own time (I spent 8 hours this BH 'lead sourcing') and if you don't have people to call it's your own fault and there's no sympathy. People will give you advice and stories to use to get hold of a 'cheese' but you don't have to use them (makes it harder mind), you can just be honest and there are some secretaries who'll appreciate it and put you through...it's not going to get you a mobile number but it might earn you 10 minutes on the phone. Then it's up to you to turn that 10 into 20 or 30 by giving a good pitch.

The people here are what make the place, for a most part they're a really good bunch and every day is a laugh. I guess they have to make it a fun environment otherwise so many more people would leave! I've done some really fun jobs, but have never had a space hopper race round the office on a Friday afternoon till I came here.

So in a nutshell, maybe go to whichever office you were thinking of working for and ask to look around? I spent a good while walking round during my interview, and spoke to a few of the employees, friends of mine in other offices went and socialised with them on a Friday to get the real low down (drunk employees = good snooping!) before working there. Everyone will tell you it's hard, at times [***] and does involve swallowing morals if you don't want to make your life more difficult, they're telling you the truth, but for some reason Im still here, and most days have something to smile about, even if it's just office banter.

Only you can know if GDS is for you and what your experience will be. I've tried to be honest with my experience, not going to say this place is a magical land of awesomeness, but it's not the first step to the firey gate of hell either!!

I'd say this sums it up really well :) http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/GDS-international-Reviews-E149603.htm

I heard A 34 year old cop actually went in undercover at the NYC office to help stop the operation and discovered fraud and is bringing the ROb davies guy on fraud, the english guy named "deeds" was tipped off and got himself fired...

Not 1 real complaint on this board, just badly written, unintelligent posts/personal attacks. GDS have been around for years and probably will continue for years. Where are the advertiser complaints? Why do their products keep selling? They just opened Asia and show more signs of growth.

Why all the beef with GDS? Are you rival comp or disgruntled x employees? Whatever you are trying to achieve hasn't worked very well and the manners shown here are disgraceful.

Go watch "The Corporation" for white collar crime, GDS sell advertising and events, thats it.

I heard "Deeds" is now working for CDM Media in Hawaii.  The company is run by ex-GDSers, I believe.  Or maybe it is a GDS with a new phoney name to stay one foot ahead of the law?

former GDS NY

Not one real complaint well that's depending on your ethics and moral standards...Badly written well considering most come from legitimate business people and ex GDSesrs themselves kinda strage. The only thing unintelligent is defending a company that Sells on lies, dosen't deliver leads, craps and plagiarizes their content (from Gartner and others) and then justifies everything it does by the amount of time they've been conning and the money they've been stealing.

The beefs with GDS are basically because of their bait and switch tactics that they love to use on everybody from selling B2B to their new recruits...Just take a good hard look at their World Wide Sales Director. First week GDS suck you in with Boiler Room jargon, everyone is super duper nice, about second week you will be given some targets, third week leads begin disappearing & managers start harassing female trainees...then the lying is intensified, throw some coke into the equation, some utter and complete ignorance and there it is the infamous GDS culture.

Not a real business, not even a real Corporation so forget your reference..... GDS is run by amateurs, horn dogs, coke heads and egocentric [***] not sophisticated enough for anything but lying on the telephone....And their Circulation is a sham, endorsements and the names they drop are pure scamming, pitches are lies, journals don't go out!!!!.

GDS sells a concept of advertising that simply does not exist! So in effect they sell an image of themselves that they themselves invented for money which in the end is an empty, counter productive and flawed investment for any serious business person to consider.

Good Luck getting those mobile numbers!

I thought this site was to tell you who called from a number... Not unsubstantiated rumour, personal attacks and general whining from ex-employees. This site is incredibly un-credible!