Should you sign up with an advance-fee career-marketing company?

These organizations can promise to connect candidates with high-level positions that haven't been advertised in return for receiving large fees charged at the beginning of the process -- from $2,000 to as much as $30,000. The companies' sales pitches may suggest that candidates will find good jobs in a few months. Disappointed customers who don't receive the job leads they're expecting rarely get back the money they paid.

But what really happens after candidates pay their fees? What do the firms deliver? To what degree are the employees at such organizations involved in the deception?

A former career counselor offered to give us a rare glimpse into the inside practices at one such firm. The company has offices in multiple cities. This professional resigned her job because she feared her reputation would be damaged if she stayed with the company.

She has a master's degree and more than a dozen years' experience in the field. She asked that her name and the name of her former employer not be used.

I was a career consultant. I evaluated clients' education and work background, personal and professional situation and goals. I then worked with them individually to develop their written materials, presentation, communication, and interviewing skills. We also developed personal marketing plans and worked on such issues as getting a prospective employer's attention and interest. Other topics included determining their market value and negotiating employment packages. Each client presented a unique set of circumstances and problems, which made the work interesting.

To my knowledge, prices varied depending on the length of services a client could select. I believe this translated to a choice of contracts of between one and three years' length at a cost of between $5,000 and $10,000.

Clients were unhappy whenever there was a discrepancy between their expectations and the services that were outlined. For example, some clients seemed to expect access to a special network of insiders in companies or to unadvertised jobs. At first, some comments sounded like nonsense or wishful thinking, but different customers at different times mentioned similar themes. As time went on, the comments became more common, and complaints escalated about the differences between the promises made during the sales process and the reality of the services that we were able to deliver.

Since I was never at any of the sales meetings, I don't know firsthand what promises were made. I suspect it varied depending on what the salesperson thought the client wanted or needed to hear. The salespeople seemed to be consistently inconsistent in exactly what they said, so it was confusing for clients as well as counselors. In my initial meetings with clients, I would go through a checklist of activities and information that we would be covering. Later in the process, clients would sometimes verbalize some previously unstated expectations and the timing of results they had been promised. By this time, the salesperson was usually out of the loop, so it seemed like either the counselor wasn't performing or the client had erroneous perceptions.

When I first asked a salesperson what was said, I was reprimanded and shown a sample dialogue that the salespeople were supposed to follow, informing clients about our services. The reality was that whatever occurred in sales meetings went on behind closed doors. I was told that it wasn't my place to question this part of the organization if I hoped to keep my job. The best I could do was help clients as much as possible. The vast majority were unemployed and needed a lot of help. Most clients' written and verbal communication skills were surprisingly inadequate.

The sales and counseling personnel were distinctly separate departments, so for a while I didn't know how customers were acquired. As time went on, I noticed a couple of small ads in the help-wanted section of the newspaper that included names of two of the sales people in our company. The ads were recruiting "Executive Talent" with the salesperson's name and our fax number.

I later learned the firm collected resumes from Internet job-bank sites and then sent e-mail messages to the resume addresses. Another method was a referral technique. The company hired someone off-site to make the initial e-mail contact. They would say something like: "I've seen your resume, and I know someone who might be interested. You should call 'so and so' (a salesperson at the given phone number) and mention my name." The off-site person's name was fictitious, but the company and the salespeople knew how the lead was generated.

The average working adult is never more vulnerable than when they have lost a job. For men, work is a primary source of identity. Women base their identity on relationships, and often their job and workplace is a source of emotional support and enhanced self-esteem.

Without a job and steady income, the things we take for granted come into question and jeopardy. Fear can run rampant. Relationships are under magnified stress during unemployment as spouses and families struggle with lack of control and can't help in a meaningful way.

Upper management was not responsive to my questions or sympathetic to any dissatisfaction customers expressed. Eventually, some clients would tell me what exactly was said in the sales process. This obviously created many tricky customer-service problems that I could not fix.

I felt top management's choices regarding customer service were not consistent with professional career practices as well as my values and ethics. I also feared for my professional reputation in the community, as well as eventual and possible implication in legal action by clients (although I was not directly responsible for the complaints and charges). The risks of staying outweighed the returns.

It's impossible for me to calculate. I would estimate approximately 30% to 40% of my clients found jobs within a year.

It seemed to me that the contract was a device used to paralyze clients if they became dissatisfied. The company would fall back on the response, "you signed a contract, no refunds." Some clients were successful in getting their money back if they were incredibly insistent and persistent and didn't give up, regardless of the company's rhetoric.

The company seemed to provide as many delays, miscommunications and stalling tactics as it could. I thought their business practices in this regard were particularly unprofessional, unethical and demeaning. Only when clients threatened serious legal action would it capitulate. In return, the client would have to sign a nondisclosure agreement that would effectively hush the matter and protect the company from future negative publicity.

Be suspicious whenever you are asked to pay a large sum in advance for professional services. Be wary if you're contacted by someone you didn't seek out. Also be aware of salespeople who use pressure tactics. Question everyone's motives. Pay attention to your initial impressions. Don't believe everything they hand you.

I think it's important to do comparison-shopping and become informed consumers about the types of career firms and services in your area and the qualifications of their professionals.

You should get three to four personal references and run an Internet search about a potential service. Don't make impulsive decisions or respond quickly to pressured sales techniques. Ask lots of questions and write down the answers. Find out where the company got your name. The Internet is a free-for-all zone, and unscrupulous people can get access to materials you distribute that way. Consider a company's overhead and how it manages to keep the lights on. You can always hire a professional on an hourly basis rather than having to pay a large fee in advance.

Finally, share your situation and questions with people you know well, respect and can trust.

Word-of-mouth is a worthwhile source. A highly reputable individual or firm will provide references of satisfied customers. Salespeople at my former employer rarely asked me to give names of satisfied customers to them for use as references. The reason was that customers were shown a big book of written testimonials from clients. These comments were solicited after a client's initial meeting with a career counselor when their enthusiasm and energy were high. Most prospective clients never thought to question these testimonials.

Find out what professional local organizations the firm is affiliated with. As for the Better Business Bureau, my employer managed to get all customer complaints to the BBB sent to the office in the city where the headquarters was located. That way, complaints about some offices were never registered with that city's BBB, and customers checking up on the firm there wouldn't know of them.