What I wish was different
I applied to Parabolic LLC at the beginning of the Fall Quarter around August 2022. The job posting on Handshake indicated that it is a career-coaching start-up and they offer flexible hours and a competitive wage for their interns ($40/hr). I received a phone call from the Founder and CEO as a preliminary interview. They asked me questions related to my experience, why I would want to work for their company, and what type of position I see myself taking at Parabolic LLC. I gave a presentation to one of the hiring managers as a supplement to the hiring process and awaited a few weeks for them to get back to me on whether or not I was hired. At the beginning of September, I received an offer letter from them indicating the specifics of the position and what my compensation would look like. The first yellow flag I encountered was that the compensation seemed to be a commission-based salary, which is something I was not looking for as a full-time student looking for a part-time paid position. I brought this up to the higher-ups and asked them to clarify what my pay would exactly look like. They actually said that as an intern I would only be making $25/hr and I would only be certified to work 10 hours a week ($1000 a month). This was my first sign of caution because this totally differed from the $40/hr salary that was marketed on their job posting on Handshake. However, I decided to take the job anyway and see how everything would play out. The following week after accepting the offer. The new interns were "onboarded" with an online presentation about why we should work for Parabolic, how their company differs from others, and what we can gain for Parabolic. Everything seemed fine being that the work seemed legit; until our direct report (supervisor) was no longer going to be a part of Parabolic after the interns were just hired. Second yellow flag. As the weeks continued, I carried on with doing my 10 hours a week for Parabolic. Then it was time to be personally onboarded by the CEO and Founder. We went over my strengths and interests and what type of position I see myself taking at Parabolic in the future (Product Management, Business Operations, etc). The meeting was actually going great until the Founder said something really unsavory to me. He said that Parabolic is looking for Virtual Assistants off-shore (predominantly assistants from the Philippines) and that he planned on only paying them $5/hr for nearly 50hrs of work a week. This was a major red flag to me because one: it was inappropriate to bring this up to an intern and two: I don't think that the CEO/Founder knew that I was Filipino myself. I found this VERY unethical and highly unprofessional. As well as, he mentioned that I was actually the only intern at Parabolic who was going to be on salary - which I was I was NOT informed of this before I accepted the offer. Fast forward to now, after working about 20-30 hours in total for Parabolic LLC, I asked the higher-ups about the procedures for payroll and when I should expect my first paycheck. After certifying my hours with the CEO/Founder, he actually decided to let me go because "At this stage, it does not make sense for us to bring on interns during finals and winter break. Only hiring full-time employees going forward". I was not offered an exit interview or a proper procedure for being laid off. They deleted my work email and I have not heard from them since regarding my pay.
