Live Sales Staff is a company that has been in existence since 2006, based in Canada. They provide sales and support services to various clients throughout North America. I’ve been interested in learning more about this company because, as you may know, work at home chat jobs are fairly hard to come by. You actually can get paid to work at home as a chat agent for Live Sales Staff, but I did find some information online that may certainly turn some of you off the idea, so please read all the way through before you apply.
What You Do
As a chat specialist for Live Sales Staff, you work from home answering incoming chat requests from their clients. These chats might involve helping with appointment scheduling, tech support, or simply answering questions about products.
Qualifications
I can’t find any specific requirements as far as your past work history or education. You just need to be good at time management and multi-tasking and I would guess you need to know your way around a computer.
Training
According to a job listing that’s rather old (2009), you have to go through a two-week evaluation period where you’re introduced to the Live Sales Staff chat platform, shadowing another worker. After it has been determined you have what it takes to begin working, you can begin a 90-day probationary period. If you make it through that, you will be considered a full-time chat specialist for the company.
Pay
The old job listing I found as well as a few threads at WAHM.com indicate that your pay is a flat $500 per month during the 90-day training period. If you make it through the training period, it supposedly goes up, but to what I’m not sure. People have attempted to find out during the interview process, but no straight answer is typically given. However, it does appear to be based on your performance. All the company agrees to pay you is the $500 and some people have said there is no contract in place so they could possibly get by with not paying at all. I have read some people on the forums say they were paid and some were not, so be warned.
Hours
Live Sales Staff requires you work a lot of hours. They want people to work four days on, four days off and 8 to 12 hours shifts at that. It’s important to note that at just $500 a month during the training period, you are not going to make a lot of money. This is far less than minimum wage.
Feedback
If you want to know more about this job, definitely read through the threads below. A lot of people who went through the process of applying, being interviewed, etc. shared some good insight.
Make sure to read these as thoroughly as you can before applying so you know exactly what you are signing up for if you choose to do so, but also note the date on the threads. The information is old.
I did chat with someone at the company about a month ago to try and find out more about the job. However, the person I chatted with began asking me questions similar to what you’d get in a job interview. I felt as though I was being interviewed for the position when all I really wanted to do was find out more about it. I ended the chat and told them I didn’t want to interview, that I just needed info. I was then told to send an email to them to learn about the position. I did, but no one has responded yet.
Bottom Line
Unless you are OK with working for less than minimum wage during training and don’t mind not being guaranteed a higher rate of pay after the fact, you might want to pass. I had been wanting to learn more about Live Sales Staff for a while because I’m always on the lookout for chat jobs that are worthwhile so I can share them with you, but sadly this one may not be ideal (as most aren’t — Talk2Rep and G5 Live come to mind as other chat work that most say are dud jobs).
Update 2/12/13 – I did hear from a former worker of Live Sales Staff today who let me know that the job is stressful. Apparently most new workers are told they will be upgraded to $1,000 a month in pay after three months of working there and $2,000 per month after one year, but this did not happen for the person I conversed with. I also get the impression that a lot of things aren’t done fairly (some workers are asked to work unpaid overtime). However, the former employee said it’s not the worst job out there and it may be worth it if you are desperate for something.
If you have experience working for this company please share it! I am aware that the information I came across is a few years old. It would be great to learn that things have changed.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
After reading this I went to the site and chatted with someone hoping to get more details about this job. I do not the idea of only $500 a month for training, if it increased after that then it might be ok.
When I got to the site the chat rep gave me a mini interview almost asking a ton of questions. Then she said “We have chat positions opened in the following shifts. 4pm-12am MST or 12am-8am MST Which one would be suitable for you?” I tried to ask about what times training were and pay related things but she could not tell me. I did email off my resume, I guess if I get phone interview I can ask my other questions then.
Lee Ann recently posted..Payouts Feb 1st 2013
Thanks for sharing Lee Ann. If you go any further in the process, I’d love to hear what happens!
Hi I just wanted to let youknow what more I have learned. I got a email explaining more information in detail and the email was also to see if i wanted to continue on with an interview.
I learned that the job sounds very fast paced. They list strong typing skills and in brackets (Most of our staff type 120wpm) And you need to deal with 8-10 chats at once. Getting started you do job shadowing which is a 40 hour week unpaid. From this it sounds like they may or may not take you on for training depending how you do probably. The training period goes on for 3 whole months and during that time it appears you will have an 8 hour work day, 5 days a week. Sadly you will make a flat $500.00 and they only pay once a month.
After training you can earn $1,000 per month or more. After a year up to $2,000 per month. Keep in mind it is an independent contractor position so you will deal with your own taxes. I was really hoping to work with this company but I turned down the interview because I can’t do just $1,000 a month its not enough money. If I was in the position it would work but with debt and such it just is a poor pay structure. Plus 500.00 per month over the course of 3 months is just so low and they expect you to work full time, no thanks… Minimum wage where I live is 10.15 an hour or maybe more now. Ah well, I am sure it would work for certain people but not for me right now anyways.
Lee Ann recently posted..Payouts Feb 1st 2013
Thanks Lee Ann for sharing!