Working at American Intercontinental University — Reviews by Employees

Working as an Admissions Advisor for AIU was an awful experience for me.

My biggest problem with AIU was the intense micromanaging. I have never been one to slack off or do things I shouldn’t at work, but they are almost unbearable about watching over your shoulder even if you don’t have anything to hide. You can barely step away from your desk to use the restroom without being bombarded with questions or a lecture on inefficiency. They listen in on all your calls with students, and even if you think you did a great job and made a great connection helping a student, they are quick to list off all the things you did wrong.

I once talked with a student for over an hour and had what seemed to me a very good conversation. After I got their enrollment (which is what my job was), I was given a “talking to” by our Assistant Manager who had listened in on my call. The hour long conversation with my AM consisted of him berating me for using the word “cool”. The student had said he was going to a baseball game with his family that weekend and I replied, “That’s cool.” This same student, in this same conversation, also told me a joke about breasts using the word “tits” at least 4 times, which I had to pretend to laugh at… but the word “cool” was considered unprofessional and I was never allowed to use it again.

The thing is, they claim this job is something that it is not. As others have said, this is a SALES job, but they try to pass it off as an Advising position. What AIU means by “advising” is actually pressuring people to go to school. I worked for a private university for 3 years as a Community Educator where I actually helped students. This is nothing like that, and should not be confused with it.

The training they give you is more or less 2 weeks of brainwashing. They bring people on in groups of 30-35 at a time with the intentions to fire 25-30 of them in a matter of months to make room for the next group.

My schedule there was Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 8am-7pm and Sunday from 10am-9pm. That meant no weekends off and no going to church or seeing family on Sundays. It was terrible.

The company itself is very inconsistent. There are things called “REDZONES”- which are things that you cannot tell students, and they change nearly every day. You will tell a student the length of the program and the next day that information will be a REDZONE because it’s not correct. Then you have to sugarcoat it or avoid talking about it with students from the previous days that you had already told that information to. You basically have to lie.

I have a lot of problems with the ethics of their recruiting methods. They want to you learn about students, not to help them – but to get information out of them that you can use to push them into enrolling (I actually wish I was exaggerating about this, but I used to cry all the time outside of work and sometimes there at work because I felt I was being so unethical by telling these things to students). I felt like I was being paid to deceive people, not help them.

****If you are being considered for TEMP-TO-HIRE please know this:****

In training or your interviews they claim that you will be reviewed after 90 days to decide on your status, but this is a blatant lie. I worked there for almost 7 months and they never gave me a review or any kind or spoke to me about permanent status or ending my temporary status (and this was the same for several advisors who I worked with there). I wanted to ask after 4 extra months went by after when I was suppose to have my review but they told me not to ask about temporary status or about becoming permanent because this could negatively affect my chances of becoming perm. This also struck me as suspicious.

Whether you are temp or perm, there is no job security at all. People were fired every day for no obvious reason whether they met their numbers or not.

The expectations are possible, but to me they were unreasonable to ask a person to do. In some cases you were supposed to call people who had asked for information 6 months to a year ago and youhad to cal them three times a day, every day, and leave messages... and unless they said the words “Do not call me” you had to keep calling and calling- which I consider harassment. I must say, I did slack off on doing this because it felt wrong calling these people so frequently. It was terrible.

Like one of the other reviewers, I also now work closely with the HR department in my current company, and it still upsets me how AIU manages to be such an unethical, inefficient, and unprofessional establishment.

For me, I felt it was a very unethical position with a lot of pressure and discomfort.

I was an Admissions Advisor at AIU Online for 7 months. If you are interested in becoming an Admissions Advisor at AIU, here are the things you need to know.

WHAT TYPE OF JOB IS THIS?

This is a sales position, and it is a tough job. You will have to meet or exceed monthly sales goals. These goals vary from month to month. You will be expected to be on the phone. You will be making outbound calls (80+) and taking inbound calls (20+). There is a tremendous amount of pressure placed on Admission Advisors to enroll students on the first call. Many of the students you talk to are people who responded to an online survey. So, they're not looking to sign up today and make the $25,000 commitment to going to college. Usually, enrolling a student is pretty hard. Get ready to be rejected almost all the time. AIU boasts a 99% rejection rate. This means that 99% of people you contact will say NO to you. Many people will just hang AIU claims there is no cold calling, and TECHNICALLY they're right. However, many of the people in your lead management software are NOT expecting a call from you. Expect to hear a lot of people respond, "What is AIU Online?"

WHAT ARE THE HOURS LIKE?

There is almost no such thing as working a standard Mon.-Fri. 8:00-5:00pm schedule at AIU. You WILL be working evenings and weekends. My schedule was Mon.-Thurs. 11:00-8:00pm and Sat. 11:00-8:00pm. Every other week, we switched Saturday with a Friday. There are some 4-day schedules where you work Wed.-Sat. 8:00am-7:00pm. Your schedule will switch every 6 months. The best schedules go to the Advisors with the best sales numbers.

WHAT IS THE BUSINESS CULTURE LIKE?

High pressure. Basically, you are there to hit or exceed your numbers. You are there to "bring in the business" and earn revenue for the school. That's it. As long as you hit your monthly goals, you keep your job. If you don't hit your goals, there will be consequences. If you miss once, your manager will give you an informal, verbal warning. If you miss twice, you will get a written warning. Once you get a written warning, you must hit your goal 3 consecutive times to be removed from "disciplanary action". If you miss 3 times, you will get a final written warning. Basically, if you miss 3 times, your chances of keeping your job are slim to none. So, if you're someone who values job security, this is NOT a good job for you.

CAN I ACHIEVE MY GOALS?

Yes, but it's HARD. Consider AIU Online's prospective customers. Most of the people that AIU markets to are people who NEED college degrees. Ever see one of those Facebook ads that say "College Grants for Dads Who Made Less Than $40,000 Last Year"? That's an example of how AIU markets to people. There is NO such grant. It's just a hook to get someone to fill out a survey and their information goes into AIU's lead aggregator. 9 out of 10 customers you talk to are ONE of the following:
a) unemployed
b) on SSI or disability income
c) looking for a degree that AIU doesn't offer
d) don't have $50 for an application fee

The biggest objection you will hear from prospective students is "I don't have $50 for the application fee." In other words, these students are flat broke and their solution is "Hey, I'll get my degree and then I'll have money." Well, they don't realize that getting your degree is a difficult, long process.

Personally, I did not like this job. That's why I left. Don't be fooled, it is sales. It's nothing like an admissions position at a "real" university.

I can't take much away from the university as a whole besides the admissions standards, but being an admissions advisor here is a joke. You talk to incompetent potential students 80% of the time, and upper management/trainers treat advisors like children. From where the "university" was headed after probation it seems is comming full circle. High pressure environment to work in and forget about working overtime to try and enroll your monthly quota not only of students enrolled, but started in class as well. The pay here is decent but i'd look the other way if you think your going to get any satisfaction out of your job. People who are doing all they can, who have worked here for years, hitting their numbers more times than not are being put on corrective action for missing their monthly numbers. Bad energy comming out of this place.

Pay is okay, Benefits are decent. Most of the people are nice, but the upper management is iffy at best. They treat the employees like children. They tell you that you are an admissions advisor, but really your just an over-paid call center employee. There are always secrets floating around about what management is going to do next and getting a straight answer out of anyone is nearly impossible. Most people with degrees from traditional schools either quit with in 6 months or are management. Anyone that stays usually has a degree or has received their degree from AIU, Phoenix ETC. Another problem is that the admissions standards for students trying to enroll are a joke. People are enrolled that can't even type a few sentences explaining why the want to go to school. If you can walk, chew gum and pay a 50 dollar application fee then you are accepted. "changing lives", its more like get students to enroll, student defaults on loans because they can't pay them back, university loses funding from the GOV't and then keeps up with the same. Though it is an accredited university, if this is ever going to be a truly legit university there has to be some sort of standards before a student can be accepted. All in all.... Pay/Benefits are pretty decent. Job itself, people that you talk to on the phones is a joke.

Love It. The enviroment is changing for the better after some rocky roads.

This is a company has always had a high pressure environment. They are falling behind their competition and are trying to catch up on the backs of their employees. Benefits and salary are still decent but declining. Work/Life Balance is not a consideration. University employees are treated like call center employees.

I worked at the sister school of lovely CTU, which is pretty much the same as AIU. I worked there for 2 years, and I still have no idea how I lasted that long! The pay was okay, benefits were okay, but the job was awful! There is absolutely no job security. Turnover rate is extremely high. My title was "Admissions Advisor", but it should have been "Unethical Sales Person." All management cared about was getting people enrolled and getting their money. They claim we are "helping people" but that can't be further from the truth. They didn't care what you had to do to get someone enrolled. Management is a joke. They are managers because they were good sales people, not because they know how to manage people. I now work in HR, and looking back I cannot believe that company is able to run like it does with all the workplace violations and unethical behavior. Bottom line, if you have a "real" degree or any skills, hold out for a better offer, this job is not worth it!

Ok, where do I start!!!The pay was good, but last time I checked you will not be there long enough to enjory it, because you will be either working there long late hours, where you get home at 9pm and then think about eating and finally go to bed at 12am to only wake up to go back to work at 8 or 9am, because of course you schedule changes everyday, so you get no time to make up for the sleep you did not get last night. Oh, did I mention the Saturday work. If you think you have job secruity then you have not been there long enough. Wait till Christmas time when they start letting your coworkers go,everyday, until it is you. I am a college grad, and I do not mean AIU. I went to a real college that was not on probation, which they did not mention in my training class. That would have been useful information since I was on the phones for about 3 weeks before finding this information out from a prospective student. AIU sucks and if you have a college degree, do not waste your time with this company. Just wait it out til a better company finds you. It will save you a lot of time and you will not have to go through the ring. Good Luck

the pay was fine the location is good and the benefits are substatial. as for the university itself. its inside motto is to simply get people to enroll. students, often refered to as leads are nothing more than dollar signs. all employees that make it there are because they are idiots. the bosses drink on lunch hours and do nothing. the worst part is, they rope you in with a decent salary, and than let you got for no reason. oh, but its ok, if you work at the call center that is aiu, you can make it to being the manager of hte call center.