Ok; let me just tell you how Visiongain works.
The business model is simple. There are two kinds of jobs at Visiongain; report writers (analysts) on the one hand, and report sellers (telesales and e-marketing) on the other.
The company writes market reports (about 150-200 pages of charts and data, mainly just guff info. that anyone with two minutes on their hands could find off Google), and then sells them as pretty-looking, neatly-packaged 'market reports' on to their various more-money-than-sense clients in industries such as defence, pharmaceuticals and suchlike who wouldn't bat an eyelid at dusting off £5000 on a report that turned out to be completely useless.
Essentially, the point that I'm making is that the reports don't have to be any good, because the people Visiongain are actually selling them to (mid-to-high level execs with 'use-it-or-lose-it' budgets) are spending someone else's money (and whilst £1700-5000 might be a fortune to you and me, its nothing to the likes of AstraZeneca or Lockheed Martin).
This is why Visiongain can hire graduates on £20k p/a rather than the experienced, thirty-something-year-old industry experts that you'd expect a proper research analyst to be; the products that they're selling don't *have* to be written by an expert because the people buying them don't *care*. In that sense, fair play, the company has managed to nail a rather dubious niche in the market.
The knock-on from that of course is that if you ask for a raise, you'll simply be told that you can quit at any time because the job you're actually doing isn't in the least bit challenging, and Visiongain will have no trouble whatsoever replacing you. (Visiongain has profited massively from the recession and the resulting oversupply of graduate labour).
A similar principle applies to both the sales teams. Neither are really doing particularly difficult work given that the sales method is essentially spamming repeatedly for new prey or squabbling away with an existing customer who might be coming close to the end of their tether. Again, if you want to make it in business-to-business sales, then you'll be able to get *something-ish* on the CV whilst working at Visiongain, but of course targets are completely unattainable.
Nevertheless, Visiongain's gravy train is coming towards the end of the line. The company has had to dip into savings for several months of this year in order to pay their staff, and with the economic recovery finally starting to take hold, their ever-lasting supply of desperate graduates is drawing to a close.
All I can really say in finishing up is that if you are desperate for some kind of job and you do apply for the low-paid-but-easy-work of Visiongain, then for the love of God, don't think that this'll be any different for you. They will have no qualms about directly lying to you about an increasing salary and potential for career development whilst slotting you in as another replaceable cog in the machine.
That means clocking in and clocking out like a 1950's factory worker, that means no talking in the office, that means no use of office milk for cereal and that means no use of office plugs to charge your phone (as both are laughably considered expenses to the company).
As I say, if, given all of this, you still want to apply, then go ahead. You will be meeting some fantastic young people there that Visiongain don't in the least bit deserve that might make your time there slightly bearable.
Just know what you're letting yourself in for.
