My name is Harry Karnofsky and have been in corporate executive management roles in 4 of the largest recruitment advertising agencies nationally for 40+ years. I have had a business relationship with Roberta Renard for more than 30 years, and have respected her business ethics as well. I have been retired since 2000, and not once have I heard anything negative about Ms. Renard. We often discussed joining her but could not move east from California. Harry Karnofsky harrykarnofsky@comcast,net read more

Do not consider employment with this company. Here's my story: The company name is Renard Communications and they are based in Springfield, NJ. They publish a product called Diversity/Careers in Engineering and Information Technology. I am writing because I am not the only one this has happened to but perhaps the first who has come forth to voice the misrepresentation and unethical practices of this company by it's publisher, Roberta Renard. I was hired as an Account Executive with the anticipated start date of May 13, 2013. I left my former employer on May 7th for this opportunity as it appeared to be more financially lucrative, however I had some skepticism from the start because she refused to furnish me with an offer letter which committed her to agreed terms and start date. Be that as it may, I accepted and was looking forward to starting this new opportunity which I found on a niche media website. On May 8th, one day after my last day at my former employer, Roberta (publisher) contacted me to say that because of deadlines of their current issue, she would have to postpone my start date to May 20th. Disappointed, I had no choice but to accept. Around May 15th, she called me again to say that she had to push my start date yet again to May 31st. I was very frustrated as I had left my prior employer on May 7th, had forgone any commissions I could have earned had I stayed 2 weeks longer and now was told that for the same reason - deadlines - I had to wait until the 31st. I had no choice but to accept. Did she not realize the implications of starting a new employee in the throws of deadlines in the first place? Once on board (finally) I began to be trained to sell their product. Was given a list of companies to pursue - majority with no business contacts or phone numbers which I had to research on my own. I ultimately was scrutinized for spending too much time on the computer and not enough on the phone. The computer time was to research contacts and build my database which there was virtually none after 20 years in business. I then insisted that if she wanted me to spend more time on the phone that she would have to provide me with the contacts and phone numbers that I can call upon. She finally did however many of the names and numbers were old and required updating. In trying to keep with her demands of "staying on the phone". I would call and ask for people who may or may not have still been with the company, retired or passed away. I had to conduct research in order to avoid such embarrassment. Selling to human resource professionals, planting "seeds" and building relationships in this industry takes time. After 2.5 weeks under her employ, she told me it "wasn't working out". I was upset because I left a good company to come here for a "better opportunity" and she had unrealistic expectations of how long a sale, from cold leads, should take to materialize. I expressed my frustration and told her that she needs to give me more time. She agreed to give me 7 more business days but the reality was only 3. After only 3 weeks of employment, the ad director (she wasn't even "woman enough" to do this herself) told me that as per her instruction, they had to let me go. He also told me that she "does this all the time" and "most people don't make it to 3 weeks if they don't produce an ad". The other Account Executive was told by Roberta that "making your goal doesn't guarantee you employment here". She was given a warning too after 8 weeks and that's after making her goal and selling ads into the next issue. The ad director said that she requires an ad sold within 2 weeks which I told him I was given 3 months probation and never informed of this other practice. He said the job is "not a long term gig and the longest anyone lasted was 1 year". I told them during my interview that I was looking for a long term opportunity. They never spelled out these strict guidelines. Many before me have lost their jobs after leaving other jobs and I don't want to see her do this to anyone else. In this job climate, especially in the business of advertising sales, this is unethical and unfair. She should not be allowed to do this to anyone anymore. read more