the guillibility of the young, and taking advantage

[timwilky]

Well my lad has been unemployed for 6 months and answered an advert from a company offering plumbing training.

He has just come back from his interview, enthusiastic. He has to pay them £4,000 for a 1 year training course and at the end the guarantee him a job.

So David, where are you going to get this £4,000 from. Can you not lend it me.

What are you going to live on for the year whilst you are training? dunno.

How can they guarantee a job, Wayne (family friend) is a plumber and had no work for the past 2 months? They are also an agency and work with loads of firms.

He thinks we are stupid and spoiling his chances of getting a job.

I could happily thump the parasites who pray on innnocent kids like this

Couldn't he just go to college anyway and live on the 4 grand he would have paid for the other course.
Too many plumbers around now anyway, might want to consider something else ?

What sort of qualification does that give him? Find out then call some prospective employers as if you've already done it and see what they make of it.

[timwilky]

It is worse than I thought. Just a 3 month course. Apparently you get appropriate C&G, gas cert etc. But how the heck after 3 months training can you compete against a time served etc.

Daft sod is kicking, talking about getting a credit card and paying on that. Even though he has just had a threatening letter from his mortgage co

Originally Posted by timwilky

It is worse than I thought. Just a 3 month course. Apparently you get appropriate C&G, gas cert etc. But how the heck after 3 months training can you compete against a time served etc.

Daft sod is kicking, talking about getting a credit card and paying on that. Even though he has just had a threatening letter from his mortgage co

I find it hard to imagine getting a gas safe cert after 3 months, if you do thats pretty good but experience counts as well.
I'm not a qualified plumber, (builder) i do **** loads of plumbing, 25+ bathrooms a year and some of the work i have seen by qualified plumbers is poor, so qualifications are only part of it.

[timwilky]

I could scream. He is downstairs arguing with everyone that we are not being fair. He is wearing rose tinted specs. They have told him he will be on 40k so will be able to repay the costs etc. If we give him the chance to do it.

My bro is/was a builder (contract manger) until he was laid off in Jan. the industry is on its knees and these clowns are offering unemployed retraining in construction skills with guaranteed work placements at 40k. I cannot understand how.

why don't you give them a call yourself tim and play you're interested

you can ask all the questions and find out first hand

Wouldn't touch it with a barge pole, i've just done a 1 year intense course to get my Gas Safe qualification so to do that and plumbing and get hands on experience (which you need for NVQ3 Gas) is impossible.

Training will be geared towards passing him rather than training him and employers know that.

[Spiderman]

Deep breaths Tim old boy. there will always be sharks around to prey on the vulnerable with promises of a better future...just to take their money.

Tell him this short story and see if he sees the similarity... about 7-8yrs ago i was looking for a new direction. Saw an ad for IT training wiht a guranteed job at the end of it. Defered payments till you started earning and even access to the Govts loan scheme for training. Max Govt would give for any course was £8k. Guess what, the 6 month course cost exactly £8k. Hmmmm.
I passed on the idea as a better offer came up but always kept an eye on the firm. The course was to gain an MCSE qualification. Halfway thru the course Microsoft said the MCSE basically wan't worth anything anymore cos too many people held the qualification. The course went on regardless and from what i heard the firm offering the training and guaranteed jobs just decided to shut up and declare bust.
So no jobs and noone to sue but a big old loan to pay back to the Govt.

Its really not his fault Tim, they make it sound so appealing and easy he REALLY does think he'd be a fool not to go for it. I feel for him cos i know where he is right now in his mind, i've been there and those rose timted glasses cn be a bitch to take off...especially when times are hard and everyone is struggling.

HTH

Originally Posted by 600+

why don't you give them a call yourself tim and play you're interested

you can ask all the questions and find out first hand

+1 seems like the most sensible idea