FDM Academy

dizzyrascal

Whilst I don't doubt that this scheme may suit some people. I think it is fair to warn people that it is not for everyone.
I notice that you also repeat the (much quoted)company line about the one disgruntled employee!!
Every company has lots of disgruntled employees but apparently FDM have only ever had one, even though their business model is a bit dubious (by my standards).
FDM are extremely sensitive about their image. Why is that I wonder?
I believe that they prey on unsuspecting graduates. Unlike other assessment centres, they will take you on if you are prepared to sign-up. It seems that you are unlikely to fail! That should make alarm bells ring for most people. Most assessment centres only take on the highest calibre of candidates, perhaps 1-2 out of the 12 they see at each session. Sometimes, no one gets through normal AC.

The question to ask yourself is, Would I let my children sign their contract? The answer for me is NO!
You may feel differently, that is your prerogative.

By the way, are you the person who PM'd me? But with a different name? Either way, you have both been blocked. I do not bow down to that sort of pressure. If you want to say something, do it out in the open.

ashleypride

tim_owen69 wrote: »

I have a CV which is impossible to shorten to smaller than 4 pages due to the sheer number of qualifications I have taken.

Impossible to shorten? With your low years of experience a 4 page CV is somewhat excessive. What are these wonderful qualifications that take up so much space?

dizzyrascal

Quite!
If PhD's can keep it to 2 sides with a long list of qualifications and papers published then so can anyone else.
Nobody would read a 4 page CV anyway so it is a waste of time. There is a reason for keeping to 2 pages, the boredom factor

DukeOfEarl

tim_owen69 wrote: »

As with all of you I am sure you have done your background research, which usually involves typing FDM into Google/Wiki and the likes. The first thing I saw was scam as well, but I was assured in the interview process that this wasn't the case and that it was mearly a disgruntled former trainee trolling the company. At no point did FDM guarentee me a job at the end of it,

From what I've seen tim it looks like a hell of a lot more than one disgruntled former trainee.

The huge penalty for failing to complete, unless FDM get rid of you (?) and the large cost of going training for months for no pay is not what I would expect from a reputable company.

zondajag

Its quite a crooked firm and really not worth the head ache if things don't work out, not to mention a complete waste of time.
Their entry requirement is a 2:1 now but i wouldnt advise going here if you have a degree from a university that is better than queen mary.
I trained in the App support stream and had interviews with top tier banks within weeks of being there. I had a 2:1 from a top university so i thought this was normal.
From a training perspective FDM provides basic training for 3 months (most of which you could teach yourself on the web). Sometimes this will be cut short if you get sent to a client quickly (but you wont get signed off by FDM automatically!). Once your courses are over and you have passed them you have to undergo further assessments to get a signing off this is after 3 months unpaid training. If you become signed off a 6month timer is started for FDM to get you placed somewhere otherwise your free to opt out of your training agreement with the firm which holds you to a 20grand fee for the fairly standard training you get there. If you dont get signed off and the client decides to send you back to FDM within 6 months you will NOT be paid as you are now just training again.

This is where things start getting dodgy. No matter how skilled you are they will try not to give you this sign off. Firstly you need to get sign offs from 3 different departments (training, sales, and department head).
You have to constantly hassle them for this and they will make excuses of being too busy. The training sign off is quite hard on purpose but as I read around the subjects I didn't have too much of an issue. Obtaining the other two sign offs are quite tricky. Firstly if you have been placed they sometimes fore go the Sales sign off altogether. The longer they keep you from being signed off the longer they can keep you under their thumb and the less the likelihood of them having to pay you if their deal with a particular client ends.
All levels of management are aware of this and this is one of the ways they exploit graduates. They will hold no sympathy for your financial problems.
I was there for close to 9 months during which time I was placed many times but the sales team failed to finalize anything and lied about it for a ridiculous amount of time (steer clear of a salesperson with a name that starts with an N and rhymes with !!!!!!).
Once you are placed you are not put in for further interviews until the salesperson deems the role to have fallen through (they will try to keep you to themselves so its in their best interest to pretend like everything is okay).
Overall I lost all of my savings in travel expenses and had nothing to show for it besides a 9 month black mark on my CV which doesn't amount to a lot in the end.
There are many like me that FDM like to sweep under the carpet. Be Warned. FDM is a shark pit (what their PR team did to the first few results of a google search of 'FDM' to cover their tracks is evident of this).

dizzyrascal

Thanks for this information. Nice to have some inside information from a genuine employee.
On a recent thread on this forum someone mentioned that contractors for London banks were getting up to £600 per day. In this case it would be FDM who collect that fee whilst their employees get a tiny percentage of that.
I hope the above poster finds a better employer very soon. At least your post can be helpful to others who might consider working for this company.

I fully expect a fictitious and scripted response from their PR people (sorry - happy employee) within 24 hours.

sab_23

tim_owen69

You say that a colleague of yours who is an FDM graduate has been offered £45,000 permanent contract from the firm that FDM placed him/her in. This can not be correct as it clearly states in FDM contract that after you finish their 2 year contract, you can not (for a year) work for any company(ies) that FDM have placed you in. Please read your contract again or verify this with them. The same clause will be in your placement's contract with FDM, stating that for a year they can not hire anyone that FDM has placed with them unless they money as commission.

DukeOfEarl

zondajag wrote: »

If you become signed off a 6month timer is started for FDM to get you placed somewhere otherwise your free to opt out of your training agreement with the firm which holds you to a 20grand fee for the fairly standard training you get there. If you dont get signed off and the client decides to send you back to FDM within 6 months you will NOT be paid as you are now just training again.

What do you mean by 'free to opt out'? You have gone God knows how long 'putting a shift in' without pay and then someone tells you that you are "free to opt out"

What about a job?

OHara13

This doesn't seem like a very balanced discussion - seems like anyone who says anything positive gets attacked.

dizzyrascal you must let me know where you are working - wish I had the time to write on forums as often as you. Let me know!

dizzyrascal

OHara13 wrote: »

This doesn't seem like a very balanced discussion - seems like anyone who says anything positive gets attacked.

dizzyrascal you must let me know where you are working - wish I had the time to write on forums as often as you. Let me know!

Why?
More importantly, where do you work?

If you look at most of my posts you will see that they are before or after working hours, I get up very early or post during my lunch break. Sometimes I read and post on my days off. Is this a problem to you?