work placement or work slavement ? 5 November 2010 at 11:39AM in Employment, Jobseeking & Training 164 replies 13.3K views

cindy101

Hi all was looking for some advice regarding work placement ,
I have been out of work a while now and desperatly seeking,
i went job center other day to find out if any local supermarkets are hiring and turns out one is and its quite local to me ,

I filled in 2 forms and was told i must start at 10pm till 7am working between 7 and 10 days and it would be over 16 hours,

then told that i will receive NO PAY for any work as its a work placement,, but was assured that their are jobs available at this store and if im good and work hard i could get the job,,

my thing is,, how many people are starting this and how many jobs are available?
is it even legal to make someone work full time for a week with no pay just to get a job?

seems i now have heard of 2 major supermarket chains are doing this now is it really the only way to get a real job these days or is it pure slave labor,,

i am only recieving carers allowance for my disabled son as my partner works, and for me working full time even for no pay i would have to tell careers and will loss my money for that week as i cant be available to look after my son for the amount of hours required as i'll be working for free in the hope of getting a job,,

please has anyone ever gotten a real job this way?,
my sheer desperation is forcing me to do it as we are seriously struggling on just one wage coming in,, my partner only gets £1000.00 a month and rent and council tax is costing us nearly £700.00 of that, any advice plz,

PARIS_5000

cindy101 wrote: »

Hi all was looking for some advice regarding work placement ,
I have been out of work a while now and desperatly seeking,
i went job center other day to find out if any local supermarkets are hiring and turns out one is and its quite local to me ,

I filled in 2 forms and was told i must start at 10pm till 7am working between 7 and 10 days and it would be over 16 hours,

then told that i will receive NO PAY for any work as its a work placement,, but was assured that their are jobs available at this store and if im good and work hard i could get the job,,

my thing is,, how many people are starting this and how many jobs are available?
is it even legal to make someone work full time for a week with no pay just to get a job?

seems i now have heard of 2 major supermarket chains are doing this now is it really the only way to get a real job these days or is it pure slave labor,,

i am only recieving carers allowance for my disabled son as my partner works, and for me working full time even for no pay i would have to tell careers and will loss my money for that week as i cant be available to look after my son for the amount of hours required as i'll be working for free in the hope of getting a job,,

please has anyone ever gotten a real job this way?,
my sheer desperation is forcing me to do it as we are seriously struggling on just one wage coming in,, my partner only gets £1000.00 a month and rent and council tax is costing us nearly £700.00 of that, any advice plz,

I would just carry looking for a job instead of working for free alot of companies are just taking advantage of the unemployed.

cindy101

this was what im worried about,, but its a major leading supermarket and i been looking for work over a year now,
i was told by job center that its now the only way this store is hiring anyone as they have taken on to many people who just wernt right for the job in the past and this is now how they are recruiting,

was wondering if this was true or are they jus using people as free slave labor over a very busy period, their are 4 of us starting tonight, and more tomorrow,,
i care for my disabled son and mother who is serverly disabled and can not walk,
so i really need night work to be able to care for them both in the day time,
but i really cant afford to be messed about by these companys if theirs no real chance of a job,

PARIS_5000

cindy101 wrote: »

this was what im worried about,, but its a major leading supermarket and i been looking for work over a year now,
i was told by job center that its now the only way this store is hiring anyone as they have taken on to many people who just wernt right for the job in the past and this is now how they are recruiting,

was wondering if this was true or are they jus using people as free slave labor over a very busy period, their are 4 of us starting tonight, and more tomorrow,,
i care for my disabled son and mother who is serverly disabled and can not walk,
so i really need night work to be able to care for them both in the day time,
but i really cant afford to be messed about by these companys if theirs no real chance of a job,

If you have been out of work for a year then this job will provide a up to date reference and will show current employment on your CV. When you go to interviews you can tell employers that you are looking for a new job due to your current job being unpaid.

olias

Call me workshy, but on principal I would not do this. The company (which I am assuming is the one who regularly declare profits around £1billion) is absolutely taking the pi55. Sorry, but this sort of action by hugely wealthy companies stinks. If they had a half decent recruitment process and staff in HR who knew what they were doing, then they would not have a problem with 'taking on too many people who just werent right for the job'.

Olias

frankingmachine4u

I'm sure there are more companies out there who can provide decent high paying job. Its true that there are companies who take advantage of the unemployed offering them below average wages or force them to work overtime.

cindy101

thanks for that but this is a VERY Well KNOWN LEADING HIGH STREET supermarket, but its not LOW paid it's Work for free ,, 8 hours per night, over 7-10 days,, its FULL TIME NIGHT SHIFT WORK !
WITH NO PAY just to see if they will give me a chance of an interview for the actual job, and their are alot of people doing this,,
their not the only supermarket chain to be doing it either i was told about another few months ago and was even more shocked that they did this ,

im NOT ON ANY JSA,, JUST CARERS BUT IN DOING THIS I WILL HAVE TO GIVE THAT UP FOR THE WEEK,, so i will lose £53.00
but seems this is how the job centre and these companies are doing things these days,,
((and they say every little helps!! :cool:)) im not so sure,,

cmw1212

Well I think it sounds like they are taking the proverbial, I'm guessing the job would be replenishment and maybe checkout (if a 24hr store) but checkout is never going to be as busy at 3am as 3pm. Maybe a couple of shifts to see if someone was suitable but 7-10 days seems extreme.

Oldernotwiser

cindy101 wrote: »

my sheer desperation is forcing me to do it as we are seriously struggling on just one wage coming in,, my partner only gets £1000.00 a month and rent and council tax is costing us nearly £700.00 of that, any advice plz,

Have you tried to apply for help with your rent/council tax?

cindy101

iv said same "it's a p take" ,,
yes its a 24 hr store but with self serving checkouts they dont have anyone on tills thu the night,,
it will be replenishment i'll be doing,,

i think its very convenient for them being bonfire night that they have 4 free staff coming in to stock their shelfs,
then i be doing tomorra night thu to sunday morning,, not sure wot time we finish then,,then maybe a day off monday and back on tuesday night,
while at job centre 2 of the boys going for same job had no idea it was free work they were going to be doing which all makes me very sus about the whole thing,
the store is in LONDON and iv been their afew times early hours myself and its always got plenty of custom thu the night,,

brightonman123

if its a work placement, dont you still get JSA etc? if taken on by the shop, then goes to a full slave wage!