I need advice from a job offer that looks good but could be bad.

PeaceMakerUK

I have a job offer but I’m concerned and I would like to ask for advice if it looks genuine. Please help.


I was contacted out of the blue by IT recruitment agency X with a job offer, I don’t recall applying to this place but I figured best to make the bests out of it. I didn’t really know much about the job other than an interview I had scheduled until I searched for it on google (It was on a job site I never encountered before).


So I turn up to interview, he starts talking about successful the IT recruitment is and how they deal with plenty of big names etc. Interview goes on its way and everything seems fine. 1 week later they say I didn’t pass for the interview to get the job due to being under qualified, but they said they liked me so they offered to put me into a position they’d get for January.


Here comes the part that makes me confused. Due to me being under qualified, they said I need to prove that I can do the role for the employer by understanding 3 modules in compTIA Security+ exam and they would test me. I don’t know anything about compTIA so they said they will provide training which costs them a large amount, and because of this I am expected to pay for some of it. Now this rings alarms for me because I would be paying an IT recruitment agency and I’ve read never give money to recruitment agencies. I looked up the individual courses which do run in the thousands of pounds and I contributing a few hundred would seem reasonable, but I still do not feel comfortable. I still don’t know the job specifics for the new job, they only recently setup in February this year, company check and the agency owner check comes up with no information at all. Their London address is the same as an address with 12,000 other companies that is likely to be a mail redirection place.


My biggest fears are myself paying hundreds of pounds for accessing their training, the amount of secrecy there is (I don’t know the company I’d be working for, no job details provided yet and the agency being very young) and how they found me when I didn’t even apply for anything they had because I checked my previous job applications. I’ve also came across others who were sceptical of this same agency on the internet through google searches but there was no conclusion and no judgement was made. It was mainly 1 opening post and left at that.


What would you do with this set of information and circumstances? Am I being paranoid for no reason?

bossymoo

I'd be paranoid too, sounds very iffy. I personally would hand over no money without full details and some kind of contract.

Do you even want the job you didn't apply for? If you're not IT trained you might find you're not cut out for that sort of thing.

Ask if they have any on the job learning vacancies - see if that makes them run a mile...

CKhalvashi

bossymoo wrote: »

I'd be paranoid too, sounds very iffy. I personally would hand over no money without full details and some kind of contract.

Do you even want the job you didn't apply for? If you're not IT trained you might find you're not cut out for that sort of thing.

Ask if they have any on the job learning vacancies - see if that makes them run a mile...

Good advice here.

You should never pay for a job. The only time my employees are expected to pay the company anything, is to our (legally separate) vehicle leasing company, should they wish to have a vehicle provided by us.

I would ask Bossymoo's question, too.

CK

PeaceMakerUK

bossymoo wrote: »

I'd be paranoid too, sounds very iffy. I personally would hand over no money without full details and some kind of contract.

Do you even want the job you didn't apply for? If you're not IT trained you might find you're not cut out for that sort of thing.

Ask if they have any on the job learning vacancies - see if that makes them run a mile...

Thanks for the reply.

I don't even know what the job is. I know it's location and the pay. That is it. I would like to ask them but I every time I call them I just get swept by them and nothing I wanted to know comes out of the call. More information will follow soon they say, but the pay now date expires in 4 days.

I will call them again and ask them about other on the job learning vacancies and try to get more details. Though I am feeling like I should just get out now whilst I can.

TrickyWicky

Steer clear. I've come across loads of these over the years and they're all after one thing: employees with money.

Let me tell you something, you go to work to earn money, not spend it before going to work. IT recruitment / training has become one of the big cons of the modern day.

I got suckered into one years ago, signed up for monthly installments, got the training package off the guy and found it was years out of date, there were tons of mistakes within the first few pages (and trust me, I'd studied this stuff before on another technical course) and frankly the ink / laser toner wasn't worth the paper it had been printed on. I cancelled within the cooling off period but since then I've heard of many other victims of that company - all of which found themselves cheated but held to their contracts.

IT recruitment with training is the wild west of the employment market. Stay right away from it unless you get a real job offer and they don't want anything from you.

IT jobs are not easy to get into. There are tons of qualified IT graduates out there struggling for work. You need to think realistcally here - it sounds too good and therefore it is. You are not special or charmed in anyway, they just want the money.

PeaceMakerUK

CKhalvashi wrote: »

Good advice here.

You should never pay for a job. The only time my employees are expected to pay the company anything, is to our (legally separate) vehicle leasing company, should they wish to have a vehicle provided by us.

I would ask Bossymoo's question, too.

CK

Thanks for the reply. Most of what you said actually reinforces what I have read elsewhere, and that is if the employer wants you then they will actually front all the expenses for training.

I will try to ask Bossymoo's question but at the amount of caution this is raising for most people I've discussed this with and with your opinions here, I might just withdraw.

lemontart

I am sure there was a post about these scams on here last year - as others have said give it a wide berth.

PeaceMakerUK

TrickyWicky wrote: »

Steer clear. I've come across loads of these over the years and they're all after one thing: employees with money.

Let me tell you something, you go to work to earn money, not spend it before going to work. IT recruitment / training has become one of the big cons of the modern day.

I got suckered into one years ago, signed up for monthly installments, got the training package off the guy and found it was years out of date, there were tons of mistakes within the first few pages (and trust me, I'd studied this stuff before on another technical course) and frankly the ink / laser toner wasn't worth the paper it had been printed on. I cancelled within the cooling off period but since then I've heard of many other victims of that company - all of which found themselves cheated but held to their contracts.

IT recruitment with training is the wild west of the employment market. Stay right away from it unless you get a real job offer and they don't want anything from you.

IT jobs are not easy to get into. There are tons of qualified IT graduates out there struggling for work. You need to think realistcally here - it sounds too good and therefore it is. You are not special or charmed in anyway, they just want the money.

Thank you for telling me this. I'm glad I came here to ask for advice. I think I will withdraw if more posts are questioning this job offer, I was already paranoid and hesitant in the first place.

gb12345

I've worked in IT for 15 years and I still occasionally get emails from companies like this offering me training for a job that they've got coming up. The job never matches my skills yet they think I'd be suitable with a bit of training from them (at a cost obviously). The companies are always small and new yet claim to have contracts with blue-chips.

There's no guarantee that you'd get the job (if it even exists) in January as you would be up against experienced IT security candidates - so why would they take on someone who's done 3 modules of the CompTIA and had an informal test.

The courses run into £1000's when you are on a proper course with a proper learning provider - not a dodgy recruitment company who have probably stolen their training material from one of the compTIA books.

ValHaller

PeaceMakerUK wrote: »

Thanks for the reply. Most of what you said actually reinforces what I have read elsewhere, and that is if the employer wants you then they will actually front all the expenses for training.

I will try to ask Bossymoo's question but at the amount of caution this is raising for most people I've discussed this with and with your opinions here, I might just withdraw.

Me, I would not bother, Reading your opening post, about being contacted for something you had not even applied for, I read the whole process as though you were being reeled in according to a script.

There is no job. Or if there is, it will be pulling the scam on others. Leave your bargepole at home and stay with it.

duchy

There's plenty of providers offering Comp TIA if these kinds of roles appeal shop around and do the courses yourself and then apply for legitimate jobs.