Job fair - potential employers lying?

andygb

I had to attend a local job fair last week, where a lot of businesses, both national and local had stands, and were handing out website details and application forms for jobs.
I was dressed smartly (couldn't say that about many of the people there) and had a few conversations with well known companies (left CV's and took website details).
I then saw a stand representing a large, national bus company. I asked one of the guys there about salary scales for bus drivers, what training you were given etc.
The guy looked at me as though I was a piece of poo on the pavement, and said he didn't know???????
He then asked one of his colleagues, who looked me up and down, and said that trainee drivers started on NMW, and after six months training, the pay went up to around £7.20 - £7.60 an hour for the first year, but that it varied from garage to garage.:eek:
I left, feeling a bit shocked without taking an application form.
I have since looked at the pay scales for the company, and various searches suggest that drivers working for them get around £22K to £26K plus bonus.
So, why should he tell me that, and should I report the company (who I am not going to name here - although folks will probably realise who they are;)) to the Jobcentre, and possibly phone their head office to find out what is going on?

tomtontom

It's poor form to ask about salary at that stage - the idea of job fairs is to sell yourself, not the other way round.

What outcome would you want from reporting them? Focus on finding a job, not making pointless complaints.

quietriot

tomtontom wrote: »

It's poor form to ask about salary at that stage

Nonsense. If you're going to apply for a job, it's important to know if it'll pay you enough to live on.

phill99

What will the job centre do about it? Their roll is to get you into a job. The pay scales (beyond complying with NMW) are for negotiation between you and your employer.


I think you need to deal with that chip on your shoulder before you apply for jobs.

Flyonthewall

andygb wrote: »

He then asked one of his colleagues, who looked me up and down, and said that trainee drivers started on NMW, and after six months training, the pay went up to around £7.20 - £7.60 an hour for the first year, but that it varied from garage to garage.:eek:
I left, feeling a bit shocked without taking an application form.
I have since looked at the pay scales for the company, and various searches suggest that drivers working for them get around £22K to £26K plus bonus.

Is that scale for after the first year? How many hours is it based on them working? They may work very long hours. That may also be an average across the company, but some do pay less. As the guy you saw said, it varies between the garages. He may work for a lower paid one.

So, why should he tell me that, and should I report the company (who I am not going to name here - although folks will probably realise who they are;)) to the Jobcentre, and possibly phone their head office to find out what is going on?

Job Centre won't care at all.

Flyonthewall

phill99 wrote: »

Their roll is to get you into a job. .

No, it's not. Their role is to make sure you're looking for work. They do very little/nothing to actually get you a job.

xapprenticex

Andy, something I learned not long ago...

We are all the centre of our own universe or the world from our perspective. Everyone is talking about us, everyone is looking at us, everyone is judging us, everyone cares about us, for better of for worse.

In reality, everyone is too busy thinking about themselves, what they are going to eat later, how long they have to work till lunch etc etc. I guarantee you, the guys you approached forgot about your existence 1 minute after leaving them.. because they have their own lives to deal with, I advise you stop dwelling on them.

Point im making is, try not to be so critical of other people looking in your direction, try not to think they have negative thoughts and intentions about you. Unless they say it outright, it could be anything, there’s been times ive looked at someone and at the same time, remembered something horrible and I may have made a face or something funny and laughed or grinned. That person could think im making a face at them, but I wasn’t, if they really cared about what strangers thought.

Anyway, ill go on forever here, forget complaining (Assuming there is no grounds for what you were told), you’ll just make a nuisance of yourself, just focus that time on looking for work.

patman99

Well, I can tell you FirstBus pay £9.60 p/h and Ariva pay £9.50 p/h.

Should you have asked about salaries?, well no is the answer to that.

agrinnall

I'm going to disgree with most people, I don't see any problem with asking about the pay scales for a job such as bus driving, I doubt whether there is much scope for negotiation so it's reasonable to want to know what they are before taking things any further (in fact, I'd want to have some idea before applying for any job).

However, were they actually recruiting for bus drivers on the stand? The response and the lack of knowledge shown suggests that they may have been looking for people for other roles in the company.

kiss_me_now9

Right, I do job fairs as part of my role at work.

Firstly, asking about salary is fine - we all need to know what we're going to be living on and it is completely OK to ask. If you're currently on £35k a year with a private company but we can only offer up to £25k a year for the same role, not telling you/discussing that as soon as possible means that realistically you're not going to come work for us anyway. From an employers point of view, it isn't a bad thing to ask. How you ask is important but if that's some information you need to make the decision to join us, then ask it. There are no stupid questions.

Secondly, be aware that the people on the stands may not be experienced, or even working in the same sector that they are recruiting to. I am in a purely admin role but work for a healthcare provider; so a lot of people expect me to be a healthcare trained professional. I am not (yet!). I do know a lot about our company, about the roles we have and about the roles we're recruiting to because I make sure I know ahead of time. Other people may not do this especially if they were pulled in to work the jobs fair the day before or something.

TBH I've met a lot of people at jobs fairs and some of them just aren't suited to it at all. You have to be friendly to everyone all the time even when they're completely the wrong person for your company and you're 'out there' all the time, selling your business. Personally I enjoy going to them as I get to meet lots of new people but a lot of people don't like that. Chalk it down to a bad experience, don't work for that company and move on.

DCFC79

Not much point in applying for a job if the salary isn't 1 you can live on or a match or better to what your currently on.