Cerco Training comes up trumps!

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Hello all,

Finally after about a month after finishing the Cerco course, They have found me a job in IT!! I, like many others on this wonderful forum, have sent out many CVs for any job on numerous websites that I am remotely qualified for. All to no avail -- save the one electronic and one hardcopy rejection letter.

But after all of that, I got a call from Cerco to schedule an appointment for an interview. I attended the interview and all went well, so well in fact that they offered me the job on the spot! What's the job I hear you say? Basically it is Field Service Engineer work servicing digital photo kiosks and back office PCs and printers. The company I will be working for is subcontracted by HP. In addition, they just got large contracts with Jessops and Sainsburys. They opened up one of the kiosks to show me while I was there, and they are basically a desktop PC running W2K equipped with an external card reader and a touch screen interface.

I go in to the workshop for the first week to get trained up on the kit that they are servicing. The second week is with another engineer and then they let you loose with an all expense paid company van and a mobile. I was prepared to take a pay cut to get into the industry, but as it turns out, I am getting a small rise for my starting salary!

Anyway, apoligies for the long post -- better get back to the A+ book (that's next on the list).

 

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Nice one, Trogdor - good on you m8

 

Congratulations, Trogdor! Well done, mate.

Beers for everyone.

 

Congrats on the job! good luck to you in your new career.

 

Good one, onwards and upwards.

 

Well done mate. Persistance really does pay off.

 

Congrats!

 

Just a quick note about Cerco. I took the course in March and I still do not have a permanent job. I have had 2 job interviews since then. One was for contract work whilst the other I missed out as they felt distance to the place would be an issue. I wont knock the course but about a 5th of people from our course still do not have employment from cerco. If you live in a remote place that is say 40 miles to the nearest city then you will struggle. North West, Midlands and London seem hot beds for employment. Like I said it is a good course but how are you suppose to remember stuff about networks 6 months down the line at an interview when you have no access to them ? They claimed that you would have employment on average withinin 3 months. I feel completely misled and let down here.

 

er... that means 50% of the students should have work within 3 months... and you're saying about 20% don't...


incidentally, when did you finish the course ? has it been 3 months yet ?

 

Trogdor- glad to hear your news, i bet you are chuffed! Well done.

Rhino- i am sure Cerco will do their best to help you they do have a good name for recruitment. They must have a lot of contacts.

Best of luck to the both of you.

 

I finished the course in April. There were about 16 lads on our course. To my knowledge 4 dont have employment, 2 got jobs themselves and 2 are ad hoc contractors. I know 5 have full time jobs whilst I cannot comment on the other 3 as I do not know what is happening with them. Like I said the course is good, just dont get swept along with cercos promise of employment within three months. We were in fact told it would take 2 months, no more than 3 to find us employment. It has now been 6 months !

 

Rhino which course did you do and which certs do you now have?

 

hmm.. so 75% have employment in 6 months...
not great, not bad.. all depends on what it actually says on the contract.. I know little of Cerco but I would assume it's not an unconditional guarantee of a job.
Presumably you passed all the courses you needed to pass, in the time alotted ? You did get some interviews out of them so they did try. Do you live in the back of beyond ? That won't help. Have you considered relocating ?

What about the others ? where do they live and did they successfully complete the course.

The thing with job guarantees IMO is that you have to be nieve to believe they don't come with strings attached. Nobody, but nobody can guarantee anyone a job unconditionally.

 

Hi to all

I hope this thread is still underway...but I was just passing by and was intrigued by the comments about Cerco Training! It has been 2 months since the last post on here and wondered if anything else had transpired?

I am a Cerco graduate (end of Sept '05 with an overall distinction) and am truly gutted about the whole thing! I feel that Cerco are/were not open enough when it comes to the 'We find you a job' scenario.

The truth is that if you do not live in the main areas that they cover there is a VERY small chance of getting employed via them nor will potential employers who you have contacted off of your own back be interested in an employee with no real Accredited Certifications from a company they have never heard of.

I was told, or should I say SOLD the idea that even though a job was not guaranteed (which I fully understood!) there would be other ways of getting myself into the I.T industry. So I thought that even if Cerco could not find me a job, I would! However, the reality of it all is very different. I have since found that a HUGE percentage of Cerco graduates are employed by Cerco themselves!! They then sub contract for Mastercare and the like. So if you are not in the area then it is not going to happen.

I found the course very good in alot of ways, but the instructors are WAY TOO forthcoming with letting you know (IN DETAIL) what the upcoming exams entail! I mean in real detail, like taking a test the day before a big exam and finding out that the only difference between the mock exam and the real one was a customers name!!! I saw one guy who, on the last practical exam asked for help to plug a hard drive in, which turned out to be upside down go on and pass the course with a MERIT!! Now even though I did learn alot...alot of mainstream companies out there are not stupid....they know it goes on...and they will not employ a Cerco guy or girl for that simple reason.

Now, if Cerco were to be upfront about the job situation and not try to sell the course then I'm sure the £6995 (to include 3 further exams) I paid would still be in my back pocket!! The mad thing about all this is that I didn't go on the course to get a job through Cerco (even though that would have been great), I went so I could gain knowledge and expertise to get me into the I.T. industry. However, all that has happened for me, and 13 out of 20 guys on my course is total disbelief!! To top it all off, when we finished the course we all got handed our certificates....cheaply laminated which an 8 year old child could of designed better and didn't have ANY logos...ie Microsoft Partners etc.

To summerise, if you live in one of the main cities in the UK and have between £5k - £8k spare then it's an ok way to get into the industry, but be prepared to learn properly when you are employed. For all others...take the few pounds you have and go to night school for your A+ or contact either a local or national company and offer to pay THEM to take you onboard!!

I know that even though the course I went on and the last couple of months have given me and alot of other guys a very bad impression of Cerco, I'm sure there are people out there with completely different views, all I am saying is what I experienced and encountered was not the impression I was led to believe I was going to have!

 

Interesting first post, GmanUK - why not pop up to our New Members forum and introduce yourself ?

 

What is it with all you guys that you don't get off your lazy arse's and find your own jobs?? It really pisses me off about this moaning about this company or that one didn't find me a job. In 20 years of working and a lot of different jobs I have never had one found or given to me by someone else, it's all been from my own effort.

 

*cough*

Nuggett! Calm yerself Though I agree it's silly to expect a guarantee of a job from any company

 

In fairness, Nugg - when these companies make bold claims that they will find you work, it is reasonable to expect some sort of effort from them, even if it does later turn out to be an unachievable claim.

 

I feel that GmanUK has highlighted the point of getting a certification that is industry recognised. Cerco offer a qualification that is only really recognised by them and the companies they represent.

For those looking to get into the industry I would recommend Microsoft certs such as MCSA, MCSE, at least everyone knows what the represent!

Dan

 

Hey Nugget - if you were to read my post correctly you would see that I certainly didn't come across like a "Lazy arse"!!

The point I made, as highlighted above, was that even though this 'Lazy arse' knew that they were making exaggerated claims with regards to job placements, I was not in any way relying on any other individual or company to get me a job in the I.T. industry!!

For your information I have been in the Finance industry for many years which has included taking many examinations for needed qualifications, as rightly pointed out above, was that the 'qualification' attained from Cerco ONLY helps IF Cerco deal with the prospective employer!!