what do you know about UK IT Training centre?

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Buyer beware is a line trotted out when the people cheated out of their life savings are easy to ignore. Those who do the cheating also like to argue that anybody suggesting this is simply patronising the group involved. I don't, for example, remember this line being used in relation to the people who were missold pensions on the basis of a claim that shares can only rise, or that that economic booms never end. this group were older and more sophisticated than those preyed on in the "job guarantee" scams. In the national emergency that followed on from the mis-selling scandals, these people got their money back. In spite of the fact that the Career Development Loan scheme is part of a wider initiative to reduce "financial exclusion" (the main feature of which is a lack of financial acumen) these people are given easy access to £8000 credit and cut adrift. I have even heard salesmen say "if we don't get you a £20k job - just refuse to pay the loan!!"Now... this is stupid - they are paid in advance and may well no longer exist by the time you complain. However, it isn't as stupid as the lies people fell for in the pensions scandals.

The Career Delopment Loan is the basis of all the scams. It turns people who would not normally be the target of fraud into ideal targets.

The fact that these people aren't dragged round the back of the building and robbed doesn't make this any less of a scam. You claim that it is fine for people to be induced to sign up to a contract in the context of an organised deception masquerading as a job interview. You are probably right - largely because they take care of this side of things by making sure the cooling off requirements are taken care of in such caring phrases as "we like students to take some time to assess the information they have been given". The issue is whether any court would not set this "contract" aside if they knew the full facts. The only problem is that a feature of financial exclusion rarely commented on is that these people do not complain. This one, I'm afraid, I can't explain.

The people scammed out of anything between £6000-£8000 on a CDL will get nothing. Their only mistake was to believe that a government-backed scheme involving the main banks and companies like Microsoft would be above board. Do you really think it's fine for an IT company that has probably never found anyone a job to recruit in the way described here...

http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/employment/uk-it-training/1037147/

You state that the "tax reorganisation" of the company held nothing sinister. The particular tax scheme referred to here is one that allowed companies to avoid the need to register for VAT. Most companies adopted this - but only one suggested to potential customers that this made them a "non-profit company". That was UK IT Training. If you ring them, you'll get the same line you would expect from an educational charity - "we are non-profit, have jobs in our gift and subsidise our training and it is your job to impress us". In fact, the company that subsidises the training is a "recruitment agency" that has directors who are also directors of UK IT Training - they subsidise themselves. As well as never demonstrating that they have found a single job, they have never demonstrated that they have paid a single penny in "subsidy" either. As for the mysterious association of companies - zilch!! (Y'know, I just found it too much of a coincidence that the woman describing her experiences in the link above noticed three pins sticking into the name of her town on the map. What's the likelyhood that the slippery salesman checked where she was from and...?!)

They have similar scams in training driving instructors (DITC Ltd) , plumbers (www.btsc.co.uk) and (soon) the home information pack scheme. If anyone imagines there is a shortage of plumbers, follow this link...

http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=161844

All are "subsidised" in their training by the philanthropic directors. In fact, there are 26,000 plumbers in the training pipeline (is that a pun?) and only 1500 will get jobs. WHY WOULD A RECRUITMENT AGENCY SUBSIDISE TRAINING IF THERE ARE SO MANY UNEMPLOYED PLUMBERS - MOST FROM POLAND AND WILLING TO WORK FOR THE MINIMUM WAGE? It's like all these scams, by the time you hear about it, the particular "opportunity" has been exploited to the hilt and the sensible players have moved on. This just leaves those who believe we have a system of regulation that prevents scam merchants preying on them - and they are an ideal target for companies who can say anything to get people to sign.

You appear to believe that people induced to believe that the ECDL is a suitable foundation programme for an MCSD are architects of their own downfall. Really? Have you looked at the requirements to pass the XML part of the MCSD recently? Will power? determination? aptitude? The phrase " a lack of aptitude" doesn't even get near the sheer terror this kind of subject matter strikes in the heart of experienced programmers. The phrase "not a hope in hell" would be more appropriate, and this is called deception. The lies of the salesmen that you appear to believe is fair game also have little to do with it. The main lie is already sold by the time they arrive. They believe that it would be impossible for a scam merchant to tell lies at the rate this outfit does and get away with it for so long. If you want an explanation of why the regulators bend over backwards to uphold the right of training companies to fleece their customers, it's part of a far wider trend - an emerging scandal, in fact. Follow this link...

http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/mirrorinvestigates/sommerlad/jan2007/nameandshame.htm



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I also wanted to join them, this was a while back
I rang them up, and they told me that I'll have a phone interview first and from that they would chose If I'm suitable to go for a proper interview. After having this weird phone interview, the guy said "After interviewing you, I am happy to say that you have qualified for a interview with us" I was so happy

Then I went for the interview, and it was like the guy was trying to sell me a product!! First all the benifits and the facilities they have and all that crap, then after making me love the place he dropped me the price, and said but you will be only chosen if you pass the assessment test, and not every one is chosen. I took the test, and let me say that I messed up on a few questions, although it was so easy, but it had nothing to do with web design. I had a question where they asked "what was the capital of Australia" (Which I got wrong by the way...lol).I was kind of nervous, after the test I was thinking about the questions and realised that there where a few answers I done wrong, although I new the right answers, I can just say I was'nt ready for it. So I thought thats it, I won't be chosen.
But then he rings me up and leaves a message on my phone that he's "glad" to say that I have been "chosen" for the course
I thought hell with this, these guys are gonna rip me off.

 

I have a friend who has completed his ECDL and CIW and has sucessfully got a Web Developer job and is happy, i'm not sure what his future expeirences may be with the remainder of the course.

I'm a computer industry veteran of 11 years professional experience and i've been depply interested in computers since the age of 10. I think it cannot be stated enough that you should not really pursue a career in computers unless your are interested in computers and technology !

I obtained a HND and BS(c) in computer science before i begun my career, these were not cheap and easy options, afterwards it took me some time to land my first job at a meesly £12K.

I still had much to learn even after that. Since then i have continually retrained and reinvested and have taken many certs and read 100's books, IT is a consistently changing field.

It amazes me people think it is an easy option, yes theres some easy money to be made in IT, but this is true of many professions.

To learn a computer language will take most people around a year of study, yes things get easier after that, but mastery of some languages will take years.

Many people compare programming to be part science and part art, you would not expect to be a competent scientist or artist in a few months or a couple of years would you ?

You will only succeed if you put in enough effort, professional 4 week courses in the UK cost £2000+ and many don't include exams so their prices seem reasonable.

Home study is a very viable approach to learning IT, when I started you had to search bookstores and order books for £30+ There was no computer section in many bookshops !
The internet did not exist, you had prestel and teletext !
There was virtually no open source outside of a few university
campuses, you had a problem RTFM...
Things are MUCH easier now, you could learn alot without ever spending a penny other than on broadband.
Having said that you need a base to build on, when i wanted to learn to play guitar I went to a guitar teacher as i had no musical background. If you have no background in IT you should expect some ramp up time and the need for some professional help and advice, otherwise its likely to take you much longer to learn the basics.

 

Please to all those who were even considering UK IT Training, will u read carefully read the in-detail review by someone who was able to see thru the whole con. Its a bit to long but its worth reading. I just copied and pasted the story to save u time but the link is :-
www.dooyoo.co.uk/employment/uk-it-training/1037147/

Disadvantages Too good to be true.
On Friday, I was spreadeagled on the sofa, working my way through the local paper circling job advertisements. Amongst the hundreds of things I’m overqualified for and the overwhelming number of advertisements for jobs I’m underqualified for, one caught my eye. A professionally written advert stating that I could get not only IT training but a ‘guaranteed job paying £20,000 a year or more’.

I figured I’d ring this ad because a) I needed a warm up phonecall before I rang something I really wanted, and b) those free minutes from O2 weren’t going to use themselves up. (Before anyone says I should have rung a friend, I have no money to go out until I get a job and everyone seems to compulsively arrange things while I’m speaking to them. Expensive things!)

Rather than being a lighthearted and entertaining review, this is a warning. I searched for this particular company on Dooyoo before going along with the whole thing. I hope I save at least one other person the time, effort and make up by submitting this. Too many companies get away with too much. I appreciate that this is a little long, but I won’t directly accuse this company of something I can’t prove so I’ve chosen to let the facts speak for themselves. Here is my experience with UK IT Training and the conclusions I drew, these are representative of my opinion and not intended to be accepted as fact.

The phone was answered quickly by [No longer allowed to mention this name], one of the Recruitment Directors. He took down my details and chatted in a friendly manner. We discussed my previous IT experience and employment. He seemed impressed with my qualifications so far and managed to make me feel more positive than I had done in a while about my job prospects. There was an implication that this was an initial telephone interview, which I was doing very well at. No opportunity for me to ask questions arose, rather I was almost swept away by his belief in UK IT Training as a company.

He explained that UK IT Training recruited for several hundred corporate employers, all of whom urgently required employees with Microsoft skills. These companies were so desperate that they would hand over money for training and then employ the well trained candidate who would enjoy a successful and well paid career. Companies, he claimed, like Microsoft themselves.

I asked if the training would cost me anything and whether the training was accredited, but there wasn’t time for him to discuss it and it could all be covered at interview. I was given the impression that I had been screened for interview and passed with flying colours. He said he needed to interview me as soon as possible and as it was Wednesday we agreed to meet on Thursday afternoon. He even gave me his direct number in case there were any problems.

It’s depressing to be out of work. More depressing still when the agencies in town tell you that ‘there isn’t much work about’, the adverts that you respond to only tell you that the jobs have gone already and you don’t even have the bus fare or the energy to look anymore. I’m not trying to force vicarious pessimism on you about the state of the job market, hopefully I’m making the point that the average person who rings an advert like this has exhausted several other avenues. Clinging to the ray of hope that this company offers is all too easy.

So, how does this phone call bear up to analysis? I can only speculate and that is now tainted with cynicism. To begin with he didn’t stop to establish my interest before taking my details. A bit hasty perhaps for someone who only wants to select the finest trainees to ‘put forward’ for the training programme. Why was he concerned that I sounded young? Maybe because I might not have savings or ready money. Even after looking at the company web site I wanted this to be genuine.

My dad pointed out that there was small print at the bottom of the advertisement which, in my excitement, I’d neglected to notice. There seemed to be a fair few asterisks involved. My brother picked up the phone and rang the number. Despite his disinterest in IT, he got a similar response. Their main concern seemed to be to get his details rather than to establish whether he was interested in the pitch.

On Thursday morning I boarded the train. My interview was in Tolworth, Surrey, a long way from my home town where UITT were advertising in the local paper. The Recruitment Director [No longer allowed to mention this name] had done his utmost to reassure me that although the interview would be held in Surrey, the job found for me would most definitely be local. My interview was at 3pm, he’d hesitated a little over the time and I’d fondly imagined that perhaps it was because he was so busy and important. I even wondered if, like other potential employers they might reimburse my train fare.

I arrived at Tolworth tower 15 minutes early. The letter the company had sent over the weekend had a leaflet with clear directions and an assurance that ‘a uniformed commissionaire will direct you to our training centre’ on arrival. It also stated that the interviewee should aim to be 10 minutes early. By now, I’d had time to think it over and I was feeling a little less gullible but still positive. The letter didn’t have the air of a circular, it was printed with my name and address and signed by The Recruitment Director [No longer allowed to mention this name] in biro. I bounced into reception clutching my CV and smiling.

From the moment I entered the building I felt I shouldn’t have bothered. The sullen girl at reception ignored me in favour of a paperback until I said ‘excuse me’ for the second time. She offered no directions at all to UITT, luckily I’d bought my letter and I got into a lift for the fourth floor. I straightened my hair in the low light in the lift, all those thoughts that you have on the way to an interview turning to nagging self-doubt. I stepped out of the lift with a forced smile and through some double doors into a busy office. I held the door for one man and there was another hot on his heels, we were all clutching CV’s and I began to realise the conveyor belt nature of this operation.

The first impression inside was of overcrowding, several cheaply clad girls in their late teens were leaning back on desks and chatting about their weekend while confused looking applicants stood nervously nearby. After being stood at the unattended reception desk (I preferred unattended to the dismally staffed one on the ground floor) for a couple of minutes, I caught the attention of one of the girls and told her I was here to see The Recruitment Director [No longer allowed to mention this name]. I’m not a wallflower, but not especially loud either and the volume in the office was pretty intimidating. She told me to wait in the ‘waiting area’ but seeing that it wouldn’t be possible to jam another person into it, said there was a second one down the corridor. This was quiet, with an expensive looking coffee machine and I had a good ten minutes to collect my thoughts.

A friendly and pleasant seeming The Recruitment Director [No longer allowed to mention this name]. arrived to take me for my interview. He named a girl with him and, keen to make a good impression, I introduced myself with a smile. I misguidedly assumed she was a second interviewer as we walked into the interview room but he soon put me straight. He was running a bit late, so he thought he’d interview the two of us together to save time. From the way the smile dropped from her face, I’m guessing she thought the same.

The interview was easy. The Recruitment Director [No longer allowed to mention this name] seemed disinterested in his applicants and only asked us one question each. These were token questions, you could have said you hated computers and he’d still have smiled and nodded encouragingly. He was friendly and personable, but there’s something uneasy about answering questions and discussing your work history with another applicant sat right next to you.

The map on the wall showed all the employers that UITT work with and The Recruitment Director [No longer allowed to mention this name] proudly pointed to it. There were three coloured sticker dots on my home town and, latching on to this, I asked which companies these represented. He smoothly said that there were far too many companies, it would take him all day to name them. The crunch came when he said we would need to pay £100 per exam but that this would be straight to the exam board. Oh, and before we’d started we needed to pay UITT £2555 up front (but that that would be nothing and we shouldn’t lose any sleep over it).

The next step was the aptitude test. I’d been brushing up on my HTML, Word Macro’s and Excel Charts, unsure what would come up. In the event, none of it. There were 10 questions. I’ll give you an exact example.

Which one of these is the odd one out?
a) Maisonette
b) Flat
c) House
d) Office.

We had 10 minutes to complete this complex and important test – it took me 42 seconds. After this I left. In the pub next door, I recounted the events of the past hour and used the calculator function on The Boyfriend’s phone.

There was to be £2555 initial payment, £100 per exam, £1800 in train fare to get to Tolworth to take the modules and loss of earnings during the 12-24 weeks training – if I was ‘selected’ I wouldn’t see much change from £10,000.

When they say that they will get you a guaranteed job for £20,000 pa – the truth is this –

They will only try to find you a job if you complete every single section of the training course. So, you have to follow their structure and you can’t pick and choose modules. If you skip anything, they won’t help.

They will only try and get you a job for £20,000 ; in some cases it might be less. In the event of this happening, they will make up the difference for only 3 months.

They might not be able to find you a job in your local area. In that case they’ll find you one anywhere and that will be their half of the deal completed.

I’ve checked it out, the qualifications offered by this company are genuine and accredited and they may increase your job prospects. BUT When you recruit someone for this kind of job, you take a sizeable percentage of that salary in return for supplying them. So to this company you are a paycheck twice over, first when you pay for your training and second when they place you.

You need to ask yourself why, if these skills are so in demand, these large companies aren’t recruiting suitable applicants and paying for the necessary training. If UITT are carefully selecting people on behalf of these companies and with no regard for the training fees, why are the aptitude test and interview so easy?

I’m sure some applicants do well out of it, but this company does even better. The Recruitment Director [No longer allowed to mention this name] said he was interviewing 85 people a day (doubtless this was intended to make us feel the competitive edge but it had the reverse effect and made me feel that they were little more than a factory). I think this company should only be considered if you have a few grand to spare and absolutely no other way of getting qualifications. Remember that, despite the hype, these are jobs in London and the Home Counties where £20k barely pays the bills. Also, if you spend this kind of money and the employer they find for you makes you redundant in 6 months, where will that leave you? There’s no such thing as a quick fix.

If you still think this might be for you, the first qualification they offer is the ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence) which they refer to as a foundation course. You can take the ECDL for free in most job centres and t.e.a. shops. This will give you a better idea of whether this is the right track for you and a head start if it is.

UPDATE: I since had a phone call from the company. It went something like this:

The Recruitment Director [No longer allowed to mention this name], hereafter refered to as TRD: (aggressively) Are you still interested in this, I need you to prove that you're right for it?
Me: That depends. Have I been... 'selected'...?
TRD: Well, you were, but places fill up very fast and you weren't in to answer my first call!....
Me: The thing is TRD, I've had the chance to think about this initial payment of £2,500...
TRD: (interrupting) Yes, fantastic value for money isn't it?
Me:...No. Not when you add on all the costs. I'm concerned that I wouldn't have the kind of money to fund this.
TRD: Fine. (Hangs Up)

In reality, it's a timeshare presentation in the middle of nowhere, followed by an attempt at the hard sell. Summary: To carry off an idea like this you need to make the applicant feel special and they certainly didn't

 

I'm currently studing with them, read my reviews as i go

http://www.certforums.co.uk/forums/thread18792.html

http://www.certforums.co.uk/forums/thread18793.html

 

Hi all, new to the forums but just thought I'd add my two pence. I want to get into IT and am working towards my A+.

I went through the whole process of getting an interview date with UK IT Training, but I decided to do a little research on them before I went along. I came across the forum threads here, had a read through, and decided not to bother. I called them this morning to tell them that I wouldn't be coming. When asked why, I told them that I had simply reconsidered their offer and would continue with my self-study. The representative said "Good luck with that", and hung up.

There was absolutely no pursuit of my business or any attempt to change my mind. Maybe he knew he'd been rumbled?