Do not cover travel expenses or light snacks
Unpaid classroom based learning
Unpaid Bench time
Unprofessional environment and the assessment felt thrown together and improvised
Underpaying,
Roping Graduates into paying the Extortionate training fees
Continuously not enough skills
No clear progression for new starters
You have absolutely no control over what work you do, who you do it for, where it is you live/work or how long you do it for. This is not an exaggeration. If you are found a temporary placement that is totally not what you want and would not be something that you would even consider normally, you still have to do it.
You can't leave because FDM will charge you £20,000, as they are keen to remind you.
If you get a placement and therefore stay for 2 years, at the end of that 2 years you are out of the door with your crummy mixed-bag work experience CV and debt that you've built up by renting a room here there and everywhere servicing FDM clients. "There doesn't appear to be a lot of direction in your career path" is something that you may hear when being interviewed.
The clients ... How this works is a hundred or so of you attend 'training' every day while some girls phone around every company known to man for something for you to do. If they find a possible placement you are sent to an interview ( they are not real clients, you have to get the job like you would through a temporary recruitment company). If they can't find enough placements - and they take on way more people than they get placements as they don't have to pay you - then they get rid of you after making you attend their office for 6 months or so.
The sell. Girls attending your university telling you that this is the biggest I.T. employer in Britain, & how FDM have won more awards and medals than Jessica Ennis. Firstly they are not an employer, they are a middleman between you and the company that you work for. As for the awards that they've won ... as far as I am aware there are NONE.
How anyone can objectively say that this is a good deal worth 5 glass door stars is beyond my understanding.
It really is the very last resort and should only be contemplated if you are absolutely desperate and are prepared to close your eyes and throw the dice. If you do consider it, run the idea by your parents, a friend etc and see what they think
Someone earlier on this survey mentioned 'bait and switch', which is EXACTLY what this is.
Just to reiterate you can't leave unless you want to pay FDM £20,000 for "Training".
