FDM Group reviews

FALSE ADVERTISING - They advertise this great training program with great placement. But the training is not that great. The training is sub-par and some training is computer based with no instructor. You are also forced to take training courses that are not a part of your career path. Your job placement may not be with a great company. They also make you think you are forced into a contract with them and if you break the contract, they will chase you for the money ($30,000). SALARY - Not only is the Training unpaid. Once you are placed, they only pay an average of $43,500 for the 2 year contract with them. When the company that you may work for will pay $60,000 for a 6 month contract. So they will not pay you what you are worth. (The average college graduate salary in NY is $54,000 while a IT specialist earns $76,000). And when they do pay you, its ONCE A MONTH. If you agree to the 2 year contract with FDM and when you are not working at a company (not a mountee), you will not receive a full paycheck. They say they pay vacation, but if you take a day off work, they dock your paycheck. You will not be able to save money, unless you live at home with your parents, and eat the bare minimum. PLACEMENT: They tell you that after the training, you are immediately placed with one of their clients. It took them 3 months to place me into a client. During that 3 months, no pay or benefits are received. And your contract does not begin when you start training, it starts when you are first placed with a client. COMMUNICATION: Once you are placed on a client, you dont hear from your account manager. You become a non factor to FDM. I can say so much more, but the bottom line is I wish I would have done more research before signing up with this company. MODERN DAY SLAVERY

I'm almost done with my two year jail period at FDM - and boy am I relieved. 1.) I received Java training, valued at 21,000 pounds, by someone who had completed the same course less than a year before. Think about this, you could do three masters programs, at the best universities in the world for this kind of price. Outrageous. You sign the contract before you've received any training, which they claim to be world class. 2.) You are treated like a child during the training. The account managers/sales teams are the champions of this organisation. They know nothing about technology - but boy, do they know how to sell cheap labour. 3.) Salary. You will earn less than a babysitter for two years. The cut you take from the client is in most cases less than 40%. That means you're working more for FDM Group, than you are for yourself. 4.) The contract. You have absolutely zero power, zero safety net. You can, legally, be kicked out at the discretion of FDM (i.e for no reason), and be forced to pay back over 20,000 pounds. It appears they generally like to settle out of court, but they hold this threat over your head for everything. You forget to send in your weekly timesheet one week? Guess what, you're breaking your contract - and they actually threaten you with disciplinary action! I've taken the contract to a few different lawyers - and they all say you would lose in court. The only way out appears to be family matters and health cases - they seem to be very fair in these cases. 5.) Third year - beyond your two years. After two years of telling me the client will hire me (this came from both sides of the table). FDM and the client have gone behind my back to agree a third year salary. They now say they can't hire me, FDM have made me an offer. It is lowball when you look at the average salaries you should be earning in this industry. They then told me this was non-negotiable and that they wouldn't pay market rates. Trust me. You do not want to join this company as a graduate. In our industry - if you accept such a low salary - guess what - you're indicating that you are a terrible tester, developer, PMO. It's a shame that they tend to pray on young graduates with little real world experience. I fell for it. These guys are expert sales people. Get everything in writing, question everything, if you don't, you WILL be burned.