FDM Group reviews

1) Account managers could be a little bit pushy with trying to get their positions filled. They are in fact salesmen and their two targets are clients for positions, and candidates who will fill them. This being said, as long as you are a level headed person and you do not believe every single thing the account managers say, you should be fine and deal with them just fine. They like to use their British accents and smiles to charm everyone. Just be aware, if you go on an interview and get the position at a client's site, it's pretty much set in stone unless you want to fight a war changing utility companies. 2) Everyone keeps talking about account managers in previews reviews so I can quote another experience that did not happen personally to me but I saw it unfold. A trainee wasn't approached by account managers for interviews so that person decided to reach out to account managers to possibly get some interviews with clients. Because the position was outside the tri-state area, this person declined to move forward with the interview stages. Apparently the account manager didn't like that and spoke to the academy manager about how said trainee is leaving a baste taste in their mouth by declining interviews. Said trainee only declined one interview which was outside his tri-state area contract. 3) There is a separation fee if you decide to leave within the first two years voluntarily for the training provided and services given while placing a candidate. You could be fined 30000 for leaving the company the first year and it becomes a 20000 fine the second year. 4) Pay structure is weird with having a basically salary and a daily bonus rate. If you take paid vacation, bank holidays or have been furloughed due to a decision on a bank, you will be penalized by missing out on half of your pay for those days. 5) If you get sent back to the academy and sit there too long without getting placed at a different site, the company will let you go since you are a cost to them. That would be fine but HR will tell you during assessment day that pretty much "everyone" will be on site for 2 years straight and that cases of people being let go are few and far between, I know of 4 so far. 6) Another point on skewed numbers. During the assessment day, HR will claim that most people end get getting hired internally after their 2 year commit. I myself asked if they kept any kind of statistics or metrics on this and they told me they did not. Now I'm not a rocket scientist, but if you tell me something and have no evidence to back it up, the credibility of that statement is just about void.

The training is unpaid which by itself is fine if you were to be put on placement as soon as it finishes. However, that is not the case. I went through my entire 90 day period after my training was finished all completely unpaid. Watch out because this is something they don't tell you at the start! You only start getting paid when you're actually on placement. All in all I had a period of five months where I didn't touch a single pound. Furthermore they make it difficult for you to obtain a part time job on the side as they want you to come in on different days depending on the week. The atmosphere in the Academy is the most depressing thing ever. You essentially have a bunch of trainees waiting to be placed and you're forced to come in unpaid and sit about all day. You study and "upskill" for potential interviews that more often then not fall through. Do not trust the sales team! I have been in sales positions before and I therefore have some compassion for the job that they're doing but we use to have sales updates on a Friday afternoon where they would come in and simply lie to our faces. Talking about clients they were about to close with potential roles coming up. This was not the case, they were still about 6 months away from getting anything concrete. When I signed on I asked if there are a lot of people who don't get placed after 90 days. I remember them clearly saying it was the case for one or two individuals and that it was because they were essentially not willing to relocate. In my time at FDM I believe 25 or more trainees weren't placed and outlasted their training contract and trust me we all tried our best to get jobs.