Does this sound like a scam?

[GlossyTaco]

My teenage child has been approached by a company that fast track candidates through management training, with the aim to have them in a management position with one of their listed companies in a year.

They have offered £500pw while training and said that the position they are finally offered could be anywhere in this big city. They potentially want my teen to sign a contract on Tuesday for immediate start.

The problem here is that while my child is completely seduced , I am sceptical and have told them to not sign a thing until we've seen it too.

This company have piled it on thick , having a previous success story come in and talk about how achieving sales is a doddle etc. I also am having trouble finding this company online , they claim it's because they are relatively new.

My teen has very average GCSE grades and work experience of a year in retail. It feels wrong that this company would 'head hunt' my teen with all of this in mind.

Does anyone have any experience of such companies that could put my mind at rest , or am I right to be suspicious?

Have you looked at the company reviews on Glassdoor?

Doesn't sound right. When you mention the wage that's way above even a graduate degree level wage. They have probably specified POTENTIAL earnings. Try looking on Glassdoor for the company they are a review site for companies sort of like trip advisor.
Can you name the company and I can see if I can find any info for you?

Thank you , I will do that.

I'll pm the company name if that's okay.

I have replied to you but does not seem genuine so steer clear.
Hope this helps.

Thank you , you've been really helpful. Am dreading bringing the poor kid back down to earth.

Tell them too look on sites such as Milkround or proper agencies such as reeds. Don't give up and tell them we all fall for things that look that good.

www.milkround.com/

Sounds like Kirby vacuum cleaners that I almost got sucked into (no pun intended, honest!!) when I was 18. They're pretty much a mlm scheme. 'If it sounds too good to be true...' and all that!

Okay so they look dodgy. What can I do, and is there somebody I can report them to? Sorry if these are silly questions , I'm clueless about how to proceed.

Obviously I will discourage my child.

They will probably guarantee him £500 for a couple of weeks but then it will be commission only and if he doesn’t quickly hit his targets they will get rid of him
They may also claw back money from the training period. I would be checking his contract very very carefully

Best way to proceed is read the contract very carefully, and point out what you will inevitably find, that there are no guarantees etc etc

Is there anything actually unlawful?

This is from the job he has found online. It's self employed

And from the same company talking about another role where they are basically door to door sales. Dangerous and even if it was the management training job I can guarantee that the role will be the same. They advertise like this to get people and then promise them lots. I went for a role like this in Manchester once. Spent all day there waiting around and they expected me to go back in a week and go out door to door selling.

Forgot pic

I'm so glad I posted. I appreciate all advice and help given.

Not a problem unfortunately there are many of the same kinds of businesses trading like this. If they talk about unpaid interviews and trial days steer clear of them. And they will expect self employment status. On LinkedIn there were over 50 in London doing the same. Hope job hunting goes well.

My teen has two other interviews today , both with big and well known companies. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that one of those is successful.

Sounds like cobra group (devilcorp) it pretends to be an opportunity but is actually door to door sales and cult like.

My teen is home. They don't have a web address for this company or a phone number (other than personal mobile numbers) and when my teen asked to see the contract before signing they were told that they could only look at it by visiting their office on Saturday morning.

Most likely to be a job where they’re standing in the street trying to persuade passers by the sign up to a credit card/internet deal. It’s commission only, and I’ll tell you now that NO ONE makes 500p/w doing it and those who get to ‘management’ will find that their business with fail. Please look up credico horror stories online. The devilcorp blog page is a good place to start.

www.tradingstandardsecrime.org.uk/report-fraud/

Thank you , yes , I've had a look around and am glad that he has decided not to pursue this 'job'.

I asked him 3 questions about the so called job. What will he be selling , who to , and how. When he realised that he didn't actually know the answer to any of those he thankfully realised this wasn't really an opportunity.

I also asked him for the office number (as it wasn't online , anywhere) and all he could show me were two mobile numbers and first names. He also told me that he had their web address in his notepad , when he opened the notepad he had www.r written down only, and looked puzzled as to why he didn't have it all.