Fedcap Employment Reviews 83

Like others, I found the whole process to be belittling and stressful and very unprofessional.
I started with FedCap via a three way conversation with the Job Centre where I was asked to attend a F2F in the nearest town to me, a 30 minute car journey from my house.
Due to health conditions, I requested to have the call via Teams or Zoom rather than making me do a pointless journey just to sit opposite someone, this was agreed by FedCap and the Job centre.

A day before my appointment I called FedCap and explained that I hadn’t received joining instructions to attend online and I was advised that all introductory meetings were F2F and not delivered over the internet.
I explained that this had already been agreed on the 3 way call and I wouldn’t be attending their offices but as agreed, more than happy to do a teams/zoom call.
On the day of my appointment I called FedCap once again and reminded them I was still yet to receive the joining instructions or invite for an online meeting.

I was told that they would reschedule the meeting for the following week, which was again set up as a F2F and no joining instructions sent. I was later informed that this would be a call.
My call was set in the diary for 1.30pm and I was about to go do something else because the advisor didn’t call me until 1.38pm.
There was no apology or explanation offered for being late, just jumped straight into the call.
When I called he out for being late and not apologising she said that due to the nature of the calls, sometimes they ran over and couldn’t be helped, failing to understand that an apology for being late was professional and the bare minimum. When I questioned her professionalism and asked if it was okay for me to arrive late, she got really defensive and quite hostile, clearly not liking being called out for her behaviour.
She then started the next sentence with ‘I don’t feel like I need to keep justifying…… ‘ and then stopped herself from completing that point.
I was then asked what I wanted to get out of the call but it came from a frustrated view rather than a genuine question, because it was all in her condescending tone.
I explained that I wanted expert help, guidance and support and my only expectation from these calls was that I had value from them, and not have them for the sake of ticking a box.
My next call was at 9.30am and was a CV review call. She mentioned that my CV was good but I should remove white space and condense into two pages rather than the 3 mine consisted of, she then jumped straight into a completely different topic and started talking to me about interviews and asking why I wasn’t getting job offers.
Because I disagreed with the white space being on my CV with support from recruiters preferring less cluttered text and the ability to write on the blank space, I revisited this part of the conversation, I also disagreed with a CV needing to be 2 pages instead of three but this was too much for her, she clearly thinks these calls are her imparting her wisdom onto me and it not being a conversation between two people.
She then asked patronisingly, ‘Do you want my help’ and ‘I’m not here to apply for jobs for you’… the mask clearly slipping because someone dared to disagree with her..
In the end we agreed that it would be best to change advisor and she would speak to her boss to arrange this before my next call.
6 hours after this call I received a text message with a new appointment for 2pm the following day, this meeting never happened, nobody called, no meeting was attended… what professionalism..
The people running the restart scheme talked to me as if I wasn't able or prepared to take on work, like I enjoy earning under £400 a month and failing to pay mortgage. They talk to you like everything is your fault, no interviews- your cv is to blame… no job offers - your interview technique is to blame.
Constantly “threatened" if you don’t attend meetings, “threatened’ with payments being held back for failing to comply.
I was treated like I didn’t know how to create or amend a CV, treated like a moron. I like others have worked all my life and I'm sure there are some people who do intend to stay on benefit but that is not my plan and am working every day to get a new job.
I find the restart scheme stressful and the patronising and bullying that I get has forced me to make a formal complaint, in which they say takes 10 days to respond. I can see why people chose to end claims rather than put up with this treatment. I guess in that way the scheme does get people off benefits, improving numbers. I can only imagine what it must be like for people with learning disabilities or other needs to have to deal with the serious bullying the service employs.
I have my doubts about the qualifications, experience, Expertise and professionalism of the people that claim to be in place to help and support you.

Mixed experience. Some really brilliant advisors but fedcap suffers from funding cuts and not having enough support for staff which throws more stress onto service users. There have been some brilliant staff members but the service itself feels like its struggling.

Abusive advisor who argued and disrespected me on two occasions.
This person should not work at this organisation if they can't handle the job themselves.A form of abuse

Unfortunately, I think it's an accepted form of abuse and a violation of a person's privacy by unprofessional and barely qualified advisors.

Totally no sense of keeping private information private on 2 occasions my sensitive private history broadcast thru the workspace. On one occasion they didn't realise i was still in the building while I was listening. The lady next to me said wow that guy sould have been on Jeremy Kyle. Enough said it's like a glee camp but at least gives young people with made up qualifications and no life skills a chance of a job

10 out of 5 stars experience with Michael. Great guy, very friendly and easy to be open and honest with.
Supported me from the very beginning and made me feel comfortable. Explained everything in an easy to understand manner and tailored his support to my needs and circumstances. Genuinely cannot fault him as a person and as a professional. Clearly passionate about his job and supporting people. If I was to ever need Fedcap support again I would always request for Michael after my experience with him. I did have to deal with a couple other support workers but he was always made me feel I was speaking to a friend who genuinely cared about my wellbeing rather than just another customer.

A complete waste of time. It's really just another organization that creates additional stress. The webinars are completely useless. The coach only reviews your progress reports. Overall, avoid this program; it's a waste of time.

Amazing staff super friendly and very supportive of people who need work they can help financially two members coral and romina very friendly in helping others to get into work

Michael from the Reading Office has been so helpful with helping me find a job. He's made sure I had the correct expenses for anything that I would have needed (travel, uniform, app for cscs card). Without Michael's help I wouldn't have found this job, thank you Michael.

Luke, the advisor who in Reading was both very knowledgeable and really supportive.
With his help, I found my current role pretty quickly.

Micheal is my coach and helped and supported me finding a job, he was there instantly when I feed support and guidance, Micheal helped motivate me, and helped boost my confidence looking for work, is really understanding and professional also very relaxed and helped make looking for work not as stressful as it could have been if didn't have him as my coach. Very greatful , and would recommend Micheal as a coach to anyone.

I currently have a fantastic advisor (CHARLIE MCNIEL) and really appreciate the help and support I have received at the company generally. I would recommend Fed cap to everybody.

Worked with Romina Brandi from Reading Office. She was professional, respectful and very supportive. I enjoyed working with her whilst looking for my next role.

My advisor, Leigh Abbott, has been brilliant. Having been unemployed for several months, her support and advice directly resulted in me securing full-time work. I would recommend Fedcap to anyone who is struggling to find work.

Michael from the Reading branch was very helpful and very enjoyable to work with. Managed to get me employed quickly, and with little fuss.

My advisor Charlie McNeill are Reading Fedcap is really good
The appointments are productive and have a really helpful and supportive feel

The staff here are amazing and create a really caring and friendly atmosphere. I have really enjoyed my time with charlie and feel I am moving forward and cared for

Charlie McNeill has been a great support in my transition to self employment. He is always helpful and offers lots of good advice. Our appointments are always positive and he makes me feel at ease as we go through the process. 10/10 for Charlie!

I have been with Fedcap for the work in health program and the restart scheme too. I found my first work coach Monique Andalcio extremely helpful, going out of her way, to help me find jobs, emailing me with potential jobs, help with applying, giving me lots of encouragement and working on my confidence and motivation. On the restart program my job work coach Jessica Tang was very helpful with applying for Access to work, she sat me for over an hour making sure I was comfortable with filling in the form. She is currently helping me with the benefit calculator to organise my finances. All Fedcap staff are very friendly and always at hand to help. Its a very comfortable and non stressful environment and focuses on finding your strengths and strengthening your weakness. They treat everyone respectfully. The courses they provide are excellent to improve your capability of looking for work, your confidence level. And managing your stress levels. I thoroughly recommend Fedcap as an addition to the job centre as Fedcap spend much longer with you and give you that extra much needed support.

Very helpful with getting me back into employment

Romina was great in helping me get into employment, also the interview and cv help was very useful.
Great service, also helped me with getting uniform for my new job.