My husband (38M) has been fastidiously looking for work for this past year. He has very little education but a lot of work experience, though mainly in an industry he can no longer work in since we moved. He wanted a part time job at box store or something, but despite having retail experience he could not get one to save his life.
Out of around 200 jobs he's applied to, he was only contacted by scams. He has driving experience and the couple jobs that called him back were things that required he use his own car with little or no reimbursment, expected him to be on call 24/7 but only guarenteed 8 hours a week, drug testing, didn't have any benefits, paid minimum wage, etc.
Finally he gets a call from YD, who previously interviewed him but didn't hire him, then 8 months later called to offer him work saying they had kept his resume. The interview was over an hour long where they info dumped a LOT on him, but it seemed like a good opportunity. Pay was at least $20/hr with incentives that could increase that, he would be given a car, benefits, etc. He was told he would need to do a 4 week course with online classes and in-person driving in a town an hour away. This course would be paid for by them and, once hired, they would take $1 off each lesson he gave so over time he would pay them back for the course. We understood this would require him to work there a while (or else pay them back if he decided to quit) but it was the first seemingly legit opportunity so ok.
Now here is where he kind of screwed up. He has been unemployed for a couple years due to a few factors, and he was overwhelmed with all the information they dumped on him and signed papers without reading them all the way through. After a few days doing the course, he realized that they had him sign something saying that if they fail him for this course, he is responsible for paying back the $3000 immediately. So he would not get the job, and owe them money.
He also found out that he only gets paid minimum wage for the duration of the training, and they had not previously told him that even if he is hired, he will only be paid for the time he is giving lessons and not any of the driving between appts. He was also told he is responsible for making his own lesson plan.
All this is information that would have made us run for the hills had we known, but the 2 people who interviewed him skirted around these issues and did not disclose them prior to “hiring” him.
Like… WTF? How is this legal? What's to stop them from telling a bunch of ppl they're hired, get them to sign up for the course, and then decide not to hire them and demand they pay?
Another person in his course said to the instructor “this sounds like we're contract workers, why aren't we hired as such?” and he shut it down immediately saying he doesn't know anything about that so he's not going to talk about it.
We can't exist on my salary alone and have been struggling lately, so he has to try to get this job, but wtf man. This is a longstanding and reputable driving school in Ontario, the most expensive one by a mile, and they're running it like a fucking scam and shorting their instructors between the lines. My husband said the course has been like a sales conference, where you're constantly forced to chase incentives and get the students to give good reviews.
So.. we're basically just holding our breath hoping he passes. He already feels cheated and knows he will hate this job, but the alternative is being unemployed, with no more unemployment benefits, AND owing $3000 for a non-transferrable course to the people who scammed him.
Even the good jobs are shit.