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Bell HR/Recruitment

 
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ajomatka



Joined: 28 Oct 2011
Posts: 3

PostPosted: Sun Mar 03, 2013 9:21 pm    Post subject: Bell HR/Recruitment Reply with quote

Got a job with Bell for the coming summer with conditions that sound reasonable but here�s the BUT: Their HR department won�t answer my questions, I always get a reply from a different person and with all their sending documents and such they�ve been reeeeeeally sloooooow. I don�t know whether to think it�s incompetence, too big of a workload or a problem with reading comprehension but it�s making me nervous. Does anyone here have any experience dealing with their head office in Cambridge and if you do, what are they like? Thanks!
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john123



Joined: 29 Jan 2012
Posts: 83

PostPosted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 9:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I am not at all surprised by what you are experiencing. I guess I have not had much doings with their head office, but I can safely say that 'THAT' summer school was the worst time of my life, and that Bell is the worst employer I have ever had.

Be prepared for mystery nibbles into your pay at the end of the contract, toffee-nosed spoilt uni kids as so called house-parents and activity leaders, raving alcoholic DOSs, organisational incompetence (yes, kids sometimes had a whopping 45 minutes to look around London and then get back on the bus), under-age nonsense, child-minding, scary looking food, loud mouth course directors who have shady pasts, lack of space in the teacher's room, prison like guards monitoring your photocopying, bullying Spanish kids ...

Good luck.
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ajomatka



Joined: 28 Oct 2011
Posts: 3

PostPosted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 11:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cheers! Would you mind elaborating on the where and when of your crappy experience?
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amisexy



Joined: 24 May 2012
Posts: 78

PostPosted: Tue Mar 05, 2013 10:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

[quote="ajomatka"]Cheers! Would you mind elaborating on the where and when of your crappy experience?[/quote]

I agree.

Also, could you elaborate on what you mean by 'for mystery nibbles into your pay'

Thanks Smile
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Captain Coddo



Joined: 04 Feb 2012
Posts: 45
Location: East Coast

PostPosted: Tue Mar 05, 2013 10:34 pm    Post subject: Bell - Rubbish!! Reply with quote

I worked on several Bell summer schools thoughout the 1990s and it was a great experience - good pay, decent colleagues, and well organised.

Then the bean-counters got a foothold and there was no emphasis on quality anymore. Things went downhill rapidly, so I never returned.

I'd recommend Regent possibly, but they might have gotten worse over the years too. All summer camp schools nowadays seem to be keen to pay the worst rates and employ inexperienced staff, most of them not even out of college.

In short, avoid summer camps, unless you're truly desperate. It's much better to get something locally, so you can live at home or with friends and/or relatives.
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john123



Joined: 29 Jan 2012
Posts: 83

PostPosted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 8:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dear Ajomatka,
Yes - 2009. Wellington College. I heard about one lady who escaped to the train station at 3.30am for a train way way up north. It was that bad.

Please, don't look for shreds of consolation or clarification. You surely deserve better than the treatment you will inevitably receive by working for this outfit.

Regards
John 1,2,3..
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sprightly



Joined: 07 May 2003
Posts: 136
Location: England

PostPosted: Thu Jul 25, 2013 7:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

i did a summer school with bell (2010?11?) and it was fine. long-ish hours, but decent accomm and food. downside--we were in the country so in your time off you could put down £50 to get to a big city and back for the evening (taxi/train), or go to one of 3 local pubs. or, go for gorgeous walks in some beautiful countryside and breath deeply.

it was well-organised, but the cente manager the year before had been wildly bad and either left or was fired half way through.

the kids were kids, the uni-aged staff were what you'd expect but easy to work with as teh centre manager was very clear on expectations, there were no mystery nibbles. we knew up front how often we'd be supervising activities and trips. i had a wedding to go to and my rota was moved around to allow it, no hassles from teh manager.

in short, if you have a good dos and a good centre manager, it's not a horrible way to spend 6-8 wks and you should be able to save pretty much every penny you earn. research the centres carefully--the year before i was there, one teacher arrived, looked around, saw how far away everything was, and was back in a taxi 20 minutes later.
the teachers come from all over, so if you're smart you can do some good networking.
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