Job Discussion Forums

[Whitnall]

Has anyone ever heard of Avenir International school in Milan?
I saw a job posting for it last week but have been unable to find any other info on the school.

Thanks

[Tbird]

I just checked this board for the same reason. I saw the same ad(s) and even applied. They sent back a form letter saying I am the man for the job, but I suspect they send that to all applicants. I haven't found anything about them either...perhaps some of the Italy vets on the board could enlighten us woefully unenlightened masses.

[csfek]

I applied to this school. They have accepted me but are now asking me to pay a 500 dollar "commitment fee" which they say they will reimburse upon my arrival to milan. i am supposed to send it by western union to someone in athens, greece. They also want my passport number supposedly so they can get me a plane ticket. I am american and they have made no mention of how they will go about getting me a visa. I have looked for this school online and found nothing. They are not listed in the online yellow pages for Milan.
Needless to say, I am extremely skeptical. It seems like a big elaborate scam to me. I have never heard of a school making you pay money to work for them.
Does anyone know anything about this school?

[joshsweigart]

In my monthly newsletter from Tefl.com there was a warning about this school--apparently they could not find any info about it and therefore have warned people that it probably does not exist. I would never send money to a school for anything--visas included.

[PenguinHunter]

I have just finished doing a lot of research about this supposed Avenir School.

As someone else said, they are not listed in Milan. The schedule he gives you is copied straight from a Greek school's website. (This may look familiar: http://www.campion.edu.gr/calendar.htm Notice the trip to Nafplion, a town on a Greek island, heh). On top of that, the IP addresses from the coordinator(s) do not match up to the countries they say they are in.

Anything asking for money through Western Union is going to be a scam because it can be done anonymously from any location in the world. Never ever, give anyone money through Western Union. No legitimate school will conduct business through them and certainly not at an individual level.

[Neptune]

Yeah, I got my acceptance "letter" a couple of days ago. I was really skeptical when they accepted me without even conducting a phone interview. On top of that, they told me to make a payment of $500 US at their London offices. Now why would an institution require some people to make a payment in Greece (in csfek's post) and others in London using Western Union? Looks like a scam to me. By the way, nice work digging up that info Penguin Hunter.

[Sim]

I also received an email informing me that I've been accepted. He even sent the "contract" but when I read the part where he's asking me to pay $500.00
(just PM me if you want to know the guy's name) thru Western Union in UK...then I thought that it was really a scam...

SOme things are really too good to be true...

[mebluefairy]

Same thing happened to me. Asking for 500$ and all. Then I sent him an email back, saying that I didn't expect that, and asked him if that meant I wouldn't get the job.... Of course I know it's a scam, but I wanted to see if he was going to reply. I also told him that I was surprised he didn't interview me by phone. Besides his interview questions were repetitive and not very professional.

Anyway, he hasn't replied to me since, so my conclusion is that I waisted my time with his make believe job offer. He went fishing and I just hope he doesn't catch a lot of fish.

Marie

[April Nombrefia]

Hi everyone.

I was trying to look for a site where I can post a warning about Avenir International School in Milan, Italy. It's a fraud. A certain SEBASTINO MAGNANI said they were hiring ESl teachers across the globe, with a monthly salary of 1700 Euros plus weekend allowances but you have to pay them first a "refundable" 500 US dollars to one of their London offices, to be payed to a certain DAVID MASEKO, the Finance Director. They said after paying this "commitment fee" they will start processing all the documents the teacher will be needing.

I applied for this position and of course I was very serious all throughout the application. I was just skeptical about how fast they reply and of course when they said I was accepted - I sent my answers to the interview questions of the principal just an hour before their decision. Also, of course, about the 500 dollars. the email that they sent me (from Sebastino Magnani) only emphasized about the importance of the 500 dollars and not on the job itself. So I asked my friends to also researched the background of the Avenir for more assurance. A friend in Japan, who is also a researcher, has retrieved an article or document also complaining about the Avenir International School because she sent 500 dollars to a certain Neil Thompson aka Avenir's Finance Director. She sent the money and Sebastino Magnani and the crew did not sent her to Italy by sending back her plane tickets and the documents she needed for Visa. Of course the 500 dollars was not refunded. The complainant was a Canadian.

Good thing I researched about the school. With this I would like to warn everybody about this job post. I saw one message asking about the Avenir School in Milan, Italy. That's why I opted to join this forum and I was hoping I could warn you not to apply for that post anymore.

[jnesta1]

it would be good if one of you who has ahd these negative interactions with this school would write here to dave or one of teh moderators. perhaps they would be able to post a warning that more people would see. you would be doing a lot of people a valuable service.