Job Discussion Forums

[mandivided]

Please heed this warning and stay far, far away as possible from Millennium and it's lying, worm-like Director, Arek. I just spent the last five months working for Millennium, which was nothing short of a complete disaster. Arek will promise you the moon (or zero split shifts, as in my case...as I had requested before leaving my comfey surroundings elsewhere), but he is incapable of delivering on his promises.

Moreover, if you are American citizen, please be aware that you cannot obtain a Polish work visa while in Poland, or any other country outside the US and that Millennium is unprepared to sponsor your visa.

Finally, if you do decide to work for Millennium, be prepared to live in an absolute s**t hole of an apartment and be taken advantage of by whichever random school in Poland Arek deems fit to place you in.

[Pollux]

This Millennium or M&M Service keeps coming up in various posts as a rip-off. Can someone give their contact info and maybe we can put them out of business if they are dishonest. Has anyone had a positive experience dealing with this organization?

[cheeseandegg]

The only contact information I have is: [email protected]

I was offered several jobs by Arek but refused after he was unwilling to provide names of schools and other important conditions.

[Bialonoz]

Please be aware that Millenium Service seems to have become a bit of a sideline for it's owner, their website mmservice.pl is down. The owner, Pan Arkadiusz Kurowski is apparently running a language school called Centrum Językowe PRYMUS, which has branches in Lublin, Warsaw and Krak�w. Perhaps any teacher considering working for them should think again.

I would love to be corrected if I'm wrong, but perhaps I'm cynical - these dodgy people who make a living exploiting foreigners seem to keep coming back like a bad penny.

[marty5371]

[marty5371]

[allntowns]

I also had a bad experience with M&M or Millenium in January this year. I was offered a job with a school in Lublin through Arek. I only spoke to him once by phone; all other contact was either by email or text messages. I was met at Warsaw airport by a friend of Arek also called Arkadiusz (seemed a bit of a coincidence). He got me to sign the contract almost as soon as I arrived in Poland. I never once met Arek. The whole experience was so bad that I returned home after a week. I the end I lost money on a month's rental for an appartment, flights etc. I wish I'd known how bad it would be in advance. The whole experience has made me more cautious and wary of ever teaching English in the future.

[nabakow30]

I am another in that long list of 'I've been badly treated by Arek'..lot's of hassle and hundreds of pounds to the bad. However, I'm a stubborn sort and I made my presence felt as much as possible, learnt a degree of polish as quickly as possible to deal with the whole situation and saw my contract out. I say this for one reason- though I totally allntowns reticence to get immersed in the tefl world after such an experience, keep things in perspective. I got as much as I could out of the whole thing, learnt from it, and stayed in Poland for another year. Still here, and having given the place a chance (as if it really needed it..) to prove itself beyond the horribly coloured days of Arek, I can happily say I'll be back, even if it is time to move on. Greetings to all. Trzymajcie sie.

[Khrystene]

[Pollux]

Szerokiej drogi!

Will visit Arek's school this week and talk to teachers there to see if they're in fact a scam. If they are, I'm told that something can be done about it.

[GRAHAM HURST]

Yes, Arek is a crook. I was never paid my final salary. He has made a number of promises to me over the past year. But to tell you the truth I have now moved on, and I'm working for a great school here in Poland.

I'm not upset about the money, because the accommdation in Szczecin was more or less free of charge, which confused me at the time. It was a great apartment right in the centre of town.

I worked for Millenium from February 2005 - June 2005, and all in all I good time working for Top English, and had plenty of hours to teach each week.

[sadcliffefall]

I had a phone interview with Arek before coming to Poland. He promised 3,500 PLN a month and free accomodation if I lived with students or 50-50 split rent if I chose my own apartment. At first I thought the option to live with students didn't sound very professional.........a bit dodgy but I considered his offer. Then when I emailed him back and asked him to confirm the promised details he then made excuses saying " Ah..........if you want all those things I have to ask the school first if that is possible". I was like, "These are not things I am demanding, rather I am confirming that this is part of the contract." So I thought he was dodgy and didn't take the position. Having read all these other posts , I am very glad.

[nuim]

...leaving for poland in september. ive just read this forum thread about millenium and now im bricking it cos thats who im gonna work for! Ive read one "balanced view" of this company. are there any more to be had? has ANYONE got any positive thoughs? ive invested a lot of time and money into this tefl thing so far so im gonna go and try and give it a shot. so please dont anyone tell me not to go! i intend on getting as much out of this as possible....

[nabakow30]

ive invested a lot of time and money into this tefl thing so far so im gonna go and try and give it a shot. so please dont anyone tell me not to go! i intend on getting as much out of this as possible....

Hi..I totally understand your sentiments, they being the same as the ones i had which got me through my year in Poland with Millenium.

However, as I've already said on this thread, my expereince of Arek et al was, like many others', dire. If you are the type to get your head down though and be determined to get the most out of any experience then you'd be fine just the same. You have, however, advance knowledge of what they are like and I implore you to take heed of it. As mentioned above, I love Poland and have decided to stay for a third year, and I wholeheartedly encourage you to come. But it's not as if MS is your only option. Even if you have no experience beyond the CELTA you will be able to find work with thoroughly reputable schools without too much difficulty. An agency whose attempt to deliver on it's 'acquainting teachers with our traditions and rich customs' etc promise (in the advertisement) amounts to 6 basic polish phrases printed off a PC is unlikely to satisfy you, and believe me, it would be laughable if not for the fact that people have suffered.

Anyway, if you have any further queries PM me. Of course it's your decision, but there are many things in life one doesn't have to go through first hand to realise their (lack of) worth. Good luck

[mandivided]

With regard to '...getting one's head down', I'm a former US Marine and I know a thing or two about putting up with a whole range of crap which the avg. person doesn't have a clue about. Sometime after the Marines, I made a conscious decision that I wouldn't put up with any crap, from anyone and/or any organization unless I absolutely had to. And since adopting this attitude, I've (more or less) prospered and advanced reasonably far in life...as a person, professionally etc.

The bottom line is that Millennium Service is ran by a crook/liar/cheater and life's far too short to put up with such people. As for myself, I decided after several months that I couln't salvage anything out of my time with Millennium...and that working for Millennium under the circumstances which I found myself in wasn't benefiting anyone but Millennium and the sheister guy who ran the school which I was placed in. I was losing out. My students were losing out. A shame, really.

Again, I STRONGLY advise anyone considering a position with Millennium to look elsewhere.