I worked for...
...a cowboy 'learning provider', which is basically a company which makes tons of money from school dropouts by putting them through Government-funded qualifications.

I'm a supply teacher so as looking for a job for the summer and my friend was working for said cowboys. Though he is good at his job, he has no higher qualifications than GCSEs so I had little trouble getting a job with them and negotiating a slightly higher than average initial salary. Especially as the interviews consisted on one brief chat with my mate's manager while he cleaned out a store cupboard, throwing condoms and the like at me and the other which consisted on the area manager never quite metting my eye (he hired on boobie size apparently).

I should've heard alarm bells at this point.

To be fair it was a cushy job. My own centre to run (easy), only a few learners anyway, some of which were actually headed to A'Levels, not a bricklaying course and the fact I just had to show them how to run through Excel and other simple stuff and that was it. I spent a summer on MSN, eating bacon sarnies.

However, the paperwork was a nightmare. It had to be exact (stupidly long codes that change overnight, etc) or it would be rejected. I was told I would get shown how to complete these. Now this was more for the company's sake than mine. Weeks go by, the kids' work is mounting and I'm fobbed off with 'get so-and-so to show you'. So I did. But they didn't know either.

Anyway, the company overstretches itself and lays off staff (suits me as I'm a temp but it was very bad for others).

I saw my mate a while after. Turns out the paperwork was wrong, despite the qualifications being correct. They've paid the kids £50 a week to do them but had no return so are down about ten grand for my centre alone, not to mention the other larger ones. Oops!
(Medibot, Thu 25 Oct 2007, 12:37, Reply)