Life at Enterprise in the UK...

[ernmacleur]

I know a lot of people who comment on here seem to be from the US, and although i'm not suggesting things would be vastly different in the UK, do things differ a little over here?

A few things I have realised that will happen..

1) Long hours - to be fair, in my interviews so far, they haven't beaten around the bush. They have told me that they work long hours , and they have rarely tried to butter it up. They have said that I am likely to work Mon - Fri 7.45 - 6.15pm and also every other Saturday, roughly 8.30am-12.30pm.

2) Shite work - I've been prepared from what people say on here that you wash cars, probably a lot of cars. In truth, this doesn't bother me an awful lot. I'm sure for some it might feel slightly degrading, but I have to admit, it doesn't worry me all that much, even wearing a suit! Even ferrying customers around doesn't particularly put me off the job.

3) Pressure to sell - a lot of people have talked about the damage waiver etc etc, I fully expect to be made to sell it. I work in a job on minimum wage currently, and part of that job is reaching both company and personal targets.

I've had both good and bad jobs both before and since university. I'm not the kind of graduate who feels that this job will mean I can sit and order people around and do very little work. I'm not naive and feel that you won't have to work hard for the company. My question really is; is it really really that bad?! Like I say, i'm not a naive chap, and I fully expect to be at the bottom of the hierarchy to begin with. A salary of £16,000 to begin with is hardly a bad pay, even for a graduate. Considering 90% of people who leave college/6th form go to University, it's not like we are a rare breed!

I would give the job a fair crack, even if it did mean doing longer hours to begin with. Although I absolutely do not expect to be on "a six figure salary in six years", I would expect it to be worthwhile if I put in the hard work. That aside, I wouldn't feel pressured by anyone to stay in the job if I didn't enjoy it.

I'd like honest advice from anyone. And when I say honest, I don't want people trying to exagerate how good or bad the job is, every single job has pro's and con's. I just want genuine people telling me, from the position i'm in, expecting the kind of scenarios described above, is the job any worse than how I imagine it would be?

Thanks in advance!

[golightlyeddie@yahoo.com]

I have met very few people at ERAC who made what they said they were going to make in the interview process. It reminded me of the George Orwell book Animal Farm. There were people who were more equal than the others. You will be forced to lie to people when selling the coverages. Where I worked there was no law that said that they had to have the coverages. They would simply tell people that they would have to put down the price of the vehicle on a credit card if they did not take our coverages.

They told us in trainging that this was unethical and not to do it, but it was encouraged by every single brm and arm that i worked for. Furthermore, washing cars in the heat of summer in a suit, while the carpreps watched or were non existent, was a bit discouraging. You couldn't blame the car prep, because they weren't making but $200 a week with no benefits.

This place is evil. Don't be deceived, but if you are, you will be back in several months to warn others off as well. Good luck old chap. cheerio o

[ernmacleur]

So they exagerate your basic pay in the interview process? That being the case, I wouldn't accept the job if it was anything less than £16,000.

I dont particularly think it's a case of being naive, I have my wits about me. I am absolutely not dismissing any advice people are giving me on here, but it's not like i'm signing away 5 years service at the Army; If the job really is as bad as people make out, i'll find out soon enough; and if I find out soon enough, i'll leave - no big deal!

Thanks for your post, any advice is much appreciated!

[Hoopy Hound]

If you are thinking of working at ERAC then in the UK you will recieve a starting salery of £16,000. I left about a year ago due to a much better job offer but i did quite enjoy my time there.

Im not sure how they do things in other groups but when i was in the interveiw process they pretty much told it how it was, long hours, washing cars etc.

A lot of the posts on this site are true but if i was you i would work for them for around a year to boost your experience and then apply for other better jobs using the experience you gain.

It is not the MBA fast track scheme that ERAC say, however but you can dress the job up pretty well on a CV.