truck driver

forklift operator

driver

shift manager

recruitment consultant

Extra Personnel

I applied for a job at East Midlands Airport through Extra for a parcel sorter for DHL. 
The initial process was straight forward, you pop in fill out all the paperwork & pay for you criminal check (which was promised you would get back after working with them for a few months). 

The process after was a nightmare! They require tons of info from you, including a 5 year work history which you have to request from HMRC. A criminal background check. If you have any gaps in employment you will need 2 character references (in the format they request) and/or proof from the job centre if you have been on any benefits.

All of this takes time, you will then be sent on two training courses (which last pretty much all day) and then your induction. The communication is terrible, we had people in the training room getting notification at 5pm that they would need to attend training/induction the next day. I understand you have to be flexible but if you have children etc you need more notice.  

I went through the application process for THREE MONTHS and only had one lot of training, I found another job during this time.

I wouldn't mind if the position was permanent but it isn't, they take on 250 people. You cant tell me they all get taken on!

Would avoid Extra in the future.

This agency doesn't even know the law.

They ask for professional persons to fill out a personal reference form they give, that is illegal in the first place.
They ask a professional person to sign a legal document asking the professional person "What has the [YOUR NAME] been doing between given dates?". Seriously? That is illegal for the professional person to sign in the first place as they would be going on your word ONLY and not facts. It is also ILLEGAL for any company to ask such a question, knowing the information is false in the first place, as the professional person does not have facts with regards to this and are only going on what you are telling them you have done between certain dates.

When I pointed this out and stated that the professional person I know for over 20 years would not sign such a question and have left it blank. I was abruptly, ignorantly and arrogantly told, "If you don't get it done, you don't get the job". Every other question was filled out, yet not this illegal one.

This even being after all the training, paying for a Criminal Record Check and much more. Also spent much time, travel expenses and paperwork chasing over weeks. Of which I passed everything.

My advice being: Don't even bother with this company.

I'd never worked for a agency before and hope never to work for a agency ever again after my very bad experience with this company .I went for a interview which was a complete sham/ joke as a lot of people weren't  dressed properly to be interviewed. . I got the deep impression they would have signed anyone up to fill there quota for a large local employer .No organisation which everyone complained about and felt  that the right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing. The first 7 weeks I had a variety of problems with the agency ,mainly not being  paid correctly which was a very common problem. I later found out after talking to my fellow workers( the general impression was they do this deliberately ,as this probably makes them more money sitting in their account). most people just want to be employed permanently by the company the agency are supplying workers for ,so they can off load this bad agency. In the time I worked for them I didn't hear anyone have a good word to say about them.
       the only good thing I can say about working for them was I had a really good supervisor

I would never worked for a agency before and hope never to work for a agency ever again after my very bad experience with this company .I went for a interview which was a complete sham/ joke as a lot of people weren't dressed properly to be interviewed. . I got the deep impression they would have signed anyone up to fill there quota for a large local employer .No organisation which everyone complained 
about and felt that the right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing. The first 7 weeks I had a variety of problems with the agency ,mainly not being paid correctly which was a very common problem. I later found out after talking to my fellow workers( the general impression was they do this deliberately ,as this probably makes them more money sitting in their account). most people just want to be employed permanently by the company the agency are supplying workers for ,so they can off load this bad agency. In the time I worked for them I didn't hear anyone have a good word to say about them.
the only good thing I can say about working for them was I had a really good supervisor

Go into the warehouse with the correct PPE. Go straight to see my shift manager to find out what job i was on. Usually unload two trailers with over 250+ parcels each which takes roughly around one and a half hours to do so, then from there i would go and repair damaged goods for approximately one hour and afterwards i was placed on high value goods for the rest of my shift which was for another two and a half hours. I learned whilst i was there time management was key, this was to make sure we achieved our goal which would depend on the amount of parcels we dealt with on the day. Management there was odd as they kept changing shift managers so this confused people on who to go to when entering the warehouse or if there was any problems. The hardest part of the job for me was getting to work this was due to myself not living close to the job therefore having to bike to work even when it was freezing cold temperatures. Most enjoyable part about the job was getting to meet and talk to people in between doing jobs as theirs a wide range of characters among the work place.

This was my first agency position, and unfortunately it will be my last. The interview was more of a capability assessment, nothing too difficult, however when it came to the actual job problems started to rear their ugly heads. The agency assures you that you will be working full time hours of 37.5 per week,  and that plenty of overtime will be offered, however in my six montha of working with their client I only had two weeks that were full time, and I can count on one hand the amount of overtime shifts I did. When overtime was offered, it was usually cancelled.
The management weren't great, they usually had no idea what they wanted you to do, and there was obviously very little communication between the agency and the contracting company. The agency were so concernedvwith filling quotas that when there was little work available, they were still recruiting staff, giving them the same false promises as they gave me.

Every typical day of my shift at the Workplace was interestingly a great experience. This came about by the system of clock in and the platform change of different duties, and the clock out. It is a new and interesting experience, different to my previous experience of paper records. I learned a new technology advancement for my good.

The policy and procedure of management is exceptionally professional, and my co-workers, along with other members of staff enjoyed good Team Work, as required of us for all our roles at the Workplace. On the other hand, the hardest part of the job is the frequent demand to quickly accomplish a task and move to perform other tasks, as required by the management.

The most enjoyable part of the job is when the management announces a task to be accomplished, prior to clocking out from the Day Shift for good. This is always a beautifully energetic experience.

Worked there for all most 11 weeks. New boss came in changed the rotas. Got rid of 3 wagons of 12. Extended the routes and hours of the remaining 9 wagons and crews. Which upset the lads who worked there for years and done us agency lads no favours. Extra personnel didnt have a clue about what went on and are supposed to notify you on a weekly basis if you have or haven't got work the following week... but this lacked and fell upon myself turning up at bradleyfold depot to be told sorry there is no work today. The management did however give me the odd early phonecall when work was lacking and someone called in sick which helped me squeeze a few days here and there but ultimately i had to leave for something more full time to support my family. I would work there again if only the hours could be guaranteed.

This agency put me in a warehouse picking and packing (the kind of job that I have experience in and was looking for) I arrived on site and in a whole warehouse of around 150 staff I was the only English speaking person, I tried to make it work for 3 weeks, but when not one person (not even the management) could speak English (and I don't speak polish unfortunately) it became impossible to even understand basic tasks that they wanted me to do.
Surely the agency knew that not only would this make me feel isolated but that it would be impossible to get on with my work with communication barriers, when I told the agency (Peter who is also polish) that I would stick it out until another placement came up but explained how difficult it was he wasn't interested and he didn't even bother trying to find me alternative work or help me whatsoever!! Just a waste of time, thanks for nothing

It was my first job as a warehouse operative and generally my first job in UK. The agency was really good.I appreciate that they gave me job the days i was available.The payments were on time,sometimes they cancelled my shift but only if it was really necessary.I have heard about bad and strict managers in other warehouses but fortunately i was very lucky.All the managers are very kind and all the co-workers are willing to explain everything.The day started  with a briefing about the work load we had to get through and after that everybody knows what to do.That's it.
 I had to leave  because of my college's needs, i am very happy that i met all those people and i would surely recommend Extra Personnel job agency. 
  Athina.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Truck driver 1 salary reported	£12.50 per hour
Forklift operator 3 salaries reported	£14.33 per hour
Driver 1 salary reported	£20,000 per year
Shift manager 1 salary reported	£23,000 per year
Recruitment consultant 2 salaries reported	£23,000 per year

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