Advice needed on meter reading job offer

A question about : Advice needed on meter reading job offer

Hi im new to this forum and thought i could do with a little advice.
I was made redundant from my long term job in december and have been claiming job seekers allowance from early january.

A few weeks back i applied for a job with a company called h20 water.
The job was advertised as a full time position of 40 hrs per week. It stated that i must have my own car and phone.
I registered my interest in this job ( one click via totaljobs.com) .
A few days later i was telephoned and asked to download the application pack,fill it in,bring along all relevent documents including DBS disclosure application and to attend an interview in birmingham , which isnt too close to home for me ( 30 or so miles ).

When i arrived at the interview, which took place in a holiday inn hotel.
it was a 1 on 1 interview with a guy who explained to me that the job would be working 40 hours a week and would initially last for 3 months, and that i wouldnt be working for h20 water and that the work i did would be for g4s .
I was a little confused by this and even more so when he said ,after the 3 months the company would franchise me , meaning to make me self employed where i get paid by the read rather than be guaranteed a basic wage. He was not very detailed in his description of all of this,but did mention paying own tax, NA, accountants,etc.. but because it was a job i was initially very keen on i failed to question alot about this

After a few days i got a phone call from him offering me the job and telling me that there was a 2 week induction for the job in derby (again not very close to my home ) i wouldnt mind this but the job was advertised as being in my own postcode and because the 2 week induction requires me to travel to derby and back every day for 2 weeks im really not sure if i can afford the fuel costs being on JSA . what makes it worse is that you dont recieve pay for the induction period either

Having thought about this long and hard im having second thoughts about this job now as i feel the job i have been offered is not the job i applied for. i know absolutely zero about being self employed but i do know that i wont be guaranteed a wage -let alone minimum wage.

Im quite concerned about telling the job centre this as i assume they will insist i do this job , surely they cant make me become self employed can they ? i know that if i go to the 2 week induction (which is the very least i would like to do,to get more knowledge, details of the job ) that i would instantly not be entitled to JSA anymore even though i wouldnt actually recieve any wage for a month or so - and this worries me

Does anyone have any experience with meter reading with h20 water / g4s ? thanks in advance

Best answers:

• I have no experience with meter reading, but meeting at a hotel, different company, different locations, not as advertised, no pay to start with and talk of a franchise and self employment rather than employment makes it sound dodgy to me. Doesn't sound like a very professional interview and it's not the job you applied for.
  If you don't go for it either just tell the job centre you didn't get anywhere if they don't know the job was offered to you or tell them that it's not as advertised and means travelling far.
• Thanks for the reply ,im pleased someone else sees my concerns here , however im pretty sure the job centre will insist on me taking this job , even if it means travelling 30 odd miles each way every day,and then the driving miles to each job. if i told the job centre i was unsuccessful im pretty sure they may check up with the employer then i will look a bit silly and be sanctioned . Confused :/
• Generally I'd say the Job Centre wouldn't care to check up unless something else has happened to give them a reason to think maybe you're doing something wrong/lying or you just have a bad advisor trying to catch you out or create an issue.
  When you sign up to JSA you agree you'll be willing to travel so far. However, if the time is over that you don't have to take the job.
  I'd just say the interview was unprofessional due to location, job not as advertised and you don't trust it based on this and the fact it is a different company to what they stated. I'd add it's also too far to travel. I wouldn't mention any job offer, it doesn't make any difference if the job is dodgy and unsuitable. You have a perfectly good reason to walk away and any decent advisor should be able to see that. They can't force you to take the job.
  I'd also suggest that you make sure you apply for plenty of other jobs and make a point of stating what you have done and any replies. Focus on that. You could possibly avoid the conversation altogether about this "job".
  Advisors see many people, so they may not remember about that job even if you have mentioned it or have it written down that you attended an interview.
  If - and I'd say it's very unlikely - they do sanction you, you can appeal the decision.
• They can't insist that you take a self=employed job or that you travel potentially several hundred miles at your own expense for training. Add to that, if you use your own car for business purposes there will be hike up in the insurance cost.....
  There seem to be so many unanswered questions about what the job actually is I would give it a body swerve, unemployed or not.
• Well, I can verify that G4S do metre readings, but the whole meeting in a Holiday Inn screams of dubious. In fact, I'm starting to think perhaps that guy was in your shoes just a few months ago and is now 'self employed' to read metres. Perhaps he's actually sub contracting... oh gahddd, maybe he is a sub-sub contractor?
  Take the job on and set up shop in the Premiere Inn down the road and copy his every move. But yeah, in all seriousness, I would personally NOT take on that role. As you said - way too many questions unanswered and far too dubious in their way of doing business.. oh wait, sounds JUST LIKE G4S!
  Rgs,
  Victoria
  G4S Sub-Sub-Sub-Sub Contractor
• Thanks for the input folks .
  The other thing that bothered me aswell was the fact that when i asked this guy if the work would be around my local postcode he didn't seem to know , he just said 'if they advertised the job in your postcode thats where it will be' - not very reassuring.
  Also, i know he didnt check my references before offering me the job and also im sure he never sent the DBS form off either as these take some weeks to come back .
• Why not just go direct to G4S and ask them if he is genuine, ask them for a job while you are there as well, they have a high turnover of staff and are always looking for folk.
  It's not that bad a job once you get used to all the walking in the rain and rude customers.
• i thought g4s are a security company....they come to my work and take all our banking and deliver our money order...i work in foreign currency x
• So if he has your DBS form, he has an awful lot of information about you. Did he ask for a cheque or other means of payment?
  Did he say why training to be a meter reader would take two weeks? Did he say why this has to be in Derby rather than most, if not all, of it being done online?