There's a very odd little item on A4e's own website, on its news page. It's headed "Supporting International Womens [sic] Day with Jessica Lee MP". (Lee is a Conservative, by the way.) Under that it simply says, "A4e are delighted to welcome Jessica Lee to our Derby office, on International Womens [sic] Day, to help empower our female customers to aim high! The day will consist of a series of talks from our panel of enlighted [sic] women." There's an awkward link to an agenda.
It really is time that A4e improved this sort of thing. They have a new website, but apparently still no proofreader.
(In case you're wondering, it should be Women's.)
No I wasn't wondering! I've pointed out to bemused A4e advisors several incorrect uses of the apostrophe (on public notices stuck on the office walls). I try to do this as loudly as possible so everyone in the room hears.
ReplyDeleteI suggest they read "Eats, shoots and leaves" by Lynn Truss,
Life is nothing without a bit of pedantry!
Gissajob please get in touch :) jimi.
DeleteLooking at this from the outside in, one could at first glance see Historian as a pedant. "So what if an apostrophe is missing" they may say!
ReplyDeleteHowever, as A4e is supposed to produce, update and improve their clients CV's, help them complete cover letters and fill out application forms, this poor use of English is pretty damning. How can a client be confident that his or her CV will be completed with the correct use of grammar, punctuation and context?
Not to mention the simple fact that such errors give a poor overall impression of the company.
It's not just the apostrophes. What on earth does "enlighted" mean?
DeleteAbsolutely no idea Historian!!! We all know they mean ENLIGHTENED rather than ENLIGHTED!
DeleteNot only is this poor use of English, it is also poor use of technology. Can no-one at A4e use a simple spell checking tool built into all word processing programs for heavens sake? Is this what they are being paid for?
Even the web browser I use, Waterfox (a variant of Mozilla Firefox) has a spell check built in that picked up the afore mentioned spelling error.
P.S. Is this not similar to the dogs breakfast of a site created by W2W provider Avanta a couple of years ago? It was riddled with even worse spelling and grammatical errors.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2039585/The-Learning-Zone-website-unemployed-littered-spelling-mistakes.html
proofreading and copy-writing, being creative industries, are doubtless seen as unnecessary and frivolous wastes of money. a4e treat both their staff and 'clients' like parts on a production-assembly line, so this should come as little surprise.
ReplyDeleteexcept in the field of 'bid-writing'... A4E are doubtless world leaders in this field!
DeleteActually read A4e's (successful) bid for one of the WP CPAs(or that which had not been redacted). It was full of poor grammar, incomplete sentences and non, well, just gibberish. Just shows that it wasn't the bid document that secured them the contract, must have been done on the price and/or the old boy/girl network.
DeleteThe documents which were leaked from A4e some time ago which set out their standard procedures also displayed the same lack of quality - so much so that many were nigh on incomprehensible.
Basic errors of spelling, grammar and syntax are all wearyingly typical of almost every document produced by A4E’s Directors and staff. If they want to advertise, via their own website, what a hopelessly unprofessional outfit A4E really is, who am I to stand in their way?!
ReplyDeleteNot entirely on the subject,but I have been recommended for a sanction,for not providing a CV. I have been on 3 CV writing courses,provided 3 CV's but they have lost them. I have refused to supply any more,as they do not have a bloody clue....am I just being obtuse?
ReplyDeletemkmky - Do you have it in writing that A4e have had copies of your CV and have "lost" them. If this is indeed the case, a complaint to the DWP and Information Commissioner’s Office raising concerns over A4e's ability to store and process confidential information in a secure manner.
DeleteIf you have refused to sign a DPA waiver or revoked an existing aggreement, then you have grounds for a refusal. However, a DWP Decision Maker may not aggree with your veiwpoint and issue a sanction regardless of the circumstances.
A couple of other avenues to explore - File a Subject Access Request with the DWP asking for ALL data held by the JCP AND third parties (this will include A4e). Should the resulting file omit any data that you have a record of handing over to A4e, lodge a complaint with the ICO.
Quick Fix - Provide a CV with the absolute minimum of information. No need to provide names of prior employers or wages. Using the lowest common denominator metrics used by A4e, you are not expected to have any qualifications, so no need to list GCSE or university degrees. Hobbies and other interests, definitely not! No need to provide ammunition for another sanction... Cap it off with a statement explicitly stating that you do not consent to the information being stored, modified, or passed on to third parties without explicit, written consent.
P.S. Did the SAR thing myself and lodged complaints with the DWP, ICO, and my MP when A4e supplied just one page of a three page CV and failed to provide copies of two others along with several other documents.
It amused me that I applied for a job with an international publishing house only to be told by my adviser that I wouldn't get the job because said company was "snobby" about who they employed, apparently adviser had applied to work with them prior to A4E and hadn't even got an interview, so this was all the evidence needed that they were snobby.
ReplyDeleteI got an interview, because I had the necessary skills as mentioned on the job description. I was told by people who work for them that they get so many applicants that very few people even get as far as the first interview stage.
Adviser also used to be in a large room which said on the door
Advisor's office
(it had 3 advisers in it)
next door to that was small room with a single adviser in it which said
Advisers' office
I guess they were hedging their bets as to where the apostrophe went and how to spell the word.
At my A4e CV Clinic the staff kept fetching supplies from a cupboard marked 'stationary'. The sign was still there when I returned two weeks later.
ReplyDeleteLiteracy skills, you say? Tsk, tsk! You should know that the primary skill required to work for A4e is the ability to 'sell' (ahem, blag).
ReplyDeletewhatever you say a4e is getting best PR around the world. check this out during PM's visit they entered another big partnership. penetrating deep
ReplyDeletehttps://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-and-indian-partners-agree-more-than-30-new-education-and-research-deals-after-pm-takes-biggest-ever-education-delegation-to-india
I believe they "fired" all 12 marketing staff they had in Sheffield, less than a year after appointing two people in London who no doubt wanted to bring in their own friends, but after the poor handling of the PR during the fraud have also seem to have been fired. This was probably written by someone on work experience.
ReplyDeleteDuring my time at A4E, clients had their new, improved CVs word processed by an unemployed client who was doing work experience with them. Mine was so full of obvious spelling and grammar mistakes that it was pitiful. Not to mention that the paragraph spacing and formatting was all over the shop. (This after an interminable training session on CVs in which it was drilled into us that our CV was the most important document we'd ever create, and that a single mistake on it could condemn us to eternal unemployment.)
ReplyDelete