FAS course question.

Tusky

Didnt know where to put this...doesnt really fit into the work section. Will most likely get more replies here anyway.

I started a FAS course as of last week, I never got paid on the thursday ( which I hear is the payday )

My question is - Will I get two weeks pay next thursday or do FAS work a sort of backweek type thing ? OR does it depend on the course?

tman

you get the first weeks pay at the very end

Tusky

tman wrote:

you get the first weeks pay at the very end

\

bastards

cormie

You get paid in arears as they say. If you quit on a friday, you will still get paid the next thursday for the previous week. I don't think you get the first weeks pay at the end of the coure, you get the last weeks pay then. When I went to the off the job part of my carpentry apprentice, I got pay increase and I'm almost sure they didn't pay me what I started on for the week after I had left.

RicardoSmith

???

billy the squid

you have to do a week in hand the same as any other job. you should get the dole for the first week while you are waiting for your first payment from FAS

seamus

Yeah, vast majority of jobs pay you for work already completed, not work before it's done.
That is, if you start on a Monday, and get a weeks pay on Thursday, then you're getting paid for a Friday that you haven't worked yet. Most companies like you to have a week's work done before they'll pay you. The reason for this is largely so you're not overpaid. That is, you could get the pay on Thursday and then not appear into work on Friday, and instantly you've been overpaid. If your place pays hourly and/or has weekend work, then ditto for doing less hours on Friday or over the weekend.

You'll be hard pushed to find a place that doesn't do a back week or a back month when you start. The benefit being obvious - when you leave you get paid for a week you were dossing or starting in another job.

Tusky

seamus wrote:

Yeah, vast majority of jobs pay you for work already completed, not work before it's done.
That is, if you start on a Monday, and get a weeks pay on Thursday, then you're getting paid for a Friday that you haven't worked yet. Most companies like you to have a week's work done before they'll pay you. The reason for this is largely so you're not overpaid. That is, you could get the pay on Thursday and then not appear into work on Friday, and instantly you've been overpaid. If your place pays hourly and/or has weekend work, then ditto for doing less hours on Friday or over the weekend.

You'll be hard pushed to find a place that doesn't do a back week or a back month when you start. The benefit being obvious - when you leave you get paid for a week you were dossing or starting in another job.

Then why dont they just pay you on a Friday!

cormie

Most places pay on a thursday. I'm sure there is a good reason.

billy the squid

cormie wrote:

Most places pay on a thursday. I'm sure there is a good reason.

i guess it is so people can go do their banking bill paying on friday.

Deadwing

Little off topic but what course are you doing tusky? I did a fas course in pc maintenance & networking in jervis st, found it to be a very well funded course, had excellent resources and good training. And look at me now, im a tech support in eircom

Kêrmêttê

You don't get paid on the first week of your course. You are paid on the following week (much like a back week in a regular job).
This is to due the admin and payroll depts. The pay run is usually done on a Tues/Wed and not all people in a class will have their documentation ready to hand in on the first day of the course either.
Therefore, all trainees get their first payment the week after their course starts. You will also get a payment the week after you finish your course. You do not miss out on any week's payment.

seamus

Tusky wrote:

Then why dont they just pay you on a Friday!

Thursday is traditional, but I'm not sure why. Aside from the fact that places open on the weekends would have the same issue regardless of what day the pay went through, I think it's as billy says. If you were paid on a Friday afternoon, you'd spend all your money on the weekend, and have no money left for the bills and the wife. If you get paid on a Thursday, you give the wife her cut on the Thursday evening, do the bills on the Friday, and go out on the weekend and get pished with the remainder.

Zombienosh

Yep, You do a backweek and get paid every thursday after that, so its usually all gone by sunday.
I'm on my bloody second course, o god it never ends.

Tusky

Im not actually doing a FAS course - its just funded by FAS. Im more then 10 miles away yet they are only giving me the travel expence for less then 10 miles. Should I take it up with them ?

Miles

What course are you doing?

minnie_mouse

Tusky

Fas pay their travel expenses by the term *as the crow flies* basically they use the 10 mile rule as 1o miles in a straight line from the centre

Jonathanpbk

hey alco, what course are you doing? ha, i know im probably in the same building as you right now! its weird!

Zombienosh

im doin a web design course.

Jonathanpbk

i see... computers and communications (maintenance and networking) myself.

Deadwing

Jonathanpbk wrote:

i see... computers and communications (maintenance and networking) myself.

Sounds like the exact same course i did, which centre are you doing it in?

Jonathanpbk

loughlinstown... its the only center i think they're doing it at the moment. what about you?

Deadwing

Oh yeah, we often heard of the loughlinstown one lol. Did mine in Jervis st fas, i think theyre the only 2 places tht do it. Howd you find it? i loved hardware but networking bored me to tears

Flukey

I teach FÁS computer courses. They contract out some of their
training to other companies and I work for some of those.

The payments work on a back week system. So, if you had started on
Monday of this week, you will get paid on Friday of next week for your
attendance this week. While it means you have to wait until the end
of the second week before you get any money, it also means you will
get paid on the week after you finish the course. You should also be
getting the dole or whatever other payments you are on in the first
week as the would work a back week too, so you are not left short.

We obviously can't pay you for the current week as payments are based
on attendance. So if we are paying you on Friday morning, we can't
know whether you will be in or not as the payments will have been made
up before that. We can't make up your attendance until the week has
completely finished. This also means that if you were out at the end
of the previous week and are back in the next week, you have the
chance to explain your absence, present sick notes etc. before we make
up the payments for the previous week.

Each day you sign in both before and after lunch. This book is used
as the official record of attendance. Naturally people could sign in
for before and after lunch and then not turn in that afternoon.
However most trainers also keep their own lists, so in my case I have
my own record of who was in and when etc. So if you had signed in for
after lunch before lunch and not returned I'd know!:p

I would usually send my records of attendance into our office on a
Tuesday. These are then made up and it is passed through the system
and into the banks. Your money will normally come in first thing on
Friday morning. As to getting paid on a Thursday or a Friday, it
really doesn't make much difference as you are still being paid once a
week anyway, and always 7 days apart.

Your payment entitlements are usually worked out at the beginning of
the course. On the first day of all our courses, I would be there,
and so would some others from my company and a FÁS representative. We
do introduction to the course, explaining what it will be about, not
actually doing any training. We'd explain the basic rules and
regulations and any other relevant details. We'd answer any general
questions. The FÁS rep and a member of our staff will sit down with
each individual and go through their respective details and work out
what their total weekly payments will be. This will cover the
standard payment, other benefits, travel expenses, disability payments
etc., whatever the person is entitled to.

Without a proper reason or notes, you will only get paid for the time
you are in. So if you are in only 4 days, with no good reason for the
other day, you will not get your total payment. That is what you are
agreeing to at the beginning of the course.

We act as the trainers and administrators of the course. We have to
submit your payment to FÁS to get your money transferred into your
bank. So if you are docked a day we don't get to keep the money. We
look after other aspects of running the course too, so if you have a
problem, you contact your trainer or our office. Most issues we can
deal with and the others we refer to FÁS.

We get paid for running the course and for the amount of trainees on
the course. We are sent the trainees and have no input into how they
are selected. A maximum of 24 is allowed, though usually we don't get
that many and some may leave before it ends. We'd often start with 21
or 22 and finish up with about 16 or 17. You don't apply to us, you
apply to FÁS to do the course. When you start it, it could be us or
another company similar to ours or a FÁS trainer. We usually have to
find our own locations to run them and they are not run in the
centres. We also provide all the equipment, sometimes even the
furniture.

Jonathanpbk

i like the course, im doing the os bit of a+ now, then around march 10th or something we start the networking or "n+"... whats the deal with the work placement at the end?

Deadwing

N+ is hard man lol..get prepared for some major studying
Work placement is for 4 weeks, FAS are pretty good at getting it for you, i think everyone in my class got placement, dont know how many got jobs from it. I got a job in ann summers..lol. Classic stuff Now im in eircom...im a tech support...get me out of here!

Flukey

I think you guys are referring to Net+. As to work experience, depending on the length of the actual course, that may be more than 4 weeks. On a 6 month course it can be 6 weeks. It is your responsibility to get the placements. We or FÁS can help but we can't guarantee you a place. Sometimes companies will contact us looking for people or we may have a few contacts that we have used before, but we would not be able to find places for everyone, if anyone at all. The best we can do is get you an interview, but if they don't like you, they may not take you on.

The primary responsibility is down to the trainee to find it. FÁS at any one time would have a huge amount of trainees so there is no way they can get placements for them all nor can the training companies. A company could offer to take people at the beginning of a course, but by the end they might not be able to do so or could even be out of business. So there is no way a place can be guaranteed for you.

It is also good practice for you to go out job hunting, and all courses include an element of job seeking skills and usually a number of days are provided during the course for you to go out and do some job seeking. You are the person that wants the job so you are the person they want to see. If we organise it and just send you to them, it may not work out. They would like to have seen you first. Also we could have a place but then the trainee may not finish the course or be interested. As I said above the best we can do is get you an interview. After that, the rest is up to you. So if you guys want work experience, start looking for it, because FÁS or whoever is training you can't guarantee you any. That point is always made clear on the very first day of the course, when we are giving our introduction, as described in my earlier post.

harney

I did the PC Maintenance and Networks course in '99 and it was well worth it. The course was run in CATT (downstairs in the Siemens building off Leeson St).

The only advice I would give to anyone doing these courses is to save up a few euros every week so you can do the exams at the end. The course I was on only covered the A+ exams ( they also trained us in NT Workstatioin, Server and Novell Netware 5).

Have a look into all you are entitled to. I was getting extra at the time as I was not from Dublin - was only something like ₤25 extra per week at the time but it all adds up.