The Truth About Bsa's Foxtel Traineeship!

[Guest off_mofo]

Greetings,

I have decided to write a post detailing the truth about BSA's foxtel traineeship. Having personally been through the program (although I did not fully complete it), and struggled to find info about it online, I feel it is my duty to inform others about what too and what not too expect. Hopefully this will act as a great source for those who may be contemplating on signing up.

First off, I'm sure a lot of you have already heard of BSA throughout this forum. I've come across some posts from time to time, and most of the things mentioned are pretty negative. Well I can safely say that 90% of it is pretty accurate.

Your life as a trainee will start out slow, you'll be assigned to attending theory lessons on a day to day basis for approximately 4-6 weeks. All the theory is very basic and purely intended to prep you for whats to come. It does do that to a certain extend eg. learning foxtels regulations and rules, but it fails to really tell you what to expect, how to handle certain situations etc.

From here, you will be placed out in the field with either A) another trainee who incompotent of doing the job by himself or a contractor who is so under the pump he probably won't teach you much at all. I was fortunate enough to fall into category A (which I'm sure is borderline illegal by law), which allowed me some breathing space at least. This part of the traineeship lasts for roughly 2-3 months and is probably the happiest you will be. You get to work in pairs, you won't have jobs under your name, you won't have a tech code and you probably won't be allowed to climb ladders (although you will). Its also the time when you get to go home before 5pm, but don't get too use to that. Now its absolutely crucial for your survival as a tech to grasp as much info and practical experience as you can during this time. I should also mention here that you will be installing satelites. To learn anything else (eg. cable platform, commercial) your going to have to beg or possibly threaten to get. So yes, you'll be stuck doing satelite for 2 years!!! Fun!

Back to your 'in feild training'. If you're lucky, you might get someone who cares and bothers to teach you correctly. I was fortunate enough in that repect, but I have seen countless others who have not be taught how to install mounts properly, drill through noggins, run cable correctly and fast, use appropriate tools etc. Unfortunately at this stage of the game, you have the mentality of a child, you don't know didly squat and will simply copy what you see. So if you're trained by a brainless goose...its all downhill.

The next stage in your traineeship will involve going out into the field by yourself. Its right here that you can kiss your life goodbye...BSA has too make money off your ass now! Mark my words, they will. Before I go on any further, I just want to reiterate why this traineeship program exists. Basically, you are there to cover a big gap in the workforce. BSA is lacking in contractors and it doesn't take a genius to figure out why. Thats where the poor trainees come in. With this in mind I will continue.

Each trainee is 'slowly' introduced into working by themselves. I use the word slowly very lightly here. In an ideal world you should be introduced to simple single story tiled houses, small multirooms, maybe no more than 2 jobs a day. But I have seen trainees on their first week alone getting slammed with 2 storey tin roof houses, multiple multirooms, 5 jobs a day etc. Its sink or swim time now!

This part of your traineeship life will continue until you quit or have the balls to stay on. I break this part of your life into the follwing sections...

Pay:

Your pay rate will be around $14.80, it will never change. You'll be expected to work weekends, work long hours (50-60 wks), and still asked to pick up extra work. Staff will make you feel guilty and potentially punish you for not picking up work they need done. There is a 'bonus' incentive for people who work the extra mile, but I never saw it.

Training:

You training has pretty much ended as this stage. Don't be surprised to go a whole year not attending any theory lessons or classes. After you graduate, you will get a certificate III in telecommunications. I don't know what that means if all you've ever done is align a satelite dish and ran coax to it. Overall, the training is a joke and most things you will have to teach yourself. Having said that, if you stay on you will learn what you need too, you won't have a choice.

Stress:

At my time with BSA, I witnessed probably 60% of the people who signed up with or after me quit. When you're out by yourself its incredibly stressful. You'll be put in situations with angry customers (most likely cuz your running late) who expect you to still do the job even if its unsafe our extremely difficult to complete. You can expect to be under the pump daily, sometimes with twice the amount of work you can handle. Stopping for lunch is always a luxury even going to the toilet can become a luxury. You may even contemplate jumping of your ladder, perhaps buy yourself a vacation to improve your life, lol.

Risk:

80-90% of the jobs you'll have to get on customers roofs. This is risky work. Sure you'll have safety equipment with you, whether you've been trained to use it is another story. More often than not, you won't have time to work safely as it can be the difference between finishing at 5pm or 7pm. No one works safe.

Support:

The support as a trainee is pretty abysmal. There are QA's assigned to you, but when they have 15 other trainees to answer to it gets pretty rediculous. There have been days where I've struggled to get a hold of my QA. When you first go out, you will come across scenerios you're not use too, guaranteed. The QA's are constantly overwhelmed with phone calls and other matters that it can be impossible to get them to help you, espeically when your on opposite sides of the city. Good luck! I've also seen QA's come and go as quickly as trainees...hmm

Staff:

Don't get me wrong there are some very good people at BSA, but unfortunatley they're few and far between. BSA have the philosophy of treating people like dirt. In the office they see you as cattle, units, you're not treated as a human being with emotions, feelings, etc. Just do the work and shut up is pretty much the moto here. I mean a $2 hooker would be treated better! If you speak up, they may try to shut you down. Its no wonder people quit. They will also blantantly lie to you, eg. tell you your getting penalty rates for working a public holiday while getting paid normal, never give you contractors rates when asked (gee, guess they don't want us seeing how much money they make off us). Always check your pay, and never trust anything they say to you, unless you know them personally.

In conclusion, if you are serious about signing up to bsa's traineeship for foxtel, I suggest you highly reconsider. Your life will become a nightmare, you won't get anything until you finish either eg. open cable licence. My advice is to do what they do you to, use them. Work for 6 months, learn as much as you can, gain experience etc. then bugger off. Life after BSA is great

PEACE

[Sidor]

great post !

and congratulations on making the right decision to go away. It is not worth two year of your life.

Hopefully the other ones won't suck in there b.**** promises.

Your pay rate will be around $14.80, it will never change.

Have you been getting some extra from the government ? As far as I know if a trainee is getting paid less that $575 (?) or so government pays $150/week to trainee directly for the first year and $100/week during the second year of traineeship.

Check with Australian Apprenticeship Centre.

Do not wait till BSA DTVforum full-time cowboys jump in here and start telling you that you are an idiot and you won't be making $250k per year now working for BSA and and loose your free Foxtel.

[Guest Malich]

Staff will make you feel guilty and potentially punish you for not picking up work they need done.

Something I learned after a (fairly) similar situation: guilt comes from within. Nobody can make you feel guilty - although they'll try. The only person who can actually make you feel guilty is you, and provided you already have a fairly decent moral compass the only person who has any right to make you feel guilty is you.

In the office they see you as cattle, units, you're not treated as a human being with emotions, feelings, etc.

Oh, they know your a human being with emotions & feelings. That why they use them - pride in your work, desire to be part of a team, guilt that you may be 'not pulling your weight' and 'letting your mates down' - to manipulate you.

Congratulations on getting out.

[Guest off_mofo]

great post !

Have you been getting some extra from the government ? As far as I know if a trainee is getting paid less that $575 (?) or so government pays $150/week to trainee directly for the first year and $100/week during the second year of traineeship.

Check with Australian Apprenticeship Centre.

Yes, its an adult allowance and if you're over 25 you can get $150 a week for the first year and $100 a week during the 2nd. I just skipped out on that unfortunately. The ATO will also tax this at 33.3%, which you should be able to get back. I'm sure this does help, but don't count on BSA or Vecci (their nominated apprenticeship services) to tell you your elligible though. Just another thing you'll probably have to organise. I did hear about one employee that went a whole year before he started getting the allowance (paperwork lost, vecci not contacting him). I hear payment is usually pretty prompt too, once you're on the system. At the end of the day you have to way it all up...is it still enough to compensate risking your life on a daily basis, being treated like a dog? etc.

Edited March 17, 2014 by off_mofo

[Guest off_mofo]

...

Edited March 18, 2014 by off_mofo

[Als20]

Greetings,

I have decided to write a post detailing the truth about BSA's foxtel traineeship. Having personally been through the program (although I did not fully complete it), and struggled to find info about it online, I feel it is my duty to inform others about what too and what not too expect. Hopefully this will act as a great source for those who may be contemplating on signing up.

First off, I'm sure a lot of you have already heard of BSA throughout this forum. I've come across some posts from time to time, and most of the things mentioned are pretty negative. Well I can safely say that 90% of it is pretty accurate.

Your life as a trainee will start out slow, you'll be assigned to attending theory lessons on a day to day basis for approximately 4-6 weeks. All the theory is very basic and purely intended to prep you for whats to come. It does do that to a certain extend eg. learning foxtels regulations and rules, but it fails to really tell you what to expect, how to handle certain situations etc.

From here, you will be placed out in the field with either A) another trainee who incompotent of doing the job by himself or http://www.dtvforum.info/public/style_emoticons/#EMO_DIR#/cool.png a contractor who is so under the pump he probably won't teach you much at all. I was fortunate enough to fall into category A (which I'm sure is borderline illegal by law), which allowed me some breathing space at least. This part of the traineeship lasts for roughly 2-3 months and is probably the happiest you will be. You get to work in pairs, you won't have jobs under your name, you won't have a tech code and you probably won't be allowed to climb ladders (although you will). Its also the time when you get to go home before 5pm, but don't get too use to that. Now its absolutely crucial for your survival as a tech to grasp as much info and practical experience as you can during this time. I should also mention here that you will be installing satelites. To learn anything else (eg. cable platform, commercial) your going to have to beg or possibly threaten to get. So yes, you'll be stuck doing satelite for 2 years!!! Fun!

Back to your 'in feild training'. If you're lucky, you might get someone who cares and bothers to teach you correctly. I was fortunate enough in that repect, but I have seen countless others who have not be taught how to install mounts properly, drill through noggins, run cable correctly and fast, use appropriate tools etc. Unfortunately at this stage of the game, you have the mentality of a child, you don't know didly squat and will simply copy what you see. So if you're trained by a brainless goose...its all downhill.

The next stage in your traineeship will involve going out into the field by yourself. Its right here that you can kiss your life goodbye...BSA has too make money off your ass now! Mark my words, they will. Before I go on any further, I just want to reiterate why this traineeship program exists. Basically, you are there to cover a big gap in the workforce. BSA is lacking in contractors and it doesn't take a genius to figure out why. Thats where the poor trainees come in. With this in mind I will continue.

Each trainee is 'slowly' introduced into working by themselves. I use the word slowly very lightly here. In an ideal world you should be introduced to simple single story tiled houses, small multirooms, maybe no more than 2 jobs a day. But I have seen trainees on their first week alone getting slammed with 2 storey tin roof houses, multiple multirooms, 5 jobs a day etc. Its sink or swim time now!

This part of your traineeship life will continue until you quit or have the balls to stay on. I break this part of your life into the follwing sections...

Pay:

Your pay rate will be around $14.80, it will never change. You'll be expected to work weekends, work long hours (50-60 wks), and still asked to pick up extra work. Staff will make you feel guilty and potentially punish you for not picking up work they need done. There is a 'bonus' incentive for people who work the extra mile, but I never saw it.

Training:

You training has pretty much ended as this stage. Don't be surprised to go a whole year not attending any theory lessons or classes. After you graduate, you will get a certificate III in telecommunications. I don't know what that means if all you've ever done is align a satelite dish and ran coax to it. Overall, the training is a joke and most things you will have to teach yourself. Having said that, if you stay on you will learn what you need too, you won't have a choice.

Stress:

At my time with BSA, I witnessed probably 60% of the people who signed up with or after me quit. When you're out by yourself its incredibly stressful. You'll be put in situations with angry customers (most likely cuz your running late) who expect you to still do the job even if its unsafe our extremely difficult to complete. You can expect to be under the pump daily, sometimes with twice the amount of work you can handle. Stopping for lunch is always a luxury even going to the toilet can become a luxury. You may even contemplate jumping of your ladder, perhaps buy yourself a vacation to improve your life, lol.

Risk:

80-90% of the jobs you'll have to get on customers roofs. This is risky work. Sure you'll have safety equipment with you, whether you've been trained to use it is another story. More often than not, you won't have time to work safely as it can be the difference between finishing at 5pm or 7pm. No one works safe.

Support:

The support as a trainee is pretty abysmal. There are QA's assigned to you, but when they have 15 other trainees to answer to it gets pretty rediculous. There have been days where I've struggled to get a hold of my QA. When you first go out, you will come across scenerios you're not use too, guaranteed. The QA's are constantly overwhelmed with phone calls and other matters that it can be impossible to get them to help you, espeically when your on opposite sides of the city. Good luck! I've also seen QA's come and go as quickly as trainees...hmm

Staff:

Don't get me wrong there are some very good people at BSA, but unfortunatley they're few and far between. BSA have the philosophy of treating people like dirt. In the office they see you as cattle, units, you're not treated as a human being with emotions, feelings, etc. Just do the work and shut up is pretty much the moto here. I mean a $2 hooker would be treated better! If you speak up, they may try to shut you down. Its no wonder people quit. They will also blantantly lie to you, eg. tell you your getting penalty rates for working a public holiday while getting paid normal, never give you contractors rates when asked (gee, guess they don't want us seeing how much money they make off us). Always check your pay, and never trust anything they say to you, unless you know them personally.

In conclusion, if you are serious about signing up to bsa's traineeship for foxtel, I suggest you highly reconsider. Your life will become a nightmare, you won't get anything until you finish either eg. open cable licence. My advice is to do what they do you to, use them. Work for 6 months, learn as much as you can, gain experience etc. then bugger off. Life after BSA is great http://www.dtvforum.info/public/style_emoticons/#EMO_DIR#/smile.png

PEACE

[Als20]

Sorry mate i hit quote by accident, im thinking twice now , i just got a call today to go to an information seession for a traineeship with BSA. Thanks for your input, now i dont really want to go lol, but is a cert 111 in telecommunications are good start in the industry?

[Z2TT]

Hey Mate, the experience your going to get is the basics of satellite TV, installing KU Dishes and running cable, and the majority of this work is for BSA, so if you see yourself working for BSA in the long run, yes the traineeships is worth it and you can make up your own mind on this, you should do this based based on your own experience and also research on other peoples experiences, some people like it, others dont. Double story tin roofs are just another day on the job for me but is not something a trainee should be doing unless supervised by a very experienced installer.

Your not always going to have easy jobs, navigating through tiny roof spaces can be hard and you can injure yourself badly if you make the smallest of mistakes. How are your customer service skills like?

No doubt it will be stressful as the OP mentions, working in situations where your under constant stress is not a way to learn to do this type of work, do you have working at heights and working in confined spaces training and is this going to be included?

Edited May 12, 2014 by Z2TT

[Guest off_mofo]

Sorry mate i hit quote by accident, im thinking twice now , i just got a call today to go to an information seession for a traineeship with BSA. Thanks for your input, now i dont really want to go lol, but is a cert 111 in telecommunications are good start in the industry?

I've found that experience says a lot more than a qualification. A cert 3 doesn't mean much at all! and BSA will cover the bare minimum in terms of that certificate. Forget about learning fibre/cat 5 and 6 etc. What you'll cover in a class environment will almost bore you to tears and could be done in 2 months not 2 years. In fact, correct me if I'm wrong, but the industry now mandates that all contractors to have a cert 3 in telecommunications to work legally. A lot of contractors who didn't possess one during this change over period, managed to get one from BSA. I highly doubt they all sat in a class room for 40 + hours going through notes and exams to get it.

Hey Mate, the experience your going to get is the basics of satellite TV, installing KU Dishes and running cable, and the majority of this work is for BSA, so if you see yourself working for BSA in the long run, yes the traineeships is worth it and you can make up your own mind on this, you should do this based based on your own experience and also research on other peoples experiences, some people like it, others dont. Double story tin roofs are just another day on the job for me but is not something a trainee should be doing unless supervised by a very experienced installer.

Your not always going to have easy jobs, navigating through tiny roof spaces can be hard and you can injure yourself badly if you make the smallest of mistakes. How are your customer service skills like?

No doubt it will be stressful as the OP mentions, working in situations where your under constant stress is not a way to learn to do this type of work, do you have working at heights and working in confined spaces training and is this going to be included?

You sound like a contractor, so I'm sure you know how hard BSA rapes trainees. Sure, if you decide to stay in the industry it could be worth it. You might get lucky and use the traineeship as a stepping stone, but I believe thats getting increasingly harder as company's want to employ staff who are trained EXACTLY for a position, even though you may envision yourself slotting in pretty nicely to a related industry. A better idea may be to opt out the traineeship halfway through and sign up with a prime to start making money. If you want real answers, then go ask a bunch of trainees who have been in the program longer than 6 months and see what they say. 80% will probably hate their lives due to BSA. It COULD be a GOOD company and a NICE work environment, but unfortuneately managment, selfishness and greed have dictated otherwise.

Just to reiterate another snapshot of your life as a BSA trainee....

I would sometimes get double storey houses everyday!! by MYSELF!! no one helping! No one even showed me how to tie a ladder up properly...I had to teach MYSELF! Some days you'd get home and your body would feel like a train had hit you. Then you're expected to ring the customers for the next day...haha...all in your own time, UNPAID = joke!

Edited May 20, 2014 by off_mofo

[sinceresniper]

To whom it may concern,

My reason for preparing this letter is to inform those who may consider a traineeship with Broadcast Services Australia (BSA) performing Foxtel installations. I myself was a trainee with Broadcast Services Australia (BSA) completing my certificate II & III in telecommunications whilst installing Foxtel Satellite Dishes on domestic housing rooftops. It’s important that new trainees are told the truth with regard to the company’s obligation toward them from a health and safety perspective.

From my first day out in the field at BSA what I noticed from the very beginning was that this company was running its traineeship program very much like any other company would in a cut throat business environment yet with trainees at their disposal.

Before starting the program my perception of a traineeship or apprenticeship was of someone who was sent out to assist qualified personal. However with BSA a trainee was sent out with another trainee to perform his duties from early on, sometimes after 4-6 weeks only of internal training familiarising yourself with the Foxtel manual handbook. In my case this trainee was only six months into the program with little to no exposure with a qualified person and sometimes asking me what my thoughts were on how to approach the job? That was somewhat of a luxury because before too long you were out on your own.

Now given that I had previous experience working with modern day power tools there are some younger personnel that haven’t had that luxury and some have been sent out with very limited experience and little to no support. For the most part their support came from another trainee working out in the field as he was the only one answering the phone. The Relationship Managers are sometimes overwhelmed with the amount of calls there are for assistance. In the beginning one RM left for stress leave and never came back and the replacements didn’t last too long either although they left for another role.

I can safely say that nearly all the trainees I knew did not always apply health and safety practises simply because time was of the essence and there was considerable pressure to get the job finished. I know that BSA has had its fair share of incidents yet this hasn’t deterred their behaviour personally I don’t think they really care as long as they don’t get fined.

The bottom line is money, my perception of those running this enterprise from above sometimes verges on criminality. If you pile someone up with considerable work they will cut corners on their safety. Personally I myself took shortcuts simply because it’s a personal choice between a 10 hour + day or a 7-8 hour day. I know for a fact that most if not all other trainees did the same. Relationship Managers were known not to harness whilst out on site assisting trainees. That behaviour was normal. In fact I respected it sometimes, as it showed that this RM was there to help you get the job done and get it done quickly. Don’t get me wrong in dangerous situations I always worked safely but some RM were bigger risk takers than I was. Yes they are strict when it comes to ensuring all personnel are harnessed over 1.8 metres, but the amount of work you’ll be assigned to complete will change your attitude very quickly. It takes time to set yourself up safely and unfortunately time is something you don’t have.

Since this traineeship program began about 3 years ago the completion rate is abysmal with almost half leaving before 6 months. A contractor has experience in an unsafe environment a trainee does not yet it’s their trainees that are performing the vast majority of the work. Contractors are few and far between. It’s no wonder. They all leave also. Trainees understood the Foxtel handbook better than they did. Any unassigned work is generally given to a trainee first simply because it is more cost effective to do so, irrespective of how much work you’ve been assigned. If you do finish early they’ll get you to pick up another job. They’ll stalk you like a wild cat. Some of the trainees I knew switched off their phones deliberately after 3pm irrespective of the consequences and believe me finishing at 3pm was a luxury.

A householder with no basic first aid training is who you’ll have to depend on should something go wrong. Mothers looking after infants or pensioners do not have it in their capacity to assist in dire circumstances other than a phone call provided they hear you.

In summary this companies operations are suspect at best and nothing will change. I remember a trainee after a year was asked to put on a harness in front of everyone and he couldn’t do so. He was even caught on his way up a double storey ladder by an occupational health and safety officer without a harness. Although to the officers credit he suggested he speak to his employer, as a trainee he shouldn’t be out on his own on a double storey.........You’ll always work alone.

You’ll be treated with little or no dignity and should you speak your mind they’ll threaten to take away your subsidised Foxtel service, you’re like a dog on a leash.

For those new incumbents coming in it’s only a matter of time before someone takes a fall. The likelihood is they won’t be in a harness either and insurance companies that insure against this won’t pay out. If you do fall in a harness you’ve got a very short timeframe to utilise. Your circulation will stop in 20-30 minutes, and heaven forbid if you’re heavy. The loss will be absorbed by the trainee who’s supposed to have his whole future ahead of him. Remember your out there alone.

If you’re somewhat overweight you won’t survive either. You need to be lean and physically fit and strong and able to perform 5-6 jobs a day because that is essentially what you’re there for. Those who are not in shape won’t survive as contractors either because in the end they’ll be working backwards. You’ll be in a state of servitude.

And if there’s an issue with the job order heaven forbid how long it’ll take to get through to their helpdesk to fix it. A 30 min wait is what you’d expect if you’re lucky. To counter this, the company suggests you send a message asking someone from the helpdesk to call you back so that you can continue with the install. But that call won’t come for a while and in the end you’ll be on the phone with your help desk then Foxtel, and you know how difficult getting through to Foxtel can be. All to put in place what should have been done by Foxtel in the beginning, another hour wasted sometimes more. There goes your lunch break. However your lunch breaks are luxuries trust me. You’ll be left to negotiate with the customer and inform them that the service won’t be switched on until much later and heaven forbid should there be a problem you’ll need to jump on the merry go round once again. This sort of thing happens too often. Nothing runs smoothly no matter how organised you are the company is not. There’s always obstacles you’ll need to overcome and those obstacles were not put there by you. Everyday something will come up to reduce your capacity to carry out your work and you’ll be the one that has to address these shortcomings. You’re the face of Foxtel and BSA to the consumer, acting like a company representative on traineeship wages whilst those in management spend their time working out how to keep you in this state.

Now don’t get me wrong I don’t want to come across as a whinger but I think it’s important this information gets out there. I did work with some exceptional personnel most of them trainees and if it wasn’t for them I personally would have left a long time ago. Unfortunately good relationship managers are few and far between but they’re so overwhelmed they’re not much assistance when you really need them. The vast majority that are employed there operate purely on self interest with no morality let alone any integrity and most of those are in positions of responsibility. A trainee once suggested to management why we don’t go out in pairs. We’d be much happier plus we’d get more work done. The manager’s response was I used to do 8 jobs a day. Not even superman can do 8 jobs a day. They don’t care.

Money is the motivating factor and provided the company makes money, those in Sydney will be happy which is where their headquarters is. Well hey state manager given that the technician sorry trainee is the one generating that income to begin with shouldn’t that also apply to him? Obviously not, no wonder everyone leaves.

Trust me they want you for cheap labour only and you’ll be groomed to perform Foxtel Satellite installations only. It’s not a traineeship. Therefore don’t put your life at risk performing almost 2 years of unsupervised work for $14.80 an hour. It’s a dangerous job. The roof space in 30 degree heat is nearly 40 degrees and these are confined spaces with dodgy wiring, spiders you name it, even possums dead and alive. You’ll be expected to take photos of your workmanship before and after you finish to ensure there are no damages. All with an I-Pad which is assigned to you once you begin. The law stipulates 3 points of contact once your over 1.8 metres. No wonder everyone cracks their screens and guess what you’ll be left with the expense to fix it. $14.80 an hour should cover it. Always check your pay slips, they don’t even pay you correctly. You’ll be left in a state where you’ll be visiting Fair work web sites to ensure you are paid appropriately for public’s holidays etc.

Now let’s look at the suburban landscape. Most inner city suburbs are full of double storey townhouses. There were days when I was given up to 3 full installations in 30 degree heat and all those houses were double stories. A double storey townhouse has limited roof space nearly all are on concrete slabs and throw in ducted heating and cooling you can almost forget about running cable in such a small area. Tin roof forget about it. The alternative is running the cable from outside on the 2^nd level. The views are great but in a harness you are extremely restricted and it’s dangerous. Add another 2 hours to your job. Remember you’re out there on your own with other jobs outstanding and oddly enough you’ll run into “tech to home” personnel there to install home theatre systems and the like and there’ll be 2 of them and their work is all internal. They’ll ask you how much are you are on. I was ashamed to mention it even with customers.

Take it from me it was the hardest I’ve worked for the least amount of money. It was also the most dangerous and stressful time of my working life, but as you may be aware once you enter into a traineeship the government has incentives in place to ensure you don’t quit along the way as you’ll be forfeiting $3700 hundred dollars at the end of the exercise. Trust me it’s hardly worth it as this money is allocated to you to help you continue in the industry. $3700 gets you nowhere when you have to consider what it’ll cost to set yourself up independently with a working vehicle, tools, ladders, insurances etc. The meter to line up the dish is $2500 if not more. Not only that you’ll be groomed to perform Foxtel satellite installation only. How that’ll serve you should you consider working elsewhere is anyone’s guess.

Oddly enough the state government pays BSA a considerable amount of money per trainee to ensure the traineeship program doesn’t hinder them financially. $16,000 per trainee I hear. They don’t even fulfil all the modules they’re supposed to teach or their obligations to the government. Why because there’s an excessive amount of work because everyone leaves and by then what your traineeship is supposed to cover is of little importance. I often wondered whether perhaps it is more profitable to keep this program running as the money coming from the government far exceeds what they would make otherwise. That was made known to me by someone I’m not at liberty to reveal. In the end the government subsides bad business practise. It’s pure and simple.

But hey governments are not exactly known for spending your hard earned money wisely. Look at the free batts debacle how many roof spaces did I enter into with new batts on top of the old ones. You couldn’t even find the ceiling joists to put your feet on. Not to mention how filthy those roof spaces are and how little room you have to manoeuvre. Don’t forget the heat. Don’t forget the people that died also.

When it’s wet your within your rights to re-schedule the job for some other time. Try telling a customer I’m sorry I’m not allowed on your roof in the wet when they’ve taken a day off from work to be there. Most understand but some don’t.

With regard to roof tiles, most concrete roof tiles made today are quite thin and easy to chip. I used to find that I was chipping roof tiles on newer homes more so than the older ones. The concrete content in them is minimal. Customers always have access to spare ones so you’re told? I remember heading off to a 2^nd hand tile yard to pick up some spare tiles at my expense as the customer had none which was normal. Most people rent as well. Ask someone who rents where the spare tiles are? Perhaps if you crawl under there you might find them. There’s another hour lost. Repairing them with silicone again more time lost. There are no easy breaks here.

One day one of the State Managers came out to perform a surprise audit whilst I was on the job. Not only did he treat me with utter disdain. Their motive is fear. I couldn’t help myself. By that point you don’t care if you lose your job anyway. I felt like saying listen hear pal you earn 5 times more than I do whilst I’m out there generating your income. Look at your turnover for God sake. Those at the top are psychopaths; their incomes are up there with those of the major financial institutions. They have a monopoly on it. They have it all the way across Australia. Do you want to perform Foxtel installations for another group? The choices are almost none. You work for them and them only. You’re groomed to perform their work it’s not a traineeship.

Almost every other trainee in my group chose not to continue as a sub-contractor. The company’s success rate is like 1 out of 20. In the end the margins are tight when you take into account all the expenses. The reality is financially you’ll be heading backwards and why would anyone consider performing a dangerous job for a group like this one. You’ll be making a tonne of money for those other than yourself. You’ll never come to own anything and that’s the way they want you, always striving for something you’ll never be able to have.

Anyway Foxtel pumps out way too many commercials and not to mention the repeats. This is what consumers pay for, shows that are free on free to air. Yes your antenna. 90% of Foxtel is rubbish unless you love sports. Is there anyone in the market for health insurance? Get Foxtel.

The worker is everything. Don’t make the same mistake I did.

Cheers

[Guest off_mofo]

Haha, a very informative look into BSA's traineeship. I concur with everything you said...100% I feel like your pain, like a fellow army veteran who's been through the trenches of a long and hellish war.

Oddly enough the state government pays BSA a considerable amount of money per trainee to ensure the traineeship program doesn’t hinder them financially. $16,000 per trainee I hear. They don’t even fulfil all the modules they’re supposed to teach or their obligations to the government. Why because there’s an excessive amount of work because everyone leaves and by then what your traineeship is supposed to cover is of little importance. I often wondered whether perhaps it is more profitable to keep this program running as the money coming from the government far exceeds what they would make otherwise. That was made known to me by someone I’m not at liberty to reveal. In the end the government subsides bad business practise. It’s pure and simple.

Ha, do they spend $16,000 on your training??...phew hell no! more like $1600, if that!

When it’s wet your within your rights to re-schedule the job for some other time. Try telling a customer I’m sorry I’m not allowed on your roof in the wet when they’ve taken a day off from work to be there. Most understand but some don’t.

Yes, wet weather is your only saving grace and excuse to finish early for the day.

One day one of the State Managers came out to perform a surprise audit whilst I was on the job. Not only did he treat me with utter disdain. Their motive is fear. I couldn’t help myself. By that point you don’t care if you lose your job anyway. I felt like saying listen hear pal you earn 5 times more than I do whilst I’m out there generating your income. Look at your turnover for God sake. Those at the top are psychopaths; their incomes are up there with those of the major financial institutions.

Lol...too true

[Z2TT]

You get what you pay for, based on what I'm reading from you trainees experiences, it seems that Foxtel customers across Australia are getting poor workmanship on their houses and broken tiles on their roofs as a result of untrained and unexperienced people being sent to work there.

A better idea would be if people called up third party installers to carry out their Foxtel dish installation, who can dedicate more time to carry out a proper reliable job, and leave the simple stuff like Set top box deliveries to the Foxtel guys.