New Horizons Employee's Stories - Page 3

Hi! Please don't use my name and/or center as I still need to collect my last paycheck. (also, please wait a few weeks if you do decide to post-and of course feel free to e-mail me with ?'s )

I was hired at New Horizons (Xxxxxx, WI) as a contract instructor, so I guess the pay level was higher for me than the full-time instructors. Fortunately for my students, I actually work in the field pertaining to the classes that I was teaching. All of my students were thrilled to have a real-live Web Developer teaching CIW classes! (They are so used to inexperienced teachers who are handed a book and told to prep for the class w/in 24 hrs.) I am actually quitting after I get paid for this (last) week of teaching.

I am quitting for a number of reasons:

1. I have shown up for class without the appropriate software installed and no one around to tell me where to find the discs to install them.

2. I have had students without books!

3. I have been called up and asked to completely rearrange my schedule and teach week-long night classes with less than two weeks notice (I have a full-time day job and children!).

4. I have had students signed up to be in my advanced courses who don't even know how to turn a computer on! It seems to me that the sales people are more interested in money than having their students learn! I've also seen students heartbroken over what they feel was a wasted education. Some of my students are paying more than $400/month on student loans. Their AE's talked them into signing up for "extra track"s. Why does an MCSE student need to learn how to do graphic design, develop Web sites or get their MOUS cert? What a shame.

5. I have had to beg for my paycheck. I have also been told I could pick up a paycheck, only to drive 45 minutes out of my way to pick it up and it was never there!

6. I have been told by other employees to go directly to the NH bank to cash checks - they were bouncing.

7. I have never been given access to the NH Extranet (probably lucky for them, or I may have hacked the heck out of it:-), although I was told several times that access would be granted. This is where all the book and lesson plan updates are kept. Needless to say, it's very embarrassing when your books and lesson plans don't jive with the students.

8. The lack of organization by managers, plus the frustration of the sales staff and other instructors is very disheartening. What a horrible atmosphere to work in on a day-to-day basis. I feel sorry for the Instructors who came into the position as an entry-level job. I understand Instructors in my area are having a difficult time finding other jobs. I plan on removing NH from my resume. Thank God I don't need to list it!

P.S. I'm sooooo glad I found your site! Although I'm sure there are good NH locations out there, that doesn't seem to be the case in SE Wis. I was unsure if I should stay a while longer or quit right away, but your site helped me make up my mind! Kudos to you for having the courage to speak your mind and tell the truth! Good luck to you:-)

[Editor's note: The author of this story wrote back with permission to post with name withheld after his/her last paycheck bounced.]

I found your site when I saw a picket in front of the New Horizons Computer Learning Center in Pensacola, Florida.

My name is Terry Spears, and I was a New Horizons Instructor for two years in Pensacola, Florida. My credentials are not nearly as good as yours, but I have had a great deal of experience with various software, and hardware. I even took the hardware course at the Lawton VoTech after I retired from the Army. At that time I began doing some freelance basic instruction and repair. Recognizing my limitations I only accepted jobs within my ability to perform to a high level of competency.

I was hired at New Horizons as a software instructor when the Pensacola branch was expanding. All us new instructors (there were only a couple old instructors) were required to purchase the course materials that we would be teaching, and then we were to receive instruction, study time, and be tested on our ability to present a class. We (most of us anyhow) purchased the materials, received about one hour of instruction, and maybe one week of study time. The test consisted of teaching an actual class while a supervisor listened in occasionally during the day, then critiqued or performance. Because of the expansion they were going to keep all of the instructors unless they were just totally horrible. Although I had a problem with this, I really enjoyed the classroom time, and only had two student complaints in two years. One legit (I fixed it), and one questionable.

Starting out it was great to be teaching the core courses like word processing, spreadsheets, intro to computers, and the like. However these are not the courses that New Horizons makes their money on. So, there was a big push to get people to teach classes on databases, networking, and others. When I took my first look at the materials for FoxPro I knew I was not qualified to teach it without receiving some instruction myself. That instruction was never coming, however I ended up becoming the dedicated database instructor. How did I learn it? I found my name on the class list on Monday to teach a class on a program that I had never used on Friday to people that use it every day. I took it on myself to read everything I could on the program, and practice as much as possible, between teaching other classes the rest of the week. I was actually given one full day free of classes to prepare. I was very embarrassed to be in front of a group of paying students with my limited skills in the subject. It was a beginning class, and we got through it. I probably learned as much as the students, and they were kind in their evaluations. It served to make me dig much deeper, and I eventually reached a comfortable level of competence. Now I was teaching all of the database classes. The toughest of the core classes at that time. (They had a Novell Certified Instructor who taught all of the Novell courses, and only the Novell courses for big bucks). The rest of the instructor started at $17,500.00/year. When the question of raises came up we were told that instructors were a dime a dozen, and that the sales staff were where New Horizons was putting their money.

To keep this reasonably short I'll get to the final straw. There were many straws in between.

While teaching an advanced class on Excel using the New Horizons course materials which consisted of a manual with about seventy-five pages of exercises it became painfully apparent that the class would not consume the entire eight hours allotted. One of the students noticed that by the first break we were halfway through the book, and mentioned that fact to his friends during the break. After the break they brought it up to me, and wondered if they were actually going to be able to be released early. I told them that having realized that they were breezing through the class that was planning to introduce some additional materials, but that the class would probably be released two hours early. They all insisted that we complete the workbook and be released at noon. That's what happened. I was counseled, and my job threatened. I was told that since the materials provided by New Horizons was not sufficient to last the entire class period that I should prepare supplemental materials to fill the time. My response was that for $18,0000 (got a raise) I was not teaching six days and nights a week, and writing curriculum. I left and never have been back.

[Editor's note: This entry has been submitted by the author of a prior submission, and pertains to the ongoing discussion of the Fairfield NH and the salesmen there.

In response to your August 3 submission ..Once again.. You printed that I wasn't a very good sales person and that I trashed the office.. Both statements are wrong and I take personal offense that you would go out of your way to say untrue things and not print your name. It almost sounds like you were an account exec who couldn't cut it.. But you sucked up to management so well that they assimilated you. Print your name so we can talk about it. Nothing unprofessional about that. Or at least an address so we can send you a pair of balls.

I'm a former Principal Instructor with New Horizons, and unlike most of my former peers, I actually knew something about what I was doing when I first came on board, lo these many years ago. Back then, if you knew DOS, WordPerfect 5x, Lotus 1-2-3, and Windows 3.1, you knew the biggest and best of the industry. In addition to those, I was also conversant with the Mac, and some of the more popular DTP programs. I was first hired by the franchise in (location withheld.)

The first few months were very similar to the conditions described elsewhere in this website, the "Instructor Gauntlet." I didn't mind, though. For one thing, we were a young franchise, and everybody worked hard. For another, as difficult as it may be to believe, I had just left an industry that had been even more demanding on my time. New Horizons seemed almost tame by comparison.

The franchise ultimately sold, and the new owners/managers spent their first few months just learning how things were done. Then the changes began. We'd show up to teach classes that had no students. Or we'd show up to teach one class, only to find out we were teaching something else. On more than one occasion, I can remember frantically using break time and lunch time to try and stay one or two steps ahead of the class. Or we'd have to double up students on computers, because we had more enrolled than we had machines available. (Teaching Rule Number One: The Class Goes, No Matter What)

By that time, I'd more than "paid my dues," and I was a Principal Instructor, with a nice collection of certifications. Again, however, I had a good deal of "real world" to throw in behind those initials. I was frequently aghast at some of the things I found in the company supplied Courseware, but the suggestions I'd made to Santa Ana about improvements and corrections went ignored or rejected out of hand. Mistakes and problems I found four years ago are still being reproduced in some of the newest editions of these manuals, though as this is being written, New Horizons is in the middle of transitioning from its own Courseware to that supplied by Element K.

I was contacted by the GM at another franchise elsewhere in the country who said he needed someone with my certifications and experience on his staff. I agreed, gave a month's notice, and moved. The first few years were great, but history has a tendency to repeat itself. Again, the franchise sold, and this time, the new owners/managers made no beans about what they were going to do:

1. Increase sales
2. Decrease expenditures

So how did they go about accomplishing these goals? Well, the very first thing they did was to fire the existing Sales Manager. They rejected out of hand a person I know who has had a very successful career in IT Sales, because he "didn't know the New Horizons way." Instead, they hired someone with no sales experience whatsoever.

Next, they let it be known that instructor salaries were going to be "readjusted." Those of us with a good deal of seniority were told we had to take pay cuts to keep our positions. How much of a paycut? Well, I saw my take home pay drop by about $650 over the course of two months, and I know my experience was not unique. Some very good managers got fired, and existing staff got to double up on duties. It shouldn't take a degree in Management Resources to realize that very quickly, things started to go wrong, and then began to cascade upon themselves. Several instructors left, some rather abruptly. Staff morale went down the proverbial drain. Things got so bad that students began asking questions about what was wrong. I hang on, hoping things would get better.

I was asked to delay a vacation that had been approved several months earlier by the previous management, but I refused. I'd already paid for the tickets, and part of the vacation was going to be spent with my children. The new manager was unhappy, but didn't say much of anything else. When I came back, though, things were different.

Three times in three weeks, I showed up to teach a class that had been cancelled, even though each class had been confirmed through voice mail the afternoon before. I was sent to teach classes at the last minute I'd never even seen before. Fortunately, I was familiar enough with the concepts being presented that the classes went well. Less experienced teachers, and we had quite a few by then, would have failed miserably, since some of these were advanced levels.

The crowning blow came when I got sent to teach a class, and the software wasn't even available. It took three hours to resolve the problem, and by this time I had a class of very upset students. I'd done everything I could do, but the manager decided to chew me up one side and down the other, and said I had to take full responsibility for the failure. That did it. I quit, and in spite of dire predictions, had no trouble finding another job.

So, is this experience typical? I don't know, but I really enjoyed the analogy of New Horizons being the McDonald's of IT training. I worked at a McDonald's for two years in high school, and found it rather apt. I had the opportunity to work for some outstanding people, but I also worked for some real first class jerks. For anyone considering training with New Horizons, I'd suggest the following:

First, ask the Account Executive who calls you how long he or she has been with the organization. I had many students who had six month club memberships that had three different AEs during that time. Some of them actually had to ask me who was in charge of their account, because their AEs had changed so many times.

Second, if you do come in on one of their "free classes," don't be afraid to ask the instructor about his or her experience with the program being taught, or IT experience in general. Those of us who know what we're doing are usually glad to answer. The ones who are trying to "fake it before you can make it" will duck and run.

Third, watch out for little red flags, like "That's not part of this course." In New Horizons-speak, that means, "I don't have the faintest idea, but I don't want to tell you that."

If you're considering employment with New Horizons, there are plenty of posts on this site, and others, to make you reasonably informed. The one thing I'd suggest is, don't sign agreements, tuition loan reimbursements, non-competes, etc., until you've reviewed them with an attorney. Many of these will turn out to be non-enforceable, but it would be nice to know that going in, rather than get embroiled in a lawsuit down the road that can stretch out, and suck money out of your wallet.

New Horizons have ads all over the place. Fort Lauderdale is not an exception. Was told I had interview with head honcho. When I go in, it is a cattle call with many people waiting to be interviewed. The guy comes in and talks to all of us at once and says later we will be interviewed individually. By the time he was to the part that said it is 50 Hours a week and at least 50 calls per day, I was running out the door. I dont know why the call the position account executive. It is just telemarketing.

I am a current employee at an independately owned New Horizons. For the first year that I was with New Horizons I enjoyed working there and had no problem whatsoever with anything that went on. As my time at New Horizons progressed I began to see how unfairly all the employees are treated at this particular branch. After they are through putting your through their gauntlant of tasking and overtasking then you usually end up getting "let go".

Instructors have it the worst because what happens is, they hire extra instructors during the times when sales are up, make big promises to them (of all these raises and things) and just as soon as sales are down, they start dropping like flies. The door on the New Horizons employee front is a constantly turing one. At one point, it got so bad as to where I had to just about relearn a new set of names every 2 weeks. And as everyone else has said on this site, SALES rules the domain. Nothing is done to keep any of the staff happy except for the sales staff. Instructors are the least cared about individuals at the orginization.

To all you folks that have complained about instructors, trust me, them not knowing the material isn't their fault at all! You would be surprised at how often an instructor gets a book the day before class to teach a class they've never taught before. In my opinion, management needs to get their heads out of sales so much and try to keep the rest of the staff happy so that the end product, the training, would be a better product and folks wouldn't have anything to complain about.

[Editor's note: This entry has been submitted by the author of a prior submission, and pertains to the ongoing discussion of the Fairfield NH and the salesmen there.

(Please do not post my name or center on the web site, thanks.)

Amazing enough all of the stories relate this particular center in CT. makes me wonder what is happening there. you really hang on this presidents club thing, good for you, that is an amazing feat. it does not make me think any different about what happened, and i did get the story from the horses mouth. i moved to quickly to have enough time to get there, within my first year i made it senior, then moved into another position. I know and worked with 5-6 others that made it to presidents club. so I do know what I am talking about, I also work for a center that does over 1 million dollars a month, every month. Interesting.

Friends, in Fairfield, look out, I wouldn't turn around. I believe you withheld your name the first time too. due to the nature of my position and SUCCESS, you are right, I will not post my name or center, it would not be professional. Sorry, but you are wrong about the franchise as well.

hopefully you are successful now. i also hope that you do not spend all of your time on this web site, that would be sad. i know someone that read my initial posting and then yours and told me of it, responding to let you know that i do know more than you think, and i do not think Andrew would like the fact of putting his name on this site, hopefully you asked him.

Each new horizons is different, some run a lot better than others. Too bad your was not.

[Editor's note: This entry is in response to a submission below from a current NH employee. ]

Wow... I got trashed by an unknown New Horizons employee. I find it strange that the person writing that story didn't have the balls to print his or her name, but did manage to say that I wasn't a good sales person.

As to the trashing of the office and getting "fired", lets just say that someone who can't even use the word to or too properly in a sentence probably would be willing to pass on exagerated 2nd hand information without checking its accuracy. I would be willing to bet that if the person who sent that story is a sales person, that they weren't part of the Presidents club like I was (over $1,000,000 of sales in 1 year). I know everyone in the tristate area who received the award and I was one of 63 people world wide last year.

I have asked my friends at NH Fairfield who it could have been. They seem to think that it was someone at the New Haven franchise. Who ever it is they sound like a salesman but smell like management. I really don't expect a response from them.

When I had my final meeting with the management at NH Fairfield, I had the option of salvaging my job. Call Andrew Schwartz assistant GM at 203-375-3370 ext 223 if you have any doubts. I did some major soul searching about leaving an income of over $150k a year and decided that I could not work for these people any more no matter how much I was making. I made my exit in a fashion that left no doubt in the minds of my managers how I felt. They are cheap, short sighted and mean. As to the person that trashed me in your forum, please feel free to contact me and we can discuss the issues that prompted your response.

mikec@synergenic.com

Once again you have permission to use my name and information.

[Editor's note: This entry is in response to a submission below from a current NH employee. ]

Let me tell you my reviews about my glorious year and a half at the wonderful NH in Fairfield County CT.

After watching 12 sales people come and go in my first 6 months I knew something was not right here. Not only were sales guys coming and going faster than you could say hi but we were on our 5th sales manager in a year and a half when I left. Underpaid instructors constantly bitching about not making enough money and going into classrooms half assed.......(they certainly do not make enough money by the way).

Our top sales guy was asked to leave after producing the highest numbers for our center ever. HE may have threw a bit of a fit on the way out but it was well deserved. After having numbers high enough to get him into the prestigious "President's Club" and being a consistent top salesperson for at least 6 months in a row.....management kept pushing and pushing for more.....our center had the best sales to Account Executive percentage in the country and it still was never enough.

So when our little Napoleon sales manager decided he had enough of the fighting and bickering with his top sales guy, he decided to take the day off and transfer one of the salesman's biggest accounts while he was out of the office so when our top sales guy came in he would notice that it was gone and that Napoleon wasn't even there to discuss the transfer of the account. Well of course our sales guy is going to throw a fit. His manager transferred an account and took the day off so he couldn't argue it. Talk about a f#@*in coward.

So our sales guy called Napoleon at home and started yelling at him over the phone. Napoleon kept pushing buttons and finally said "sorry...no more to discuss....." Our sales guy slammed his phone down, threw his trash can against his cube wall and left. After 4 long tiring years with NH he had finally met his breaking point. On his way out he told all of the managers to f@ck off and left. So did he have a perfectly good reason to throw a fit...you bet...after being a top producer for damn near 2 years and still getting your balls busted day after day because you haven't made enough calls or because you've ONLY sold $10,000 for the day. It's absolutely ridiculous!!!!

So to whoever made a comment on the way things went down at NH Fairfield County: "You were not there.....you do not know the circumstances....and you have absolutely no life if your still working at a NH anywhere in the world!!!"

If you are in fact a current employee then...

I am sorry that your career path has led you into the jaws of the machine. Hopefully you will get out before being swallowed alive. If you were an employee at one point then congratulations on getting out and I know that you have made a wise choice!!!

The only good part about my tenure at NH was the amazing bunch of sales guys that did stick around that I got a chance to know. Anyone still working at NH Fairfield County who is not a "MANAGER" is treated like absolute shit and I hear it from them everyday even though I'm no longer there. From the front desk to the instructors, to the sales guys.

First of all, I don't understand why there is the need to generalize and try to lump all New Horizons into one big "BooHoo they mistreated me and now they suck" category. I fully understand you had a problem and it was not handled to your safisfaction, but as you say New Horizons is the McDonald's of computer training. We are a franchise with different owners and different sales managers and sales teams. Sales is a tough, dog eat dog field. If you can't handle the heat get out of the kitchen. Instructors are not always thrown to the wolves. I have been with New Horizons for almost 3 months as an instructor and I have sat A+ and Network+ and all of my tests are paid for. As far as the contract you have mentioned, I added some additional protection to mine without any problem what so ever. New Horizons is a business and a for profit business at that. Training is very expensive and I feel two years is a fair exchange for the training provided to me. I would like to ask you to think about renaming you site to focus on the franchise that caused you so much trouble and not lump us all in one big category that implies that all New Horizons sucks. Just as McDonalds, One hundred may be clean and give you great service and then one just sucks and you get bad service there...what do you do? I would stop going to the one McDonald's that gave me bad service, not stop eating at McDonald's all together. Thanks for letting me have my say as well.

A newly hired Instructor.

[Letter removed at the request of the author.]

My name is Xxxxxxxx Xxxxx and I am a instructor at the New Horizons In Dallas Texas. My husband found this website through a Newsgroup and I am absolutely shocked at the negative comments about New Horizons. I have been associated with New Horizons for about a year because I bought the club membership, took classes and loved the environment and the training so much that I thought it would be a wonderful place to work at and it is. The staff is wonderful and so far, I have never heard of any serious complaints since I have been around there. I am so sorry about the negative experience that you have had, but all I ask is that you don't stereotype New Horizons as a whole and try to sway people to think what you think.

[Editor's note: This entry is in response to a submission below from a former NH employee. ]

I happened to read a couple of these stories, the guy from Fairfield forgot to tell you that he got fired for trashing the salesroom, he was not a good sales person either. I have been very successful at this for a while now and love my job, have seen a lot of people happy here. It is sales people, those stories are from people that cannot cut it anymore. As for Fairfield, the owner there is an a**!! He has no clue what he is doing, send them here and everything will be fine. It is to bad that this page is around, but I will have to say it is interesting. Again, please do not post my name, title or center location, thanks.

(Please do not use my name in regards to this letter, thanks)

I was an AE at a New Horizons in Mississippi. Man, I thought Naziism was a thing of the past! Not so. Don't believe me, just get yourself a job as an Account Executive at New Horizons. From 7:30 am to 5:30 pm, its work, work, work! Now I don't mind working, mind you, or even working hard, long hours. But with these guys, it's all work and no play, and you'll be treated like the mangey mutt who everybody on the block throws cans or old shoes at. Let me give you a typical day at NH, from an AE's perspective:

7:30 am: Arrive at work. Actually, you'd better get there at 7:20 to ensure you won't be (not-so-politely) chastised by the bosses for coming in at 7:31. From this time until 8:00am, you get your "lead list" ready for the day.

8:00am- til: COLD CALL! You will be calling people all day who don't want to talk to you, who other AE's have called repeatedly, who are agitated because New Horizons keeps calling them, and who will not-so-politely hang up on you. Sure, you do other things during the day, but they will ride your butt about cold calling, it will be your #1 duty. Do as many as you can, all day, every day, while getting treated with no respect from your bosses. You are a "glorified" telemarketer.

Lunch hour is specified and is strictly enforced. Do not dare be late, or face the wrath of the bosses, who will chew you a new one in front of your peers. You will feel like you did in third grade when you crapped your pants and the teacher called you a baby in front of the whole class. There is no room for respect for AE's here.

Get back on the phone! Get back in your cube! You will here this time and time again. Smoke break? Forget it. Take a breather between 8-11 am? What, are you crazy? Don't bother to get to know your co-workers, either you or they won't be there long. And don't worry, they won't take the time to get to know you either. The atmosphere here is quite unfriendly.

Quick story: I was troubled with diarrhea one day, and had to make repeated trips to the john. You think the bosses cared? I tried to explain what was going on. It doesn't matter. If you are not making "the calls", you are costing them money. You are a machine to them, a body, a number.

Advice to potential AE's: Those who "stick it out" as AE's with this company are shown to earn very high incomes (six figures +). You have to ask yourself if you can work in this kind of atmosphere, day in and day out, and not falter. They will also ask (politely insist) that you attend night and/or Saturday classes on your own time, to get to know the business better and to hobnob with potential clients. Even if it is a beginning Word class or something else you may not need. You will find yourself at the office 12-14 hours many days. You won't see any real money for awhile. Benefits? Forget it. This job is about making cold, hard cash. If you are a hardcore salesperson (workaholic) and have 1-2 years to invest long, hard hours into, you can reap huge monetary awards. But for the rest of us thousands of AE's who have left the company, money is not everything in this world.

If you are considering becoming an AE at New Horizons, please take this information and use it to help guide you in your career decision. Trust me, there are a lot of better jobs out there in which you can make similar money, but have great benefits and be treated with respect. I got wind of how things are here after only a couple of months. Many AE's work here 6-10 months before they get fed up and finally quit. Therefore, I ask you to sign me,

"Wise to their ways" in Mississippi.

I was a salesperson for New Horizons-Madison, WI. I have had one other sales position prior and one since. I characterize the New Horizons Sales methods as Gestapo Blitzkrieg selling. It is by far the worst place I ever worked.

The speed factor of calling as many prospects as possible during your 8-hour phone time was fine. Salespeople need goals and New Horizon's are aggressive. I believe the Gestapo Blitzkrieg factor came in determining if a customer was currently buying or not. If they were buyers, they got as much information and service as the salesperson had access. If they were not ready, the sales people were asked to dump the account. Get you fast, dump you fast, you are not worth their time.

Then the prospect was subjected to multiple unsolicited calls as the next salespeople had no idea the company had just been called last month or last week or yesterday or even that morning. After 3-5-10-whatever number of calls, many people would ask to be put on a "do not call" list. Sometimes they would be, most times not, as the salesperson had little time to do the necessary paperwork. They had to get on with the Blitzkrieg.

Companies can develop a relationship with a salespersons at New Horizons only while they are buying. Even when a company may be a buyer, they are pushed from salesperson to salesperson to salesperson. Turnover of salespeople in Madison is so high that some companies told me that I was their 4th or 5th salesperson in the past year.

Another aspect of turnover of salespeople in Madison, was that the few salespeople who had been there more than a few months bothered getting to know the "newbies" as they would be gone in short order. Longer term salespeople (more than 6-months) just did not pay any attention to anyone that had not been there less than that. They had to get on with the Blitzkrieg.

I feel anyone looking for a sales career should avoid New Horizons in general and New Horizons-Madison in particular.

Wow...What a great website!!!.. Having recently left New Horizons as a sales guy there for 3 years..I have lots of stories to be posted..I am actually filling out small claims paperwork to go after NH for cash they messed up in my final check. I worked for NH Fairfield County in Connecticut. i was a top salesman ( Presidents club)....I will send you a few stories Heres a quick one...

This past Xmas the Assistant General Manager brought the sales guys in to a meeting to discuss an instructor contest they were running. It seems the contest which was based on management contributing 50 cents per perfect 10 evaluation score per student only had $46 in the pot. The pot was to be split 3 ways by the top 3 instructors. Management went to the sales guys (all on straight commission) to contribute to the final prize as nice holiday gesture for all of the hard work they did. Not only did they want sales to cough up a donation for the instructors, but also the front desk administrative people for Xmas bonus's. The General Manager would not allocate additional funds for this. I actually had to put him on the spot in the meeting to match what the sales guys were contributing.

fortunately there are many, many great centers around the world, since we are the largest computer training company in the world, I guess we cannot suck to bad. Maybe you had a bad experience there, I am 100% positive that they have done everything in their power to rectify the situation. Hopefully you'll give them another chance. A company such as New Horizons is out there to serve a purpose to everyone!

Browsing through your site brings back so many vivid memories. Over-worked and Under-paid. I was Facilities manager of a Corporate owned location in the Northeast. Notice I said facilities and not IS or IT manager. One day I would set up a 2000 class, and the next I would have to change light bulbs, or hang some stupid poster.

I notice you focused much of your dissatisfaction on instructors. Believe it or not it is not their fault. They are forced to teach subjects with little or no prep time. Newhorizons is basically the McDonald's of IT training. They are the biggest IT company, so who cares if the service sucks. They have many locations, they offer day and nights classes, and it's only a week long class. If you plan on taking training from NEWHOR, ask if you can meet your instructor before you take the class. Ask your instructor a few basic questions. Your six sense will tell you if the person is knowledgeable or fresh off a MCSE cert. Be careful Newhorizons Management is all about the Benjamins(100$ bills).

[Editor's note: Formatting (underline and bold) is as submitted by the author.]

I used to work for New Horizons Computer Learning Center of Milwaukee, the very place that prompted this web site's creation. I am so glad this site is here to tell the other side of the story. Hopefully, it will help put the Milwaukee center out of business or bring about some badly needed change. I advise anyone considering New Horizons-Milwaukee for work or study to reconsider.

TO PROSPECTIVE SALESPEOPLE

I would say you are in for some pain. You will spend your first six months chained to your desk doing nothing but cold calling, and you'll have to provide your own lists. NH will not provide you with leads to call on. If you don't meet quota by your eighth month you'll be let go, and your entire client base will be turned over to a top producer who will collect your commission. (They call that "Inheriting The Wealth.") You will put in long hours on weekly sales meetings, monthly company meetings and monthly customer recruiting nights all on your own time. You'll be selling classes you know nothing about since NH will not waste time showing you much of anything. You'll have to learn that on your own. You will be expected to follow the NH system, which means you use a script and are nothing more than a glorified telemarketer. The turnover rate among salespeople is high. You won't get to know the instructors who actually deliver the training you sell because their turnover rate is even higher. Other employees won't like you because the senior salespeople are jerks and you're guilty by association.

TO PROSPECTIVE INSTRUCTORS

I would say you are in for brutal pain. Most likely you will have no computer background when you start because if you did you wouldn't accept the salary that NH offers. NH will provide you with bare minimum training before you start teaching and virtually no support after. Their primary objective is to get you teaching as quickly as possible and as often as possible. Everyday you will feel hopelessly unprepared to teach your classes; and why shouldn't you? Chances are you never used the software before in your life, while your students will have been using it for years. You will be on your feet all day as you are not allowed to sit, and you'll spend your breaks and your lunch hour trying desperately to stay prepared for your class. You will put in long hours on weekly instructor meetings and monthly company meetings all on your own time. Additionally, you'll spend your evenings and weekends trying to get ready to teach the next day. You will be required to maintain a 9.2 average on a 10-point scale. You'll suffer from low salary, lousy benefits, unpleasant students and demanding managers. You will become demoralized like the others, and you'll start talking about finding a new job. You will work double-shifts and Saturdays. You'll find that employee suggestions are unwelcome and will single you out as a troublemaker. You'll be told the first three months will be like boot camp, when in fact "boot camp" never ends. The only thing that you'll ever see work well at NH is the way managers close ranks against instructors. The turnover rate among instructors is extremely high.

TO PROSPECTIVE CUSTOMERS

I would say you are in for a disappointment. You will be charged between $100 and $400 per day to sit in a dingy classroom with broken down computers and an instructor who is, most likely, teaching that class for the very first time. You'll be bored to tears while the instructor reads to you and walks you through exercises that half the time don't work. You will spend your breaks being hounded by salespeople trying to sell you more classes. You'll be thoroughly unimpressed with New Horizons, and you will ask your instructor if this is his full-time job. You'll thank your lucky stars that Windows comes equipped with solitaire and FreeCell. NOTE: If you are considering technical training at NH as a way of making a career change, then beware! NH salespeople do not have your best interests at heart. Microsoft or Novell certification alone will open very few doors for you. If you don't have a Computer Science degree, or two to three years of hands-on experience, then odds are low you will ever land an IT job.

[Editor's note: This was sent to me third-hand, from a newsgroup for MCTs.]

First, let me make it very clear that the following post is not mine. I am posting on behalf of somebody who needs to keep his or her identity confidential for reasons that are not germane. However, this trainer would like feedback on the following (which is an e-mail s/he received), and would appreciate any y'all might offer. :-)

Thanks,

xxxxxxxxxx

March 16, 2001
To all Official NH Contract Trainer Providers:

Due to a recent development which is still reverberating throughout the NH network, I need to ask all of you to adhere to the following standards when the issue of hiring or soliciting New Horizons Instructiors may arise.

1. At no time should a Contract Trainer Provider, or any other vendor, approach an employee of a New Horizons center for the purpose of hiring him/her.

2. If a current or former NH employee contacts you for a position, you should immediately contact the Owner or General Manager of the New Horizons center before initiating a relationship with the prospect. The prospect's resume should indicate whether a prospect works or worked for a NH center.

3. If the propect requests that you do NOT contact the NH center, you should tell him/her that, due to a "gentleman's agreement" with New Horizons, it is absolutely necessary for the Owner or GM to be contacted for permission to continue speaking with the prospect. If the prospect refuses, then all contact should be brought to a halt.

4. If you send broadcast solicitation emails to your database list telling the group what jobs are available, please be SURE there are no names of New Horizons instructors on your list. Mistakes like this have occurred in the past with immediate negative results. If any ex-New Horizons employees approach you, please also be sure to ask about non-compete agreements.

If you feel unable to agree to the above guideline requests, we ask that you withdraw as an official New Horizons provider. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation.

[Editor's note: My comments are as follows: On point 1, it seems reasonable and a standard practice to ask your contractors to not try to lure your employees away. On point 2, it seems entirely unreasonable to require that contractors rat out employees who are seeking employment elsewhere, as being a corporate spy is generally not what the contractor was hired to do. And even more unreasonable is the request with respect to former employees. On point 3, see the comment on point two. And on point 4, one can only assume that the "negative results" obtained were that a New Horizons employee got a better job somewhere else. The free market being what it is, New Horizons always has the option of treating its employees better, paying them more, or creating a work environment conducive to retaining employees. Relying on the rest of the world to never offer any NH employee a better job seems to be the wrong way to go about employee retention. Just my opinion, yours are welcome.]

I just wanted to say that it is not possible to believe that someone had a bad experience at New Horizons, but you can also have a good experience. I teach at the New Horizons in Birmingham, AL. I work very hard to prepare for classes. I take time to read my surveys, talk with clients and even give free consulting for my students who ask. I can say that I work with a very professional group of Instructors, Management team and Account Executives. I appreciate the opportunity to voice the good, as well the bad. I encourage my students to be honest with me, and so far I have very few complaints. I am of course offended at the remarks, but I also realize there can be truth in them. I would hope that people what make the discovery for themselves, and not just go by opinions of all of us qualified to make them.

Robin Hunt

Instructor