A friend of mine, retired cop, applied for a job as a supervisor with them for a four month gig (in Scotland) to cover the Olympic stuff. He thought it might make a wee change from his normal job, and with his decent police pension he can afford to be picky.
A few months ago, he told me he had applied and put me down as a ref.
About 4 weeks ago they called him and said he was in, subject to vetting.
Then they asked him to travel from Scotlandshire to London, at his own expense, stay three nights in London, at his own expense, and travel home after attending a two day training course.
He told them where to shove it.
Two weeks ago they asked him to attend a training course in Glasgow to be qualified as a night club bouncer.
He told them to shove it.
At the end of last week, G4S called me to check out his references and told me (confidentially) that he would be getting a letter this week offering him a job.
I'm expecting him to tell them to shove it.
So, if that's typical of how they are going about the recruitment process, no wonder they are having issues. I'm surprised that hey didn't ask the MOD for help sooner. If we are all in this together, how many civil servants are being sent to kip in TA halls or live on ships?