Complaint Review: Lincoln Technical Institute - Brockton Massachusetts

 Where to even begin....I worked for Lincoln Technical Institute in Brockton,MA and boy was that the biggest mistake of my life. Just to let you know, I was not fired from that company and I am not some bitter ex-employee. I am writing this to warn anyone that may be thinking of going there and for the people that went there that did not get the desired results, I want to clue them in as to why.

First off, the Career Services department is full of fraud and corruption. They say that they are there to help you get a great job that is related to what you went to school for....WRONG!!!! They may try to legitimitely get you a job, but they give up fast, too fast. And if you were a student there that did not have a 4.0 GPA and perfect attendence, they help you less than others, if at all. They say that they sent your resume out to all these places, but that is not true either. They then host these lame resume workshops and job search workshops in which they basically set you up on a computer and have you look up jobs on craigslist and simply hired. Most of the jobs that they find for you require actual previous experience and are usually a far distance away. If you don't harass the career services dept. into really helping you find a job, they forget all about you and eventually stop calling you and stop sending your resume out. If you call them and complain that they are not helping, they turn the tables on you and make it out to be your fault. Anything to take the blame off of them. They make it seem like you are not doing all that you can do to get a job yourself, even if you are. They say things like, "You did not send us a list of all the places that you applied so we can follow up", "You have not been attending the job search workshops", "You have not been checking in with us on a regular basis". Even if you are dong everything right, they make it seem like you are not. And it gets even better than that....

If you tell them about a job interview that you just went on, they will take the lead that you just gave them about the job opening and will send other student's resumes to that same job! How would you like it if you found out about this great job and told them, and then they found someone else better to fill it behind your back. What a way to screw you out of a potential job without you even knowing it! They will ask you for the job location, hiring manager's information, and will then say that they are going to call them to give a reference for you....YEAH RIGHT!!! They then take the credit for you going on the job interview for the job that YOU FOUND to make it look like they are doing their jobs!! Feeling sick to your stomach yet?? If not, keep reading....

Now most people don't know this, and I'm 100% sure they don't tell you this, but Lincoln Tech only has to place 65% of their students at jobs after graduation. That means that 35% of grads can legally be left in the dust and not helped AT ALL!!!. Usually what they do, is take the list of grads, and highlight the ones that they are going to help. They then make sure that they would be able to reach their goal with the students that they have selected if they can place all that they were selected. When i say that 65% need to be placed, that does not mean that they have to be placed in jobs that are fully related to what they went to school for. For example, if you graduated the Medical Assistant program, they do NOT have to find you a job as a medical assistant. They can find you what's called a "Related" job and that will count towards their 65%. Don't you think that's messed up??? Keep reading!

A Related job is a job in which you are using skills from 2 of your core classes. Unfortunately, the class descriptions are so vague that they can manipulate the information to make it really look like you are using the skills that you learned  at the school to get that job. For example, and this happened all the time, they can get you a job as a PCA or a CNA, and that will count as a medical assistant placement because it's related to what you learned at school. Here comes the corruption! The career services dept. can use a job that you ALREADY HAVE, and can use that as your school related placement!!!!! If you are working as a CNA, PCA, HHA, or anything else that can be considered related while you are attending school, they will use that information to place you at the job you already had and will say that the skills you learned at school can help you advance at that job. That counts towards their 65%. How would you like it if you were working as a PCA and the school used that as your placement???? That means that in their computer system, you are considered employed in the medical field, they are taking the credit for that job you got on your own and already had, and will not help you find a job as a medical assistant.!!! So you went to school to become a medical assitant and you are still only a PCA. So what did you go to school for then?????

The school ran wild with these related placements. They will do ANYTHING to reach the 65% goal. They will screw over anyone and will make it look like they found you these jobs. An even better example of how corrupt they are is when it comes to their Medical Administrative program in which you are supposed to be trained to be a medical secretary. One of the core classes has to do with use of computer systems and also using office programs. Just hearing that, imagine how easy it would be for them to find related placements for that program. Some of the ones used while I was there included Working in customer service at Stop and Shop supermarket and working at retail department stores!!! They found a way to use working in a grocery store look like a related placement!!!! WHAT????? That is soooo true!!! They found a way to use someone working a 1 day temp job as a school related placement. One of the worst things I ever saw there, was when they used someone's current job information (Transport Aid at a hospital) as a related placement. The student had already been working in that job for 10 years and they were able to use that as a school related placemen even though they had absolutely nothing to do with that person getting that job 10 years ago. PATHETIC!!!!

One of the tools that they use to screw you over in regards to related placements is something called "The Work Number". The work number is a program in which employers report employment. Most of the jobs that you've ever held are reported on the work number and you only need a person's name and social security number and D.O.B.  to look up that information. The school has a membership with the work number and they will check EVERY SINGLE STUDENT to see if you are currently working a job that can be used as a related placement. They often place you behind your back and you are not aware. They just stop calling and stop helping because they already got their precious placement out of you. They do not have to tell you that they used your current job as your school related placement. We had a girl working as a laundry aide and that counted as her placemetn and she never knew. She would keep calling and trying to get help and they would not give it. They just focused on more and more placements. Obsessed over reaching the 65%.

Also, the Career Services department only focuses on helping recent grads. We would have older grads come in for assistance, and behind closed doors, we were instructed by the corrupt career services dept. director, to only spend 10 minutes helping them. Basically we were told to not waste our time with them. We were instructed to only focus and assist the new grads. I'm pretty sure the school tells you when you are enrolling that career services is always here to help and blah blah blah lies!!

They have a massage therapy program at LTI. At the end of this program, the grads can either be self-employed, or they can get a job working as a Massage therapist. I saw with my own eyes, one girl being forced into signing a document stating that she was self-employed even though she was not and she even said, "But I don't want to be self-employed". WOW!!!!!!  This was one of the final straws for me. I left this place due to the corruption and the stress. I am a moral person, and watching this made me sick! I could not deal with it anymore. Watching these poor people get screwed over like that gave me nightmares.

In closing, it's bad enough that the sales department, AKA the admissions department, used whatever tactics to get you to enroll in the school, but it's an absolute shame what the career services department can get away with. It's a crime and to think of how many poor people were suckered out of thousands of dollars breaks my heart. If you are thinking of going here, please think twice and make sure if you go there in person, ask all the right questions. Talk to career services about your concerns BEFORE enrolling. You can ask to see a list of their placements, but I'm sure they would black out/delete from the list all of the horrible related placements like Stop and Shop supermarket. Maybe even bring up some of the information that i have presented here. I'm sure their jaws will drop, eyes will get wide and scared, and the voices will get nervous all of a sudden. Please make your decision carefully!!