Veterans Vocational Institute

Has anyone every heard of or used this program before? I went to some orientation the other day and signed up for it, but it bothers me now that I can't find any information about it online at all, other than from its own website. It's possible I'm just being overly paranoid, as I tend to be, I mean not many online scammers hold live presentations at a veteran's facility...at least I'd hope not...

Thanks for any help.

(If this is not the right forum for this topic, mods please move the thread.)

I've never heard of it, but after reading the website I can easily tell you what I think about it.

This school is basically selling courses to give you the basic info on what it takes to get different types of government jobs. It covers a lot of basics, like what government agencies look for, what test are required, etc. The classes on writing resumes for government positions and other ways to present yourself properly for those type of jobs may be quite helpful (but there's no way to know how helpful).

This school is NOT accredited. It is not a degree program of any type. It is an education on how to look for a job, but it is not a substitute for higher education. If you want to apply for a government job that requires a bachelor or associates degree, this program will not help you in any way. The classes on math and other academics are a joke. The classes on law enforcement, driving techniques, etc, are probably an okay source of entry level knowledge, but are no substitute for a real background in the subjects.

I can see this school as being valuable to people with little to no education who want to start with a government career but have no idea where to start. It may help if you are looking to get a job that has a certification requirement but not a degree requirement (like a USPS job, or police job in some rural areas). It could also be a useful launching point to help you determine what type of higher education would be best to pursue. But I would place the value of this education below the value of an associates degree.

Also, it's worth nothing that the two addresses listed are buildings that provide "virtual" offices, meaning they keep and address and a phone number, but there may not be anyone from VVI physically located there. It's also possible that VVI has a small office there, but either way they own no real estate. This isn't necessarily bad (ITT, for example operates out of a similar type of office in downtown Philadelphia), but does mean they have a lower investment/overhead point that a school with a physical location (read: it's easier for them to declare bankruptcy and disappear).

So, this school may be worthwhile if you need help finding direction, if it's cheap, and doesn't take too much time. If you already know what career path you want, or if it's cost (in money and time) are similar to what you would put into a local community college for an associates degree, stay away.

It costs $60 per month and he made it sound like it'd be fairly easy to finish in a month if you put a lot of time into it. I don't need the help at all, I have a bachelor's degree already and am quite confident I can pass a civil service test. I didn't notice the print about it being private during the presentation (no mention of it, it was on the form I signed that he only handed out to people interested at the end), I was under the impression it was government run or at least affiliated with federal government in some way, apparently not.

The reason I signed up was for the supposed counselor assistance once you finish the program to build a federal resume for you and help you find an entry level job. I would be perfectly willing to pay the money for that kind of help if it made any difference at all, and that was why I went for it. I've been completely stymied every single time I apply on my own through usajobs, never once getting a response of any kind. But now I'm very skeptical, and think I need to cancel. And possibly change my credit card account...

Well, $60 isn't that expensive. There are professional headhunting companies out there that charge more than that. For that price, it may be worth trying the resume and job-finding services. As long as you can cancel easily after 1 month, it couldn't hurt that much to try it out.

FWIW, you shouldn't let yourself be discouraged by not hearing back from applications to government jobs. I once sent in a resume for a government job and finally got a call about it 5 months later (when I had already accepted a different job). I have a friend with a similar story: he actually had a full interview, then heard nothing for 6 months. He assumed he didn't get the position. Then, out of the blue, he got a phone call from the HR person giving him a job offer and demanding he make a decision right there on the phone; if he didn't accept right then and there, they would give the job to the next person on the list. He had already found another job, so he passed.

Deset Gled said:

Well, $60 isn't that expensive. There are professional headhunting companies out there that charge more than that. For that price, it may be worth trying the resume and job-finding services. As long as you can cancel easily after 1 month, it couldn't hurt that much to try it out.

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I suppose, I'm just very uneasy about businesses without a physical address and no back history that I can find. Just ticks off my spidey-sense. I called the VFW yesterday and the guy who answered confirmed they were just some group that rented the space out and he didn't know anything about them, except that a lot of people who went seemed to think it was a scam, but he didn't know one way or the other. Today, after calling and leaving a message yesterday, someone from VVI called me back. You do in fact continue paying each month for the counselling, not just for the course. I really don't know what to do right now, I might wait for tomorrow when they give me my online password and counselor contact info to decide.

Deset Gled said:

FWIW, you shouldn't let yourself be discouraged by not hearing back from applications to government jobs. I once sent in a resume for a government job and finally got a call about it 5 months later (when I had already accepted a different job). I have a friend with a similar story: he actually had a full interview, then heard nothing for 6 months. He assumed he didn't get the position. Then, out of the blue, he got a phone call from the HR person giving him a job offer and demanding he make a decision right there on the phone; if he didn't accept right then and there, they would give the job to the next person on the list. He had already found another job, so he passed.

Click to expand...

Oh, it's been much longer than that! I've been busy and haven't even applied for any federal jobs in the past year or so. The ones I applied to it's been well over that and no response at all. And yeah, that sucks. I remember the first year I worked for the Census, I scored in the top bracket for the test and was I think the secon person on the call list. But they called my old number, after I specifically asked them to change my contact # to my cell, and...I missed the call. I am made aware of this fact not even 5 minutes later, call back, and am informed that because I missed the call, I lost my slot and they had moved on down the line. Only reason I ended up with a position is cause my mom (despite me telling her not to do it) somehow gave up her lower slot to me, which by wierd voodoo logic put me back in line for a call if they reached down to her spot, which they did. Very messed up!

Went to one of their seminars myself. Seems as on the level as any group encouraging federal employment can be.

An associate of mine said the Futurama Bureaucrat song would have been good theme music.

I kinda liked the seminar. I'm considering trying the program out.

Deset Gled said:

Well, $60 isn't that expensive. There are professional headhunting companies out there that charge more than that. For that price, it may be worth trying the resume and job-finding services. As long as you can cancel easily after 1 month, it couldn't hurt that much to try it out.

Click to expand...

If the resume and advice counselor is any good and you can get in and out for $60 then probably not a bad deal. The big variables, is the counselor actually offering anything of value you couldn't find yourself on the Internet and whether they will actually let you "finish" the program and wrap up with a counselor within a month's time. I suspect they will try to spread this time out to get more money from you.

So - the "spidey-sense" might be worth listening to this time...

Never heard of them. However, the Veteran's Administration usually has folks affiliated with local Unemployment Services. It's varies from state to state, Illinois for example has a department inside IDES (Il Dept of Employment Security) that strictly deals with veterans due to the hiring preferences they have on most jobs.

As for seeking employment with the government -
USAJobs.gov / cpol.army.mil / chart.donhr.navy.mil / afpc.af.mil
are all sources of legitimate government jobs. - I didn't include actual links because most of them are https sites (linking them is discouraged). As someone who briefly (7 years) hired civilian personnel for the Army I can tell you that the process from submission to selection can take upwards of 14 months depending upon the job, requirements and the pool of candidates.
If you want to work tomorrow the gov't is not the place to look.