Vantaggi
Work colleagues have a comradery of knowing they'll all move on to better things one day.
Some genuinely lovely clients
Svantaggi
It's taken me a long time to have the courage to write an honest review of what used to be called 'Signal Networks', apparently now called 'Signal IT Solutions' in an attempt to distance itself from some very debatable historical business practices, but I think now is as good a time as any.
It took me a while to notice, but there is a reoccurring pattern in the recruitment process within Signal Networks. The key demographic seems to be a young impressionable adult, someone that can be easily controlled or bullied into compliance. Richard Collins historically took all interviews and during the interview process is looking for someone good enough to do an 'OK' job, but more importantly someone with a weakness or a personal issue. This could be a health issue, maybe a lack experience, perhaps a historical financial or debt issue, essentially something he can later exploit you with. I have personally witness him play on this insinuating scenarios like 'you would struggle to get another job else where with your health issues' or 'would you want to risk unemployment, could you survive without a wage?'.
As another negative review has hinted at, the working hours are ridiculous. You could do your 9 to 5 and maybe another 5 minutes or so and attempt to leave, at which point Richard would block your path and demand to know "where do you think you're going?". When you explain you'd actually like to go home, he would reply with "there is still outstanding tickets and work to be done!" you may naively say, "well surely that can be done tomorrow, it's after hours!" to which he would reply with something along the lines of "well, you're here now, so you might as well do it now!"
In the months leading up to me leaving there was a particular low point and the staff was leaving in their droves. It got so obvious that some of the more senior IT staff that was still blinded by Rich and the company had to step in and personally beg the remaining staff to stay and attempt to correct the obvious wrongs!
I know I have personally witnessed Rich offer to fight members of staff and also mention "If you want a 9 to 5 job why are you here, there's Sainsbury's for that!"
Once you go to leave the pressure gets even worse, suddenly new paperwork appears that they demand you sign to never speak of the company, never list you worked there on your linkedin profiles and amazingly never to talk to current or past members of staff again! When you have worked somewhere for a long amount of time you naturally make friends, the level of paranoia within the senior management is self fulfilling and not surprising considering the way in which they treat their staff.
Once you have left they send you letter in the post threatening legal action and I've heard of this across many ex employee's, it just seems natural for them to do.
I think one big positive I gained from working here is a realisation to never let another human being treat me like Richard Collins did. I am fortunate enough to find myself in a really modern forward facing business with flexible working hours, working from home, and genuinely amazing benefits. I wish all the staff at this company the best of luck to a better future, it is out there - just go for it.