Pros
- You get the opportunity to work for some luxury brands that don't usually advertise, which can look great on the CV. - The days you work can be relatively flexible. - It all sounds/seems very glamorous, which it all feels...for about two weeks until the negatives swiftly kick in. But I'm afraid that's all the 'positives' I can think of. I was employed by them for about 9 months, but felt like a hell of a lot longer. They lure you in by giving you these great opportunities, however the working days are incredibly long - you are not paid overtime. They promise incentives (£100 gift voucher for 100% in mystery shopper reports) which I got once but it never get acknowledged or honoured. I constantly got the feeling I was being taken advantage of. Although they say you can be flexible by simply calling them to let them know when you can/can't work, you will still be booked in for days regardless.
Cons
- They will take a MASSIVE cut of your earnings. The concession I once temped for during a longer period of time (about 5 months,) showed me an invoice from them, (which they shouldn't have really done,) which showed how much Elite were charging for my services. When I worked it out against what they paid me per day, I was utterly horrified. -They say your pay rate will be evaluated for a rise every 6 months - this is a lie, it is never increased. - The day rates they pay are very, very poor, because the days you book you in to work are very, very long. -They will make it INCREDIBLY difficult for concessions to employ you. After temping with a company for a period of time (perhaps 5 or 6 months,) the brand/company may wish to take you on as 'one of their own' - like the brand I was working for. A position came up, and it felt right that I could fill it as I knew everything about the role/brand etc. It transpired that they couldn't offer me the role as Elite would charge them a very, very large sum of money, one they simply couldn't afford. I was incredibly disappointed. Shortly after this, I left Elite because I felt I was worth a lot more respect. - You don't feel valued. At all. They will call you up last minuet for bookings which you will make, to 'do them a favour' for absolutely nothing in return. I got the feeling that because so many people are out there looking for work, they are inundated with applications. So, it doesn't matter if people are unhappy and leave, because someone will be able to fill the spot just moments later. I really resented that, especially when putting in so much time and effort into the job.
