NHE National Health Educators they just want your money Los Angeles Internet

After many emails from NHE regarding openings at the company I went through the process of applying at NHE. I had the phone interview, several emails regarding start date, pay, requirements, etc. I was told that although the MTC/Master Trainer Certification is NOT a requirement to hire, I needed to take it for them to determine my knowledge level. It would be awarded, however, with a passing score.  I could take the exam free of charge. They do not use any of my existing certifications. The only way to get the "job" is to pass their test. I have been in the industry 20 years and have several. They don't care.

I went to purchase a study guide, not required, but wise. It was $190 or $290 depending on the items I selected to utilize. They do not require you purchase the guide, but do reference about 50+ large books to freshen up on (within 30 days) or you can choose the study guide ($190)  that focuses more on their course content or, even better, the exam guide ($100 additional) that focuses on exam content only.

I made my purchase to study up and sharpen my skills and received an EFEA, or an Exam Fee Exempt Agreement, via an email attachment. It mentions such things as I have not been promised a position, I agree this test is not required, even a passing score is no guarantee of employment, there have been no mentions of compensation, and refunds not applicable. This was simply not true.  I had to sign this document before I could even get study material. This agreement was written to protect the NHE business itself. If you sign it, you are guaranteed NOTHING!! I had emails from the HR dept saying my employment was contingent on passing this exam. Once I had passed, they would begin to draft an offer letter. I added some notes in the EFEA that based on an email sent to me 4/7 certain sections did not apply. They wrote back and said to send in an unaltered EFEA or I would be dismissed from consideration. I referred to the emails from the past several days from the HR department. It is below:

The exam is how we verify your knowledge level on a variety of fitness and nutrition topics. We will administer the recruitment version, which is a shorter version than the student version. The MTC certificate itself is a consequential occurrence, although the HR department does not require a personal trainer certificate for this position. The exam, however, is utilized to validate each candidate’s expertise. Upon passing, I can begin the process of drafting a job offer letter that will verify the compensation, workload and start date. The compensation will be identical to what is currently posted on the job description page. The offer can then be finalized upon your approval of the draft. The PCC, another expertise evaluation component, is waived for this position. At this stage of the recruitment process, an HR file's final approval is subject to a satisfactory MTC exam score.

To schedule an online MTC exam, click/tap the third recruitment component:    

webiste deleted***

The password is: candidate (all lower case letters)

The exam should be administered within thirty days from today. If you have any questions, I ask that you compose them in numeric order of importance so that they may be well represented in your HR file. Lastly, be careful how you prepare for the exam, if you decide to do so. At least fifty percent of job candidates have been found to utilize an online note-sharing site resulting in a zero exam score.

So, I wrote the people back and copied this email from the HR Dept promising an offer letter matching the compensation listed on their website. This is what I got in reply:

Your particular interpretation of the NHE recruitment process is precisely the reason we require all job candidates to sign the EFEA.

You may continue to believe you have been offered a position with NHE. Additionally, you may continue to believe the EFEA is misleading or incorrect in some form or another. If so, please simply not sign the EFEA. However, if the EFEA is not received, un-altered, by tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. Pacific, you will not be administered the NHE MTC exam. Upon not be administered the NHE MTC exam, your name will automatically be removed from employment consideration for a period of 36 months.

There will be no more responses regarding this matter.

Thank you,

I have canceled my credit card, cried a little bit, after all this job would have changed my life, and moved forward and onward looking for a job.

Please, please do not fall for this. The only thing you are guaranteed, if you pass, if an unrecognized, nonaccredited, NHE certificate that will likely not be accepted at any of the gyms you may apply to. A big waste of time and money, not to mention effort. I really had my hopes up. Bummer. If they had worded the EFEA to include my job offer, I would have continued the process. Since I was basically being asked to sign a document that nullified all prior correspondence, I did not sign. I also see that they have removed their BBB affiliation. They say it is due to closing the CA office. I have a feeling it is not that at all. This is a scam.