Contracting newbie - opted in, failed bank security check and terminated

[StewieG]

Hi all,

Firstly let me say what a great source of information CUK is, and one of the reasons im posting my question here.

Ok, so i started my company as I had secured work at an international bank. I knew the PM from a consultancy job i did in Switzerland and so wanted me here in London. PM asked for my CV to get the process started as I was going direct. This bank uses a third party company for all their HR for perms and external dealings.

I was given a security form to complete and completed this accurately and correctly, as all information provided on this form would have been verified. I started work before all clearances were complete, and a week into my job, I was summoned by HR saying as security checks were incomplete and couldnt be closed off, I was being terminated.

I discovered that the detail they were referring to was something on my CV, and NOT something I had declared on the form with my signature. Id like to add I didnt opt out (dont know if this made a difference to them).

Id like your thoughts on where I stand? When I questioned the HR person, and mentioned the detail on my CV was never put on my Security check form, he said legal were checking it and would get back to me, needless to say, he didnt get back to me. This was around a month ago.

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks

Stew

[NotAllThere]

Modified subject to be rather more meaningful.

[malvolio]

What's to argue about? They didn't like the results of tehe security audit, they decide you are too great a risk to keep you on. The contract would be subject to necessary security approvals, you for some reason haven't passed. Why you haven't passed will remain a mystery; if they told you, you could then circumvent it whic rather destroys the point of doing it (although if I had to guess, one of your previous employers hasn't responded to the questionnaire).

Where you stand is without a contract. Go look for the next one and hope their security clearances are a little less rigid. And the hard lesson of being a contractor is that you are not a permie, the only rights you have are those stipulated in the contract which, as you have just demonstrated, are double-edged.

[mrdonuts]

put the ltd company you work for as your employer, rather than be subject to the inefficencies of previous clients in returning paperwork - sounds like you have just started your company though.

[cojak]

And sort out your CV.

[StewieG]

Hi All,

To update. All my employment checks passed, all criminal record checks passed, and all references were satisfactory. I know this as the girl who was initially doing the checks told me all this.

It was a detail from my CV which i didnt put on the form which they terminated me on. Im asking as I didnt declare that detail on the security form. Im cut up about the whole thing as it was my 1st contract, and it was a good rate. They paid me for the work I did.

Yes my company is new as mentioned in OP and i will adjust my CV to reflect working for my company once I find a new role.

[Wanderer]

It was a detail from my CV which i didnt put on the form which they terminated me on. Im asking as I didnt declare that detail on the security form.

Wow, can you tell us what the detail was? Was it really that significant that you could be terminated for it? Perhaps they just decided that they didn't need you there after all and dumped you on a technicality? We obviously don't have the full details but it sounds pretty harsh to be honest...

You will get messed about like that sometimes but clients certainly aren't all that bad. The advice from this forum is going to be to take it on the chin and move on, try to put it behind you and look for the next contract.

Good luck!

[nomadd]

Hi All,

To update. All my employment checks passed, all criminal record checks passed, and all references were satisfactory. I know this as the girl who was initially doing the checks told me all this.

It was a detail from my CV which i didnt put on the form which they terminated me on. Im asking as I didnt declare that detail on the security form. Im cut up about the whole thing as it was my 1st contract, and it was a good rate. They paid me for the work I did.

Yes my company is new as mentioned in OP and i will adjust my CV to reflect working for my company once I find a new role.

Sorry, but you've completely lost me here (and I've been contracting 23 years and have had to do full checks on my last 5 contracts...)

What detail did you miss, exactly?

...And your latest scheme doesn't seem to make any sense to me either. My CV has client names on it, not the name of my company. That's standard practice. It doesn't say "contract" or "permanent" anywhere on my cv. And that's never been a problem.

Seems to me - and please correct me if I'm wrong - that you told a rather large "porkie pie" on your screening form, and you are choosing not to come clean with it here. No-one gets terminated on a contract for a minor "detail on the CV" (your words, not mine.) What exactly is this "detail" you keep referring to? Only when we know that can we advise you on what you should do...

[northernladuk]

Either way, you got terminated. There is nothing else to say. Do whatever to make sure it doesn't happen again and move on. There are no point arguing with us or beating yourself up about. It possibly won't be the last time you get canned for something that appears 'unfair' and out of your control but it happens. I might sound harsh but thats contracting life sometimes.

[SimonMac]

Maybe the fact that you didn't declare something is why they thought you were too big a risk, what else did you not declare hoping they wouldn't find out?