Accepted Offer - start date TBC

[Pherlopolus]

second post - be gentle

I've had an offer which I have accepted, the offer didn't have a start date due to needing clearance moving etc.

Is it normal to not even get a provisional start date? the agent is 100% sure it's all going through (well they would be )

I know it's only a confirmed contract when the last invoice goes in, but how likely is it to be fall apart? and is it the done thing to carry on interviewing until the day you start?

It's my first contract in quite a while, but having contracted during most of the 90's and early 2000's it's like returning home to a somewhat dysfunctional family, where no one looks each other in the eye anymore...

TIA.

[FatLazyContractor]

I know it's only a confirmed contract when the last invoice goes in, but how likely is it to be fall apart?
.

As likely as an agent lying.

and is it the done thing to carry on interviewing until the day you start?

Till you step into the client co.

the agent is 100% sure it's all going through .

If you have heard the agent say it, it is a lie. If you have seen his lips move when he said it, it is a lie.

It's my first contract in quite a while, but having contracted during most of the 90's and early 2000's it's like returning home to a somewhat dysfunctional family, where no one looks each other in the eye anymore...

Family or not, there is money in it if you play it well!

HTH

[Pherlopolus]

OK business as usual then

[tarbera]

Another candidate is started they are seeing if it's works out you are the stand by guy - they are pulling your chain

[Batcher]

If it doesn't have a start date then it isn't an offer.

[heyya99]

If it's a bank, then this is common. Happened me. I started.

[jjdarg]

I had to wait a six weeks or so for a start date when I did an MOD role. Was told they wanted me in late Feb, but didn't get a start date until early April, due to the glacial pace of background checking. (Didn't start till late April).

Of course, if this is a case of the "hiring manager" not having enough budget, then you're in the doodoo.

I'm waiting for a start date for my latest, but the truth is, I've been asked to fill out all of the client's clearance paperwork and told to submit it to their vetting organisation. Is it a risk that they'll cancel any intention to bring me on? Yeah, I guess so.

But that can happen with a signed contract with start date, anyway. I am being put through a screening process, and my experience tells me that the client organisation is showing willing to bring me on board, they just can't tell me when because of the bureaucratic hoops one has to jump through after signalling intention to engage.

If the role was with a private sector company, I would maybe take it with a grain of salt and keep on looking.

Depends how happy you are with the level of risk and the size of your war chest.

[Sausage Surprise]

Happened to me in the contract I'm currently in. Had to wait nearly 6 weeks...delay was all about getting me put into the client's HR system (which was in the USA)


Could still be the agent messing you about though.

[Pherlopolus]

Actually had a face to face today with the agent today, it is public sector requiring a clearance move, and I am going to sit it out. The end client apparently wants me ASAP and the minute they either get a waiver or the transfer I can start. War chest good for a few more months...

Thanks for all the advice/devils advocate posts

[TheFaQQer]

Actually had a face to face today with the agent today, it is public sector requiring a clearance move, and I am going to sit it out. The end client apparently wants me ASAP and the minute they either get a waiver or the transfer I can start. War chest good for a few more months...

Thanks for all the advice/devils advocate posts

I'd still be wary if I was you.

Some years back, I interviewed and was accepted onto a public sector project. I already had security clearance, it just needed to be ported over to the new project, and I'd already worked for that department before, so I stopped looking as it would be a mere formality.

Four weeks later, there was still no sign of the contract because the clearance hadn't been ported over. But still, I waited because it had to happen soon.

Two weeks later, there was no sign of the contract because the clearance hadn't been ported over. Because I hadn't started, the client I was contracted to then lost that part of the contract and was replaced by the prime contractor.

So after six weeks of what was an absolute formality, I ended up with nothing, and the client ended up losing out because they lost that part of the project. It was due to be a four year role as well

Having been bitten by that, I'd not do the same again!