"Gaps in employment"

[ShandyDrinker]

I've had it where any gap over 2 months has to be explained.
This may be the clients request, rather than the agents however.

Yeah. For any poor sod going through the onboarding for an investment bank (I'm sure retail will be similar) it can be frustrating & time consuming getting all the info together. In contrast I found going through onboarding for a large city based insurer a pleasure as they were happy with a single reference from my accountant covering the entire trading history of the company!

[Bee]

Hi,

I'm going through the paperwork for a new contract. My last contract finished at the beginning of Sept this year and my new one starts next week (Oct). One piece of paperwork asks for details of any gaps in employment/education history (with explicit dates, not just months).

Considering that I contract through a limited company and I am technically employed by my limited company and continued to be so during that period whilst looking for my next contract, does this still count as a gap? What about before I went contracting and worked at large consultancies. Does the time on the bench or doing bid work count as a gap?

TIA

They don't care if you have an Ltd company or not, they only care about the projects.
While in a consultancy there are a lot activities to do when you are on the bench and it's not a gap in your CV, you could described them, unless you took unpaid leave.

[kaiser78]

They don't care if you have an Ltd company or not, they only care about the projects.
While in a consultancy there are a lot activities to do when you are on the bench and it's not a gap in your CV, you could described them, unless you took unpaid leave.

But this has a bearing as to whether you have been "unemployed" vs a period of not being in contract whilst under a limited company setup, which is different to being unemployed as a permie.

[MrMarkyMark]

They don't care if you have an Ltd company or not, they only care about the projects.
While in a consultancy there are a lot activities to do when you are on the bench and it's not a gap in your CV, you could described them, unless you took unpaid leave.

Yeh, but you are still under a contract of employment, whether you take unpaid leave or not?
So what bearing would this have ?

[Bee]

[northernladuk]

While the OP hasn't got it yet, it's as good as in the bag given that there is paperwork for the new contract i.e. an offer has been made. Agreed that it is subject to satisfactory vetting.

Although didn't say it directly, my point was that the OP is lucky that at least the agents weren't being picky. If the vetting process raises questions about a 6 week gap then God help us all.

You've got nothing until you are sat at the clients desk (or even until the first invoice is in). The fact it is subject to anything means it's not concrete. It's also possible, as we seen on here, it can evaporate between now and him turning up at site. We even had a guy a year or so ago that was sitting in client reception on the first day to be told it had all fallen through. I was being a bit pedantic yes, but still, I wouldn't be resting on my laurels at this point.

If a vetting DIDN'T raise a 6 week gap I'd be questioning whether the vetting process is up for the job. Depends on what level of vetting he is going through but if that 6 weeks was spent at a nice camp site somewhere in Afghanistan they might want to know.

[vetran]

you learnt new skills relevant for future contracts & did your paperwork?

You marketed your business and took annual leave.

[MrMarkyMark]

Please clarify exactly what you mean, then (if you can).

Looks like kaiser78 had a similar thing to say?

[SueEllen]

you learnt new skills relevant for future contracts & did your paperwork?

You marketed your business and took annual leave.

There is no point saying that if they want particular proof of something so it's best to clarify first with the person doing the vetting exactly what information they want.

[northernladuk]

Please clarify exactly what you mean, then (if you can).

Looks like kaiser78 had a similar thing to say?

And it's exactly what I thought but didn't know how to phrase it in case this does end up in the professional area.