How long should paperwork take from agreement?

[Zylon]

I had an interview recently which went well, seemed like a cert at the time, and shortly after I was offered the contract and agreed the rate through the agent. Agent emailed me to confirm I had been accepted. A week later I'm still waiting on the paperwork - having chased a couple of times I don't have a contract or an agreed start date.

The company has been a little unreliable in their timescales so far, so I don't expect they're misleading me, but there's always the potential for it to get blocked internally.

There is also a second contract for which the interview also went well, and I'm expecting to hear back soon. I would prefer the first position, but don't want to turn down the second only for the first to potentially fall through. So a few questions:

1) How long is typical to wait for the actual contract paperwork?
2) Is it appropriate to contact the hiring manager directly to try and speed it up?
3) If I contact hiring manager direct, should I mention the other potential position as my reason for expedition?

[Scratch It]

From my sample of 1, it took a couple of days, with the agent apologising profusely for the delay.

[BrilloPad]

1) How long is typical to wait for the actual contract paperwork?

Depends on exactly what you mean by "paperwork". Recently it took 2 weeks to get onboarding started(usually 24 hours). The full process took 3 months - usually 4 weeks. That, of course, varies from industry to industry.

2) Is it appropriate to contact the hiring manager directly to try and speed it up?

No! You will label yourself as a trouble maker.

3) If I contact hiring manager direct, should I mention the other potential position as my reason for expedition?

n/a

What does your agent say? You could name them on here then await for their response on here. Or you could pick up the phone and call them....

[northernladuk]

There doesn't appear to be a normal for this. On a good gig you'll have it in a day or two which has generally been my experience. Last gig was 5 days. From reading here it can be anytime up to and in some cases after the gig has started but this is totally unacceptable. It means you haven't had time to review it and you could end up with some very unfavourable clauses and an unfriendly IR35 contract.

You need to be pushing the agent, particularly if you are 5 days or less to starting. You need to get the contract off for an IR35 check which can take a few days. If you are that point you need to start informing the agent you need to do a check on it and won't be on site until everything is done. If he doesn't prepare it in time you won't be attending site. Hopefully he'll wake up and realize it's on his head if the client is pissed off.

[Zylon]

Thanks for the replies, it's comforting to see that peoples experience varies. To clarify I don't even have a start date yet. I have written confirmation that they want to take me and that they've agreed to my quoted rate. But I've been waiting 5 days since that to get a start date or any actual contract.

What does your agent say? You could name them on here then await for their response on here. Or you could pick up the phone and call them....

I've chased them twice as mentioned. I also mentioned the second position to the agent initially. Agent is putting the delay on the client which I believe. I don't have reason to doubt the agent since the interview went very well and I expected to get it. It's the possibility of internal changes/ bureaucracy blocking the contract entirely that worries me, as I've seen this myself when recruiting.

I'm certainly going to contact the agent and reiterate the urgency.

[fatJock]

Don't stop looking or interviewing until your bum is in the seat at the client. Everything else is just a potential opportunity no matter what the agent or customer says.