PGC puts the boot in AGAIN!

[Denny]

OK, fair point. However, in my defence, the headline "PGC (who they BTW?) puts the boot in" doesn't really align to the point you were making IMHO. Next time, I'll read it properly, then complain!

PGC puts the boot in again! was a reference to other peoples' viewpoints not my own.

I was trying to be clever and failed hopelessly.......

Not because I'm not clever, it's because you weren't.

[Mordac]

>Full ten-year continuous history to include date of leaving continuous education, verification of employment dates, employment gaps

OK here's my 2p worth. I've been contracting just over 14 years now, something like 40-odd contracts, and at least 3 of my former clients no longer exist (and those are just the ones I can think of). For some of you web dev types, the dot-com burst must've taken out a few of yours as well. Does anyone seriously think that these people are going to be able to track down the IT director of buggerall.com, last seen disappearing over the horizon with all the venture capital cash, circa 1999?
Also, I keep my CV to 3 pages so anything over about 7 or 8 years has dropped off the last page. Frankly I'd struggle to remember some of the contracts I did from 1992-97, how long and in what order, let alone who the reporting manager was. If anyone ever asks (and no-one ever has) what I was doing then, I was contracting in network support roles, not really relevant to the roles I'm going for today. Plus I have "gaps" because I have genuine clients which I have sourced myself, and they are not on my contractor CV because any HR gimp looking at it would wonder why I only lasted 2 weeks here and a week there.
And how much is it going to cost? I think this is all a bunch of bollocks. Government and military roles will still require security clearance anyway, and banks will continue to do the basic financial checks as they have done. Most end clients are not going to care whether you've been certified to BS7858 - I doubt most of them have even heard of it.
In summary, it's just a neat little money making scam, and it's very thoughtful of the PCG to offer it to members, but I don't think I'll be taking it up.

Mordy in "better remove the PhD from my CV just to be on the safe side" mode.

[Denny]

>Full ten-year continuous history to include date of leaving continuous education, verification of employment dates, employment gaps

OK here's my 2p worth. I've been contracting just over 14 years now, something like 40-odd contracts, and at least 3 of my former clients no longer exist (and those are just the ones I can think of). For some of you web dev types, the dot-com burst must've taken out a few of yours as well. Does anyone seriously think that these people are going to be able to track down the IT director of buggerall.com, last seen disappearing over the horizon with all the venture capital cash, circa 1999?
Also, I keep my CV to 3 pages so anything over about 7 or 8 years has dropped off the last page. Frankly I'd struggle to remember some of the contracts I did from 1992-97, how long and in what order, let alone who the reporting manager was. If anyone ever asks (and no-one ever has) what I was doing then, I was contracting in network support roles, not really relevant to the roles I'm going for today. Plus I have "gaps" because I have genuine clients which I have sourced myself, and they are not on my contractor CV because any HR gimp looking at it would wonder why I only lasted 2 weeks here and a week there.
And how much is it going to cost? I think this is all a bunch of bollocks. Government and military roles will still require security clearance anyway, and banks will continue to do the basic financial checks as they have done. Most end clients are not going to care whether you've been certified to BS7858 - I doubt most of them have even heard of it.
In summary, it's just a neat little money making scam, and it's very thoughtful of the PCG to offer it to members, but I don't think I'll be taking it up.

Mordy in "better remove the PhD from my CV just to be on the safe side" mode.

I feel the same way, to be honest. I've got nothing to hide but it seems incredibly intrusive if these agencies, if they insist on a project history, to give an account of every single one of them as if they were 'jobs'. It's virtually impossible given the number of them and, naturally, any projects that didn't work out where I left early are not included on my CV for obvious reasons.

My cue is to simply broaden out the scope and simply state when I was actually employed in permanent jobs and the companies they refer to (irrelevant if over 10 years in my case), my educational history and a simple broad all-inclusive 'self employed contractor' category with a simple progression summary of what I started doing to what I'm doing now. That amounts to about 4 entries in total, not several individual projects which give start and leaving dates. Like you, I also have private clients and there is no way I'd want them contacted by a third party without my express permission if there is no role specifically in mind. I could seriously end up losing clients and agencies would also be able to find out who your private clients are and the end-clients they too use and start badgering them for business.

They can check my references of some projects too, but only the ones I've provided them with which is pretty much what I do anyway.

Also, another concern I have is the new age discrimination legislation. If these checks are going to be carried out then all agencies will automatically know and can pass on dob details to the client. I thought the new law was supposed to prevent such information becoming available to prevent age discrimination.

At the moment it looks like this new intiative is candidate driven with special rates offered to PGC members only. However, I can see it becoming mandatory in a short time after this kicks off that agencies with client authorisation will drive this and insist on this 'check' (still paid for by us) is demonstrated alongside the passport proof this checking company gives out before they even consider representing us. This could be a serious barrier to trade for many who don't want to shell out for this service or don't agree with the way or consequences of some of the checks being done to qualify for 'clearance.'

As I've said before, I don't mind references being taken up - I've nothing to hide over my competence, qualifications and ability and have about five I regularly give out when asked for them - but I sure as hell won't have anyone contacted that I haven't first authorised from the party concerned. As the poster above says, many contacts have disappeared anyway because the role happened such a long time ago.

What's all this bollocks about terrorism being the reason for this new intiative? How is someone fibbing about having a grade B History O level when they got a 'D' automatically turn someone into a threat to national or organisational security? It just means they've lied on their CV over something pretty irrelevant not that they're a wizzkid with Semtex or computer hacking. Presumably if they were, they would have done a PhD in the history of the gunpowder plot for being so bright not so stupid as to not know the third wife of Henry VIII. Again, the reasons given are peripheral to the real reason, whatever that is.

I object to being encarcerated in the 'Big Brother' House of Cynicism whether I like it or not. The whole point of contracting is to give ourselves a flexible lifestyle and that shouldn't be held against us if there are so called gaps in our project history. This could be down to numous reasons, some beyond our control - clients buggering us about over interviews and start dates and project dissolusion prior to start, economic downturn, travel, time out to study or simply having a rest period at home. What that has to do with protecting a client from potential security threats is totally beyond my reasoning.

Someone help me out please.

It looks to me as if only those who have worked on a continuous run of extended projects over 1 or 2 years with no gaps will get past this checking procedure to earn their passport. The rest of us will be designated potential cheats, liars, lazybums, losers and potential terrorists.

[malvolio]

Talking about gaps, I do know one guy with a two-year gap in his CV that he now tells everyone he spent at college as a career break 'cos it's easier than trying to explain he was on an HMG project so secret he can't even name the department it was with. The real bummer is he did some seriously ground-breaking development work there in whatever field he was working in, and can't take the credit for it!

[Denny]

Talking about gaps, I do know one guy with a two-year gap in his CV that he now tells everyone he spent at college as a career break 'cos it's easier than trying to explain he was on an HMG project so secret he can't even name the department it was with. The real bummer is he did some seriously ground-breaking development work there in whatever field he was working in, and can't take the credit for it!

According to the security checking service putting college down to cover for a legitmate role on a secret project would make him a liar and CV fraudster. If he was to change his CV to reveal such a gap with [non disclosure of project details] on it no agency would believe him and would conclude he was lying or had been in jail.

His only future, as far as I can see, is to become a fully paid up member of Al Quida and the Animal Liberation Front as well as earning a few extra bob, between bunny jacking sprees and blowing up rush hour buses and tube trains, computer hacking large company payroll services.

No doubt Dodgy Agent would regard him an excellent candidate and advise him to tailor his CV to read in his personal profile: 'good team player and willing to take risks to reach sensitive project objectives.'

[privateeye]

No doubt Dodgy Agent would regard him an excellent candidate and advise him to tailor his CV to read in his personal profile: 'good team player and willing to take risks to reach sensitive project objectives.'

.. or give him a job as an agent

[Denny]

.. or give him a job as an agent

Nah - he's probably much too clever for DA and might end up taking his 'job'.