on boarding

[Laughing Gravy]

6 weeks joining a Scottish bank mainly because it was coming up to Christmas and the Santa Claus's got priority for background checks.

[ContractorOnAMotorbike]

Just landed a role with HSBC and been told that the on boarding will take 4 weeks. Is that normal. I've worked for a few banks but never had one tell me that it's going to mean I have to earn sod all for a 12th of the year before I can get on site. TBH the guy touched on it in the interview but he said it like it could be up to 4 weeks. What it actually is, is 4 weeks and possibly longer!

About a month is perfectly normal for a big bank. This has been my experience also.

No harm in looking at other options until they finish their checks.

[sal]

TBH the guy touched on it in the interview but he said it like it could be up to 4 weeks. What it actually is, is 4 weeks and possibly longer!

For the guys/gals at the referencing 3rd party, "up to" reads as "at least". In my case they didn't even bother starting the process until the end of the second week when I chased for the first time.

Then I was chasing them twice a week, 2 days before the "deadline" of 4 weeks I escalated to my contact at ClientCo, which led to an explosion of activity including apologetic phone calls and firm assurances it will be completed by the "deadline" and it was... Only to be returned to them as they missed one of the checks which caused one more week of delays.

Unfortunately there is nothing you can do about it as their client is ClientCo and they don't answer to you.

[Mordac]

About a month is perfectly normal for a big bank. This has been my experience also.

No harm in looking at other options until they finish their checks.

If you're really lucky, that's how much notice you get that your rate is going to get a hammering, or that you are surplus to requirements altogether. I'm surprised you lot still bother with the banks, most of their projects are such spectacular and public failures, I wouldn't want any of them on my CV.

[michaelC]

normal

i think its normal. took a month for me too.

[ContractorOnAMotorbike]

If you're really lucky, that's how much notice you get that your rate is going to get a hammering, or that you are surplus to requirements altogether. I'm surprised you lot still bother with the banks, most of their projects are such spectacular and public failures, I wouldn't want any of them on my CV.

Pays the mortgage mate :-)

[Mordac]

Pays the mortgage mate :-)

Plenty of other clients who don't take the piss to the extent that most of the banks do.

[BoredBloke]

I've worked for a few banks, but not had 4 weeks for the on boarding. The SLA for the referencing bods is 14 working days. I love the way they state they want somebody asap but then add a month into the proceedings. I finished my last gig 2 weeks ago and now have to wait for this one to kick in. 6 weeks bench time. Its actually taken them 3 weeks to get from me applying to them making the offer! Lightning slow

[greenlake]

Just landed a role with HSBC and been told that the on boarding will take 4 weeks. Is that normal. I've worked for a few banks but never had one tell me that it's going to mean I have to earn sod all for a 12th of the year before I can get on site. TBH the guy touched on it in the interview but he said it like it could be up to 4 weeks. What it actually is, is 4 weeks and possibly longer!

[BoredBloke]

Last week I was told the role was mine. Its taken till today to get me the offer and now the start date is 6th June at the earliest. There is some system that reed have that is used to do the background checks and it's currently taking 4 whole weeks. There was a time when contractors were needed for urgent roles. Now we have a role I applied for on the 13th of April with an earliest start date of 6th June! 7.5 weeks!!