Not on contract? How very dare you!

[Contractoid]

So we are all familiar with the red tape nightmare that has become the process of "onboarding" as our friends in the recruitment industry like to call it. I understand the need to apply a certain amount of scrutiny to protect against fraudulent applicants but really it is getting beyond a joke now.

The bit that gets me most agitated is the "Why were you not working from July 2002 to August 2003" type questions, along with a new requirement that is even more annoying that some professional individual verifies the reason you give for this despicable crime. Seriously, what if any reason you would supply along the lines of "Not in Contract" would have any reasonable bearing on the process?

Every time I start a new contract it gets worse, I actually think there will come a day when I'm asked to give references from my nursery school year.

[evilagent]

Being off is no big deal.
Holidays, training, etc.

However, if you were detained in a correctional facility, or were at a "training camp" in Pakistan, that gap takes on some importance.

It would be remiss if the gap, if significant, wasn't investigated.

[suityou01]

What were you doing from July 2002 to August 2003?

Answer honestly, your CUK badge depends on it.

[northernladuk]

Being off is no big deal.
Holidays, training, etc.

However, if you were detained in a correctional facility, or were at a "training camp" in Pakistan, that gap takes on some importance.

It would be remiss if the gap, if significant, wasn't investigated.

^^ This.

[Contractoid]

Being off is no big deal.
Holidays, training, etc.

However, if you were detained in a correctional facility, or were at a "training camp" in Pakistan, that gap takes on some importance.

Who, if blessed with even a modicum of common sense would give any reason likely to raise eyebrows.

It would be remiss if the gap, if significant, wasn't investigated.

Who decides what a significant gap is and more importantly, what business is it of anyone to make judgements about someone based on subjective criteria?

I wonder how many contractors who have got through the interview stages, been offered the role and then the offer withdrawn for not supplying an acceptable reason for not being in work over the past 5 (and ever increasing it seems) years.

A cynic might suggest that far from being driven by the need for a robust verification process, this madness might have something to do with the screening agency making more revenue for carrying out more and more pointless procedures?

[Brian Potter]

As silly as it may sound, what's stopping anyone from filling the gap with bullshat by stating they worked for some outfit which has since gone bust such as Comet?

[Pondlife]

The fact that you thought it acceptable to leave a whopping great hole in your CV begs for further questioning IMHO

[SimonMac]

So we are all familiar with the red tape nightmare that has become the process of "onboarding" as our friends in the recruitment industry like to call it. I understand the need to apply a certain amount of scrutiny to protect against fraudulent applicants but really it is getting beyond a joke now.

The bit that gets me most agitated is the "Why were you not working from July 2002 to August 2003" type questions, along with a new requirement that is even more annoying that some professional individual verifies the reason you give for this despicable crime. Seriously, what if any reason you would supply along the lines of "Not in Contract" would have any reasonable bearing on the process?

Every time I start a new contract it gets worse, I actually think there will come a day when I'm asked to give references from my nursery school year.

They always say its to check you've not been in prison but nowadays that is easy enough to find out anyway, as for the professional verifying you its a PITA as I don't use an accountant anyway

[suityou01]

The fact that you thought it acceptable to leave a whopping great hole in your CV begs for further questioning IMHO

WHS

[SimonMac]

The fact that you thought it acceptable to leave a whopping great hole in your CV begs for further questioning IMHO

Why wouldn't you? What would you deem an acceptable gap, I know there will be three month gap after I finish this contract before I will want to work again