Reply to: first contract....

[PerfectStorm]

Hi All,

i'm new to contracting and was looking for some advise regarding a contract i have signed up to and so has the agency.
however the various checks are taking a long time and the start date has already elapsed.
currently it is at the crb check stage and though i have been told it will be done in next couple of days but i know this could take weeks.
i just wanted to know other contractors' experience , as i'm concerned it might fall through altogether.....

I had this problem, and despite the agency's protestations to sit tight, I ended up calling the CRB agency (in this case, Disclosure Scotland)

It turned out that they hadn't done something to progress it after 2.5 months waiting which the person on the phone corrected, and I was onsite within a week or so.

You'll find this a lot, but you sometimes have to chase every entity/department involved in processing something to get things done (you'll find this again around renewal time)

Get in there and chase things up a bit.

[Loofah]

First post after 9 years??

Yup.

Not the best one at that either. Employer??

I must be off my game, I'll try harder for you. Not an employer, a simple 20+ year contractor that thought putting the guys mind at ease over the duration might be helpful.

[Old Greg]

Good idea. It's better to be consistently wrong than more accurate

8 years, 10 months, 28 days to be precise

That's the difference between the day that they joined and the day that they posted.

HTH

So how do you know it was precisely 8 years, 10 months and 28 days? Do you know what time of day they joined?

[DeludedKitten]

You don't even know if that is correct to the nearest day.

That's the difference between the day that they joined and the day that they posted.

HTH

[BR14]

You don't even know if that is correct to the nearest day.

WGAF??? - @admin where's the emojithingybob for that? - it's Really needed in a lot of threads, and good for the environment by saving keystrokes

[Old Greg]

Good idea. It's better to be consistently wrong than more accurate

8 years, 10 months, 28 days to be precise

You don't even know if that is correct to the nearest day.

[northernladuk]

Good idea. It's better to be consistently wrong than more accurate

8 years, 10 months, 28 days to be precise

Well that's gonna be wrong tomorrow.

[DeludedKitten]

That is also imprecise, so I'll stick to mine, thank you.

Good idea. It's better to be consistently wrong than more accurate

8 years, 10 months, 28 days to be precise

[Old Greg]

No. First post after 8 years and 11 months.

That is also imprecise, so I'll stick to mine, thank you.

[DeludedKitten]

First post after 9 years??

No. First post after 8 years and 11 months.

[northernladuk]

First post after 9 years??

Not the best one at that either. Employer??

[Old Greg]

Depends on the employer and how keen they are for your services. Presumeably this isn't their first time at hiring so they'll be well aware of the time taken to get through the checks. If there's subsequent vetting (BPSS maybe?) then the whole process can be fast, can be slow but in any event the employer knows this. If you're concerned then ASK.
I had a bunch of contracors requiring BPSS clearance and it took forever and really torpedoed the project timeline but everyone was cool with it as they were familiar with the pitfalls.

First post after 9 years??

[Loofah]

Depends on the employer and how keen they are for your services. Presumeably this isn't their first time at hiring so they'll be well aware of the time taken to get through the checks. If there's subsequent vetting (BPSS maybe?) then the whole process can be fast, can be slow but in any event the employer knows this. If you're concerned then ASK.
I had a bunch of contracors requiring BPSS clearance and it took forever and really torpedoed the project timeline but everyone was cool with it as they were familiar with the pitfalls.

[LondonManc]

I hope the CRB doesn't do grammar checks.

Or spelling. It's DBS

[Old Greg]

I hope the CRB doesn't do grammar checks.

I would be more concerned about spelling and orthography.