Big 5 bank 6 month contract common practice?

Very common.

Depends. On the bank or the department, or the leadership of the department.

The conversion to perm is a dangle a carrot in front of you to keep going strategy, they re up you for another 6 months, and lay you off after those 6 months are over. This was pretty common a few years ago.

But congrats, blow them away with the performance and hopefully they make you perm.

Keep applying on the side while being in contract for something better. Career progression and salaries in Canadian banks are severely outdated. If you have ambitions I wouldn't stick around for too long.

Not super common but I have seen it around.

Right now all of the banks are pushing back on hiring FTE and forcing a lot of staffing to contract going forward.

I currently have 25+ staff and only 2 are FTE because I can't get approvals for FTE, just contract for this fiscal year

Ziggy007 wrote: ↑ Not super common but I have seen it around.

Right now all of the banks are pushing back on hiring FTE and forcing a lot of staffing to contract going forward.

I currently have 25+ staff and only 2 are FTE because I can't get approvals for FTE, just contract for this fiscal year

That's interesting. Which department do you work in? Thanks.

Ziggy007 wrote: ↑ Not super common but I have seen it around.

Right now all of the banks are pushing back on hiring FTE and forcing a lot of staffing to contract going forward.

I currently have 25+ staff and only 2 are FTE because I can't get approvals for FTE, just contract for this fiscal year

Contracting may not be for everyone but people need to be aware that only you care about your career. Companies are there to manage risk for their owners and we are along for the ride.

I just quit my job with the bank! But the following is based on my own experience working there for a while.

During 2020, areas of the bank slowed down because pandemic uncertainty. Many projects were put on hold. We let many contractors go. Many of these guys could not get another contract right away, so they were in a bad spot. I don't feel too bad for them because they make good money (hopefully they saved some), but still.

In 2021, the work has been coming back, sometimes a lot of work at once, BUT now we cannot hire all the contractors back because we do not have approval to hire all of them back, only a few. And there are no approvals to hire more FTEs. Hiring people is like pulling teeth right now.

So... when it was convenient, we fired contractors, or did not renew them. Now that we need them back, upper management doesn't want to approve the request. It is frustrating. It is a mess. I am happy I quit.

To the OP: yes, it is possible to convert a contractor to FTE, but be aware that as a contractor you would make more money. It is usually the contractor who doesn't want to become a full timer, because it is a reduction in income.