Seek an advice on "what I should do in this situation?&

Hi guys,

I am dependent of work permit holder. I arrived in UK in January 05 but due to my baby I couldn't work (taking care of my baby as my wife is full time staff nurse). As I am not entitled to public funds I have not registered to any office for claiming benefits. In the month of August I have applied for a clerical job in a well known high street bank in UK. I got short listed and interviewed (twice telephone interviews and one face to face interview). Also I passed their assessment test. Now it has almost six week are passed after informing me on phone that I am successful in interview and I will receive conditional offer letter within 8-10 days. Whenever I called up the person asking for my offer letter whose name was given to me to contact for any queries, he says checks are going on and I have to wait. He is neither telling me about any problem in my application but only keeps on telling me that checks are going on. When I met the person who interviewed me face to face and told her that I am yet to receive offer letter, that lady spoke to that guy from recruitment department and she was told that as there is employment gap in my career so my application needs to be signed by HR Director. He has forwarded my application to him and waiting for director's sign. He is not told me the reason as this is the internal policy and not supposed to tell to the applicant.

I am really interested in working for this bank as this is one of the top most financial institutions in UK. But I don't know why I am getting signature of HR Director. Is he busy or not signing my application? If he is denied my application then I would have informed about this. Also I am selected by one NHS trust for clerical post. I will receive offer letter very soon as my paper work is completed. If I accept this offer and after that if I get offer from Bank, then can I cancel offer of NHS and join Bank. I am more interested in Bank job as it is full time and 30 minutes distance from my place and NHS job is 20 hours per week and its 1 hour from my place. Or before accepting offer of NHS can I personally write to HR Director and request him to give decision on my application so that I can decide whether to accept or deny offer of NHS.

Experienced senior members are requested to give me an advice on "what I should do in this situation?"

Thanks & Regards,
Mansawant

I work in a Bank after coming to the UK on HSMP. Uk Banks carry out extensive checks before they actually give the employment contract and are especially if there is a gap in career history. There have been instances where persons have been sacked to to fraud etc and they simply leave out this period from their cvs. Hence even those who have gaps due to genuine reasons have to suffer. It also a requirement of FSA (the regulatory body for banks) for the banks to have a full reference check for the last 5 years for all emplyees and any gaps accounted for. In my case I was confirmed that I have cleared the interview in March but I could actually only join the bank in July after they finished all checks. I had to follow up with them aggressively for this to be concluded.

Your best bet would be to accept the NHS offer as a bird in hand..... Also speak to the HR contact in the bank and explain your situation that you have another job offer. When the bank offer finally comes through you can always leave the NHS job.

Hi Rog,

Thanks for the information. I have received the conditional offer letter from Bank today morning and NHS offer letter yesterday. In Bank's offer letter it is mentioned that the offer is subject to satisfactory references and criminal checks. I think within two weeks the picture will be clear for Bank. About NHS offer, all the paperwork is over only I need to discuss starting date and they have given me 3 weeks time period to accept offer letter. So I have decided to wait for two weeks for Banks confirmed appointment letter and then to decide whether to accept offer of NHS or not.
What is your opion in this case?

Thanks & Regards,
Mansawant

I think that everything has worked out well for you. You can keep the NHS offer in hand but at the same time follow up aggressively with the Bank to check whether they need any more paperwork.

Just one more thing, unlike 3rd world countries where bank jobs are highly respected and well paid, in UK, the mainstream banking jobs do not pay very well, unless it is on the IT side.

That’s really a misconception, as far as I'm aware even tho' the pay is average, UK banks and financial services sector are generally regarded as good 'type' of employers offering long term career prospects, not just for IT.

With IT, of course you get a magnanimous pay scale today but only to find that you are redundant after a year with your current skill set. This happens with most of the city jobs.

Personally, I feel a bank job is better choice compared to NHS, where the latter's future is no certain when the govt and its policies keep changing every now and then.

Rog wrote: Just one more thing, unlike 3rd world countries where bank jobs are highly respected and well paid, in UK, the mainstream banking jobs do not pay very well, unless it is on the IT side.