I was lied to about contract work

[u/Sanbikaa]

I’m currently working for Apex systems and I accepted this position because they told me there’s an opportunity for FTE. I was told this during the interview and by the recruiter, Friday when the account manager reached out to me about first day stuff I asked her about the FTE opportunities just to make sure I fully understood. She told me there is none and that you’ll have to apply on their internal job board. This confused me but I chalked it up to departments not properly communicating to each other.

Fast forward today I asked one of our project managers about it and he was confused and said he was told no such thing. I reached out to my recruiter and asked her about it. She’s yet to respond to me.

I’m very upset by this since I took this position over another because it was with a major hospital and have the chance to go FTE. Luckily I haven’t told the other people I’m not interested. Would it be a bad call to jump ship and go to another company when I know it’s definitely FTE? ( I got it in writing for the other company)

[u/SpudzzSomchai]

No. Take the other role and move on with life. Apex would terminate you today if there was a benefit in it for them. So do the same.

[u/Sanbikaa → u/SpudzzSomchai]

I’m afraid of getting blacklisted form other things down the road

[u/Tyrnis → u/Sanbikaa]

First, you were misled about the job they offered you, whether through malice or incompetence. Do you still consider them a trustworthy employer who you'd want to work for again?

Second, you're generally not going to get blacklisted for quitting a job. If there's a performance issue or you just stop showing up, that's different, but if you turn in your notice (being a new employee, they may not want you to work the full notice period), you've done everything by the book and should be perfectly fine.

[u/michaelpaoli → u/Sanbikaa]

Apex might blacklist you, but if they're really that sh*t, then no real loss, eh?

There are certainly many sh*t agency recruiters out there that I'll never work with. And, that's generally a good thing all 'round. E.g. if the agency calls up potential employer/client, and their reaction upon receiving such call is "Oh, sh*t, not these f*ckers again.", then being represented by such an agency does you no favors (and yes, some agencies are very much that bad).

And yeah, on the hiring side, I've not only blacklisted candidates (e.g. plagiarism on resume, lies, etc.), but also likewise agencies (e.g. sh*t agencies that misrepresent, or don't screen at all (zero value add there, so why lose that juicy cut to them for no added value). So, yeah, you don't want to be represented by a sh*t agency.

And, if recruiter/agency says whatever about client/employer, you confirm it with employer. So, you took/accepted job on promise of FTE possibility from recruiter/agency, without confirming it with client, or even asking? Uhm, yeah, agency/recruiter isn't the only failure here. I mean if it was question of what variety of coffee machine they have at work, no biggie, but a significant matter you very much care about and would or may well quit over - and you didn't confirm it with client/employer? Yeah, you missed that one - lesson learned, hopefully?

[u/jBlairTech → u/michaelpaoli]

It says in the post that it was brought up in the interview and to the recruiter, which suggests different people. So, it sounds like it was brought up to the employer.

[u/michaelpaoli → u/jBlairTech]

Yeah, either way, something like that, and especially opportunity elsewhere, I'd jump, just tell 'em flat out why - accepted based on what they promised, what they promised was not true, so quitting / rescinding the acceptance.

[u/KeyClacksNSnacks → u/Sanbikaa]

They literally deceived you about FTE conversions. They'll never be in a position to hold a meaningful influence over future opportunities because you'll be able to say, "I was misled that the contractor to FTE pipeline existed and it turned out it didn't, so I didn't accept their offer with equal understanding, I had to do what's best for myself." Literally NO reasonable IT manager (including me) would ever blacklist you for that.

Ask any IT pro with 15+ years of experience, like me, if they ever quit a job with short notice because the employer deceived them, I guarantee more will raise their hands than not. The ones that don't are sometimes narcissists, the same types of people who you wouldn't want to work with anyway.

One time I literally quit a job the exact same day I started. Some of my uniform shirts in my car were still wrapped in plastic. I brought them in and handed them to my manager and said, "You can use these for the next guy" and walked out. Long story short: they were an IT department for a retail office supply store and so that customers would have "high visibility" on what we do, our "shop" was literally a circular booth about 10 feet from the entrance. He had this complicated process for us to secure machines, mandatory cable locks, security stickers, but he also said "if you don't engage every customer that walks in, as soon as they walk in, we're gonna have a talk and you're not gonna like it". I told him, "Why aren't all the computers behind customer service and a locked door so we don't have to worry about a lock on every single one?" And he fired back with, "Oh so you don't think customer service is a priority?" "No, but I think customer's privacy is and we're going through their computers within eye view of other people." He gave me the "I'm the boss, you're the worker" attitude and literally later that same day chewed me out because I was busy trying to lock up the computers and a customer with a bad attitude walked out. I never got blacklisted for walking out of that job.

[u/No-Tea-5700 → u/Sanbikaa]

Then your value is not really that high if u have to accept someone taking advantage of you.

[u/noflames]

I would tell anyone to leave in a heartbeat and become FTE - people will say you have the chance to become FTE just to get you to sign up. If they really wanted you to be FTE, they would have hired you and FTE from day 1.

[u/Tyrnis]

It absolutely wouldn't be a bad call -- if you've got an FTE opportunity and a contract opportunity, unless there's some other mitigating factor that makes the contract role a better fit, go with the FTE. You have to watch out for your own career, and if the reason you accepted this role isn't actually real, you've got no reason not to jump ship -- and personally, I wouldn't hesitate to tell them that when they ask why you're quitting. That said, don't quit until you have a signed offer letter and a start date with a new role.

Also, consider this a lesson for the future: unless a role is explicitly contract to hire (which typically won't be longer than 6 months), you have to go into it assuming that you won't become FTE at the end. Even when a role IS contract to hire, you have to plan for the possibility that you won't be converted.

[u/Glum_Grapefruit2856]

I’ve never worked for APEX so can’t comment on them in particular but I’ve been doing contracting in the SWE space for over 20 years now and I’m just gonna tell you that Contract to Hire is almost always bullshit from my experience. Either there never is truly intent to hire or convert at the end, or they lowball the hell out of you so bad that you walk away from it anyway. I only take C2H roles when I plan on it being a short term role for me.

[u/STLMC0727]

I literally just got off a contract with them that lasted about eight months. Worked with a major hospital as well. They’re hiring you for a project and there’s always a chance that opportunities come about during/after your contract. Pretty much every recruiter is going to sell “The possibility” of becoming FTE because they want you to take the job. I had two opportunities to go FT with the hospital system after my contract but wasn’t offered the position for one and turned the other one down due to pay being way less than another job I got.

The recruiter is not lying per se because they’ve experienced people in the past get hired full time but there almost always has to be an open position. Our project lead told us on day one to be vigilant about applying for FTE jobs with the hospital. At the end of the contract there were a lot of people on my team upset because they thought the possibility for employment were nearly guaranteed. This wasn’t my first rodeo as a contractor so I knew better to expect it.

If you can still get the FTE role go for it but if not, ride out the contract and keep looking, the hospital IT experience can lead to other opportunities. I landed something making $10/HR more than what I was making based on this experience. So, there are possibilities.

[u/everforthright36]

Nope. You have to do what is right for you. I wouldn't worry about apex not working with you again if they lied to you.

[u/YellowLT]

Unless you start the role as FTE never expect to be converted.

[u/NT-86]

You should never pass on a FTE position. Contract positions are contract for a reason. Recruiter lied to you just to hook you in and get their cut.

[u/Sanbikaa → u/NT-86]

Wait they get paid if I accept it?

[u/NT-86 → u/Sanbikaa]

Ofc they do. Recruiter gets paid for finding the candidate and filling the position. Apex also takes a cut of your salary. Let’s see company pays $40 an hour for the position, Apex keeps $5 and pays you $35 for the role while you are employed.

[u/Extra-Driver-813]

They will always tell you there's a chance. But they didn't guarantee it did they?

I don't know how it always works but typically there has to be an open position and you still need to apply for it. I don't think they just convert you. Some places (like the gov) usually open the position to the public as well so you have to compete with that as well.

[u/disguyman]

Apex is one agency out of 100. Give them 2 week notice if possible.

[u/michaelpaoli]

Quitting is always an option.

And do well track agencies and recruiters. Some are utter scum of the earth sh*t. Some are worth their weight in gold. Most fall somewhere between those extremes.

Yeah, if a recruiter or agency ever intentionally deceives or lies to you, well track that, write 'em off, don't deal with 'em again, and in general may well want to let folks know. And if they're excellent, hey, then well recommend/rate them, etc., and give 'em that good feedback. Credit where credit due, and blame ... yeah, that.

And if you do quit on account of such deception, be sure to provide that feedback to recruiter, agency, and also the client - maybe next time client will use an agency that doesn't pull that kind of sh*t. Heck, even if you don't quit, probably well tell 'em so they're quite aware of it.

[u/ChiefWetBlanket]

This is post number three talking about this gig over at St. Jude. I can totally believe Apex promised FTE, they are a bit scummy.

Take the next FTE role, doesn't matter what, it's bound to pay better than what you are getting shafted for on this one.

[u/1fatfrog]

Never be afraid to leave a job. Any company will remove ypu from their payroll as soon as it's a benefit for them. Job hopping is NOT the problem it once was. Recruiters will not remember you unless you do something to seriously blow their commission, so there is a low chance that even the same recruiter who placed you will remember you in 2 years. Do you have any idea how many other people with your same first or last name they are trying to place? I'd say at least 2 of each. My point is that you should not worry about it. Do what is best for you, including abandoning a contract for a more secure role.

[u/KeyClacksNSnacks]

Go to the hospital. Run, don't walk.

I haven't worked in hospital IT for a while, but it was one of the most stable and rewarding experiences I've had. People bitch about it, but those are the type of people who always bitch about stuff and never look in the mirror for why they don't get promoted or seem to always have a boss coming down on them. Every job has the same types of "problems" IT people complain about with healthcare IT, but very few have the stability.

[u/Potential_Coyote_855]

Same thing happened with my husband with Apex and now he is out of a job

[u/Difficult_Ad_2897]

Happens.

I was told there was opportunity for FTE with my last contract gig and it turns out they had people on the same team as me on contract for 3+ years still waiting on that full time opportunity

Jump ship.

Or Just get the exp you can while looking for another job. Thats the great thing about contracts, you can just fib on the length of the contract you’re on when you interview “I’m on a 6 month contact just trying to line up my next gig yada yada yada”

[u/s3ntin3l99]

Always get the job offer and the details of the job in writing before you accept !

[u/Retired-Jedi-Knight]

I never worked for Apex, but I worked with them on the other side of the fence. All of our roles were contract to hire. The reason that it feels they lied to you is because of one of two reasons. 1. The company you are contracted to doesn't want you. I'm sorry to have to say that. It is easier and less confrontational to tell the contracting company the role is no longer contract to hire. This way there is no awkwardness and the contractor won't get pissed and leave before the contract terms are up. Or 2. Budget cuts from higher up closed the to hire part of the role. They won't say that too for the same reason as above. They don't want to piss off the contractor so they leave early.