Contingent offers are commonplace in the world of government contract staffing. Once a candidate has accepted your company's offer the hard work begins. While your organization works on things like background checks, clearance verifications and the on-boarding process, often a significant amount of time has passed from the time an offer is accepted to when a new employee actually starts in their new role.
Before COVID, it might have taken two weeks to verify a new employee’s clearance or conduct a background check and now this can take up to 90 days. During this period, it is very important that you stay engaged with new employees, keep them up-to-date on the process and the challenges your organization may be facing.
Consider having your HR team send an introductory email or have their hiring manager complete a welcome to the team phone call. Remind your team to put follow ups on their calendar and help your new employee assimilate throughout the contingent and on-boarding process. Be transparent about the timing and hiring milestones your team has reached (security clearance validated/transferred, contract awarded, start date decided, etc.)
Stay in touch and keep your soon to be employee engaged throughout the process. Effective, consistent communication is key and will keep new employees eager and excited to begin work with your organization.