Thanks for reading, Larry!
I’m sorry to hear you’ve been running into challenges in your contract work. My own experience as a contractor has been that I use my own laptop, so this tends to be less of a problem in my circumstances.
Since you are working on site in your contracts, you might mention during the interview process that you’ve experienced slow ramp-up times on previous projects and ask, realistically, when you can expect to get a computer and start work. Another thing you can do, given the situations you’ve had, might be to ask about specific tasks you’ll be doing and how you might best contribute until your security ID, computer, etc., are up and running so you can make the best use of your time and the client’s money. The point is not to ding your past employers but to let future employers know that you’re eager to start work as quickly as possible. If you have your own laptop and it might be a while before the customer provides you with a computer, you might also ask if you can use yours in the meantime so there’s no lag time between showing up and being productive.
Best of luck,
Bart
A reader named Larry posted a comment on my personal blog, but the response really belongs here. Let’s see what he has to say.
First, let’s hear from Larry: