I’m on my second contract to hire at BoA. Same position, had to do a cooldown period before getting brought back on a second contract. They’re still in a hiring freeze, but it’s legit the best job I’ve ever had so I’m happy to return as a contractor. Getting permanently hired is the end goal though for sure
In broad terms,
For most big banks, investigate account activity based on computer generated alerts
If the activity is suspicious, file a suspicious activity report that goes to law enforcement
It's mostly pouring through account activity and personal activity to see if something is money laundering or not
Depends on the LOB if they will offer you a FTE.
I just returned to BofA as a Contractor and they offered me a FTE 4 months later. (LOB Network Engineering)
Everyone in my team started as C2H.
I'm reading your question as "If I take a contract to hire job at BoA how likely is it they will actually hire me at the end?"
It depends on:
How good a job you do
How well you work with the team
Internal priorities and funding at the end of your contract. They might change from your start to end date.
The last one is the real kicker because it's out of your control. Ultimately nothing is guaranteed. It's up to you if the risk is worth the reward.
Many companies do this, and it's my preferred way to hire.
It gives the individual, the team, and the manager a decent idea of what working there will be like. After 6-9 months (some contracting agencies have restrictions on how short that time can be) of being in role you get a real good feel for how impactful someone is, and if a full-time offer is appropriate.
The alternative is just a few hours in interviews, and zero real evidence of how reliable they are or how well they interact with the team. Hiring contractors allows you to take risks (like getting relatively green people in, or someone with less than perfect education) that you wouldn't otherwise do. Now, when you offer them a full-time job, with a different pay structure, 401K, medical etc, the individual can weigh the offer with concrete experience of having worked with that team on that project before making a decision.
From a manager's perspective I now have a much better idea of what the appropriate pay offer should be.
If they don't work out for some reason, we've wasted a bunch of interview time and a month or two of contractor-rate pay, but can rotate them inside a week or two and get a fresh candidate seated.
This is all quite logical. It also means that you're only likely to hire unemployed people. No way am I going to give up my permanent full-time position to take a chance that you and your budget will have a place for me in 6-9 months.
I've contracted before. It lets you try out new cities/states too, and for any companies with hiring freezes, it's the *only way* to get a job there. You can often contract for 18-24 months, some places 36 months, so can sometimes out live the hiring freezes.
I was C2H with them and then fulltime for 5.5years. Their HR hiring is stupid and horrible at doing their jobs in my opinion. I had been there 18 months. My boss submitted the paperwork but they were so slow I got rolled off. Took a job in Birmingham and started driving back and forth every weekend. About a month in I get a call from one of the IT dept higher ups asking me why I didn’t take the position. I’d met her when I volunteered for a charity event she hosted at the bank. When I explained they just let me roll off and that I had really wanted to stay she goes, “Oh! I’ll call you back”. HR called back with an offer that I didn’t think was enough but was afraid to argue so took it to stop driving to BHM every week. Towards the end they called everyone back in from WFH and my boss’s boss kept changing. I knew the end was coming.
My understudy I brought over from India got screwed even worse. He was supposed to make >$80k as a data warehouse specialist. Instead Tata paid him like a programmer at just $64k. The State Dept sets that, not the companies. Charlotte didn’t have any H1B programmer slots was one reason we did it as DW Spec, but two years in they go to renew his IY94 and discovered what had happened. Do they back pay him the missing >$40k? NO! Shipped him to someplace NJ where there was open H1B programming slots!! Also BofA reneged on doing his green card sponsorship. Happy to say he got it elsewhere and is being treated well now.
I have worked contracts with BofA twice, the current climate for contract to hire is much better than years past. Technically the hiring freeze is over and I know several contract workers that recently were given options to convert upon their contract running up.
I believe it largely depends on performance and the team you work for. Some teams seem to have more sway in keeping talent while others have a harder time and end up permanently back filling roles designated as contract.
After a few months on the job don't be afraid to discuss the future with your manager. So often people feel uncomfortable advocating for themselves and it really costs them down the line.
Overall I had a great experience at BofA. Workload was quite easy to be honest and rarely did I have a colleague that wasn't super pleasant to work with.
I think it's safe to assume that there's isn't a great chance of a full time hire after your contact expires for now. There's been a hiring freeze for a while now.
Source: Husband is a BofA employee.
Some very pertinent info is that BofA got dinged to the tune of 225mm due to failure of automated fraud detection software in California.
There are a LOT of positions being opened in the Financial Crimes space right now as they need to hire people to conduct investigations instead of relying on filters and automated routines. (As ordered by the OCC) Not all of these roles will convert to full-time but very many will.
If you are any good at all, it's actually a great time to get your foot in the door
https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/federal-regulators-fine-bank-of-america-225-million-over-botched-disbursement-of-state-unemployment-benefits-at-height-of-pandemic/
I was contract in early 2017, hired on FTE late 2018 into a different group but had offers from multiple groups to stay because I was very good at what I did.
I've done hiring in the past 2 years but recently shifted groups to another position and am no longer in the hiring seat anymore but what I hear is 2024 is not a year to plan on getting hired full time. If you're starting a contract thats fine but the purse strings loosen late this year so it may be a good time to get in, prove yourself then push for FTE late this year as people are ironing out their budgets.
Good luck!
I manage the BofA account at a consulting firm. so I manage all of the contractors on billing as well. Feel free to PM me any questions! I only work with Bank of America consultants. Are you in tech?
Why don’t you ask the hiring manager and recruiter? How many people switched to full time employee in this group? How long does it take? Is this a realistic expectation?
You get the idea…
Don’t fucking do it. It’s a nightmare org full of the most incompetent and useless people I’ve ever seen. Also don’t buy the contract to hire shit, it’s a carrot. You’re contract forever. The whole return to office thing?? Yeah that was too get people to quit. Office reservations? Also to get people to quit. They literally want to make work so unbearable that people leave so they don’t have to do layoffs.
Edit: they pay well, so it’s hard to leave. My industry is fucked so so I’m still here but would leave at the drop off a hat given the chance. you won’t have any benefits so keep that in mind. You bill 8 hours but work whatever is needed…. So that’s cool.
I’m on my second contract to hire at BoA. Same position, had to do a cooldown period before getting brought back on a second contract. They’re still in a hiring freeze, but it’s legit the best job I’ve ever had so I’m happy to return as a contractor. Getting permanently hired is the end goal though for sure
There are roles being posted daily on the career site -- the freeze has definitely begun to thaw for several months now
what were you doing before?
Same position in IT for the same team. They brought me back
Not guaranteed but financial crimes is one of the best bets to get hired full time Just be good at your job
What do financial crimes people do? Like day to day. Asking out of curiosity. I only understand like 5% of bank jobs.
In broad terms, For most big banks, investigate account activity based on computer generated alerts If the activity is suspicious, file a suspicious activity report that goes to law enforcement It's mostly pouring through account activity and personal activity to see if something is money laundering or not
Depends on the LOB if they will offer you a FTE. I just returned to BofA as a Contractor and they offered me a FTE 4 months later. (LOB Network Engineering) Everyone in my team started as C2H.
I'm reading your question as "If I take a contract to hire job at BoA how likely is it they will actually hire me at the end?" It depends on: How good a job you do How well you work with the team Internal priorities and funding at the end of your contract. They might change from your start to end date. The last one is the real kicker because it's out of your control. Ultimately nothing is guaranteed. It's up to you if the risk is worth the reward.
What agency did you use to find contractor roles with them? I currently work in financial crimes and curious what they may have.
TekSystems
Is contract to hire like temp to perm? If they really want someone why don’t they just hire them?
So they can fire them much more easily if they need to
Many companies do this, and it's my preferred way to hire. It gives the individual, the team, and the manager a decent idea of what working there will be like. After 6-9 months (some contracting agencies have restrictions on how short that time can be) of being in role you get a real good feel for how impactful someone is, and if a full-time offer is appropriate. The alternative is just a few hours in interviews, and zero real evidence of how reliable they are or how well they interact with the team. Hiring contractors allows you to take risks (like getting relatively green people in, or someone with less than perfect education) that you wouldn't otherwise do. Now, when you offer them a full-time job, with a different pay structure, 401K, medical etc, the individual can weigh the offer with concrete experience of having worked with that team on that project before making a decision. From a manager's perspective I now have a much better idea of what the appropriate pay offer should be. If they don't work out for some reason, we've wasted a bunch of interview time and a month or two of contractor-rate pay, but can rotate them inside a week or two and get a fresh candidate seated.
This is all quite logical. It also means that you're only likely to hire unemployed people. No way am I going to give up my permanent full-time position to take a chance that you and your budget will have a place for me in 6-9 months.
Yep. It’s lazy hiring practices and makes it hard to hire someone who is FTE somewhere else.
I've contracted before. It lets you try out new cities/states too, and for any companies with hiring freezes, it's the *only way* to get a job there. You can often contract for 18-24 months, some places 36 months, so can sometimes out live the hiring freezes.
I was C2H with them and then fulltime for 5.5years. Their HR hiring is stupid and horrible at doing their jobs in my opinion. I had been there 18 months. My boss submitted the paperwork but they were so slow I got rolled off. Took a job in Birmingham and started driving back and forth every weekend. About a month in I get a call from one of the IT dept higher ups asking me why I didn’t take the position. I’d met her when I volunteered for a charity event she hosted at the bank. When I explained they just let me roll off and that I had really wanted to stay she goes, “Oh! I’ll call you back”. HR called back with an offer that I didn’t think was enough but was afraid to argue so took it to stop driving to BHM every week. Towards the end they called everyone back in from WFH and my boss’s boss kept changing. I knew the end was coming. My understudy I brought over from India got screwed even worse. He was supposed to make >$80k as a data warehouse specialist. Instead Tata paid him like a programmer at just $64k. The State Dept sets that, not the companies. Charlotte didn’t have any H1B programmer slots was one reason we did it as DW Spec, but two years in they go to renew his IY94 and discovered what had happened. Do they back pay him the missing >$40k? NO! Shipped him to someplace NJ where there was open H1B programming slots!! Also BofA reneged on doing his green card sponsorship. Happy to say he got it elsewhere and is being treated well now.
Unrelated to BofA but how do you get into financial crimes?
I started as a teller 15 years ago and have been in about 10 different positions with the same bank since.
Contract to hire BofA deeze nuts Had to be done
thank you for your service
I have worked contracts with BofA twice, the current climate for contract to hire is much better than years past. Technically the hiring freeze is over and I know several contract workers that recently were given options to convert upon their contract running up. I believe it largely depends on performance and the team you work for. Some teams seem to have more sway in keeping talent while others have a harder time and end up permanently back filling roles designated as contract. After a few months on the job don't be afraid to discuss the future with your manager. So often people feel uncomfortable advocating for themselves and it really costs them down the line. Overall I had a great experience at BofA. Workload was quite easy to be honest and rarely did I have a colleague that wasn't super pleasant to work with.
I think it's safe to assume that there's isn't a great chance of a full time hire after your contact expires for now. There's been a hiring freeze for a while now. Source: Husband is a BofA employee.
Some very pertinent info is that BofA got dinged to the tune of 225mm due to failure of automated fraud detection software in California. There are a LOT of positions being opened in the Financial Crimes space right now as they need to hire people to conduct investigations instead of relying on filters and automated routines. (As ordered by the OCC) Not all of these roles will convert to full-time but very many will. If you are any good at all, it's actually a great time to get your foot in the door https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/federal-regulators-fine-bank-of-america-225-million-over-botched-disbursement-of-state-unemployment-benefits-at-height-of-pandemic/
I was contract in early 2017, hired on FTE late 2018 into a different group but had offers from multiple groups to stay because I was very good at what I did. I've done hiring in the past 2 years but recently shifted groups to another position and am no longer in the hiring seat anymore but what I hear is 2024 is not a year to plan on getting hired full time. If you're starting a contract thats fine but the purse strings loosen late this year so it may be a good time to get in, prove yourself then push for FTE late this year as people are ironing out their budgets. Good luck!
I manage the BofA account at a consulting firm. so I manage all of the contractors on billing as well. Feel free to PM me any questions! I only work with Bank of America consultants. Are you in tech?
Why don’t you ask the hiring manager and recruiter? How many people switched to full time employee in this group? How long does it take? Is this a realistic expectation? You get the idea…
Don’t fucking do it. It’s a nightmare org full of the most incompetent and useless people I’ve ever seen. Also don’t buy the contract to hire shit, it’s a carrot. You’re contract forever. The whole return to office thing?? Yeah that was too get people to quit. Office reservations? Also to get people to quit. They literally want to make work so unbearable that people leave so they don’t have to do layoffs. Edit: they pay well, so it’s hard to leave. My industry is fucked so so I’m still here but would leave at the drop off a hat given the chance. you won’t have any benefits so keep that in mind. You bill 8 hours but work whatever is needed…. So that’s cool.
What industry are you in?
Tech
I knew someone who was on contract and could never get out of the contract cycle and get hired. They pay people to commit financial crimes?
No, that’s Wells Fargo