Yes
Yes
Yes. Bar is lower
Not true. There is no bar. HM can hire anyone they want
No all contract conversions require a bar raiser. Close to a normal loop is what I'd expect.
There's a contractor interview? Almost all of the ones we have used just showed up, wasted time to get sorted, didn't get shit done, and left.
It should still be a POD.
What do you mean by POD?