Contract or perm – what would you do…

Just seen a very very tempting contract job paying 3x my perm salary (3 months, followed by extensions) and sounds really interesting….

Currently having the 2 (well 2.5) year itch in my current perm role, quite comfortable, only stress is what I apply to myself because things are slow, however it would appear zero prospects (deadmanshoes)

Both jobs in the same town.

What would you do?

Evaluate the risk of there not being an extension after 3 months. Consider fixed costs like accounting costs, tax and the general fact you have to be more disciplined (unless you use an umberella company if such a thing exists which it used to when i contracted in the UK). If its 3x your salary then in theory if it all goes TU after 3months you could live for maybe 5. Thats your risk and thats why contracting pays more – its less stable. Most people can sit in a perm job, do FA and survive for years before they are a)noticed or b)removed by process.
If where you are has come to a dead end then try it, sounds like you'll be moving anyway.

Depends what the job is and will there be other similar contracts to follow the one paying 3x as much once that one ends?

Assuming you are reasonably decent at your job, take the contract.

Get a perm.

Oh. 😳

From my experience of contractors over the years, it's a very mixed bag some good, some so bad I can't believe they get work. Most contractors seem to be renewed period after period, but I suppose you never know with a new company until you step in the door.

I might just make the call, just to see,

Problem is all my savings have just gone on the wedding so no reserve for it to go wrong….this is why it's always easier just to stay where you are….

can't hurt to ask though, can it

I had a mate (lost touch about 5 years ago) at a company where we both worked as permies. I moved on to another permanent role, got made redundant, found another, then another, been there 10 years in October

He got a contract job at Plumb Center, in the IT development team. I think he was there for about 5 years on contract rates. Last contact I had with him, his mortgage was paid off* and the garage contained a Beemer, a Merc and a Ferrari…

* not entirely through his earnings. He had a brush with skin cancer and his critical illness insurance paid out…
AFAIK the cancer was dealt with completely.

The thing we see in the market just now is more contractor roles as its easier to dump a contractor rather than a permy although in most cases contractors end up doing almost permy jobs anyway. If it was me and i thought that I could handle the risk I'd do it esp. if its a change of scenery.

Well I'm a contractor. I became one because I did not want to work all the time. In fact I don't want to work at all, but that's not going to happen, so the idea is to earn more then take time off. It's not happening currently, cos we bought a house and were silly with money, but it's getting there. I'm still taking 6-8 weeks of holiday a year.. plus I had two months off when our kid was born but that was not entirely voluntary.

It also has major psychological benefits for me, in that I feel like I am running my own life, not being a slave to some crappy machine that I just don't care about but will still own me til I am old. This may be an illusion but it still helps 🙂

I've been pretty lucky, but then I'm good at my job and I happen to have picked up some really niche skills which have helped. I'd say you have to be really proactive, professional, and helpful. That's not professional in the sense of wearing a suit and not surfing, but professional in terms of wanting your project to succeed from nothing more than pride in your work and desire to help achieve something.

Personally – life's just too f***ing short, so go for it. Better to regret something you DID do (or tried to do) than regret something you were too nervous to do. Take control.. back yourself etc etc. Just make sure you can manage if it does go tits up….

2nd everything that molgrips says. I was freelance 2007-2008 earning way more than I ever thought I would, even took 3 months off in 2008! Only stopped cos freelance dried up as recession came on.
It's a great feeling knowing you're in charge of your own life. I was so much more motivated to work hard and have a go at things that i was otherwise scared to do. Will be going back to freelance as soon as it looks like there's enough work out there

Just seen a very very tempting contract job paying 3x my perm salary (3

No matter what the agency/company tells you in 3months time you could very well be on the dole for 9months.

Like **** would I leave a permanent role for a contract at the moment. Greece and Spains are going tits up, we have an election and there could be a double-dip in the economy.

Assume you are in IT?

I used to be a recruitment "consultant" and mostly did contract – yes they got paid more but they also had to shell out for training and had no paid holidays.

I'd be tempted to hang onto the perm job. Three months isn't very long and to me looks like a short term role. If it was 6 months, I'd be more tempted if I was you.

What're your skills, DT78?

As an evil rec person (not IT)- I'd recommend (and do) only moving from a permanent role to a 12month contract. Or….if your current work is making things very hot for you.

Then again, I'd be **** rich if I worked how some of my kin do 🙄

I quit a permie job that'd just pissed me off for a 2.5 month contract. That was when times were good though, and I was (just) single and had fewer commitments.

But like I said, I've been lucky. Firmly grasping wooden objects whilst typing all of this.

TBH (speaking as a contactor), it's not just the money which I prefer. Less politics, I don't do unpaid overtime and I don't think it offers less security. When companies are going down, do you really want to be working there? IMHO the threat of redundancy has a far worse impact on people than actually being made redundant.

Skillswise – PM, from an IT background in financial services but current role is as a Biz pm in public sector. Not had the balls to go contracting yet, was going to last career move but came across a job within cycling distance to home which attracted me.

I think I'll give them a call. Suppose my CV being 2 years out of date will need a bit of a spruce

but came across a job within cycling distance to home

This is important tho – as a contractor moving from job to job then you'll have to travel, it's inevitable.

Where d'you live?

South coast – southampton, both jobs are local to me.

Although moving around was part of my previous job so I've been there, but for the right salary and for short ish periods (6months) I think I'll be fine.

Plus riding wise its rubbish down here 🙂

i went contract 3 years ago, have so far managed to stay in contract for all bar about a month after xmas, have had to move away from the north east to find work but i knew that was always a risk. the main thing is to have pride in your work as some contractors are just in it for the cash and seem to have little motivation.

i thought i'd have loads more holidays but have ended with less if anything, another thing is try and live within the means of your perm job for a while at least (especially if it is only 3 months work) and quickly build up some out of work money….was amazing the drop off in work load in highway/infrastructure engineering about 2 years ago.

South coast isn't THAT bad of a place to work but be prepared to be driving up to the M4/M3 corridor a lot if you want to make a career out of contracting.

And the short term thing is a god-send to my state of mind. I can put up with any sh*t if it's only for a short time 🙂

Having said that, this is my contract history:

Jan 2002 – 3 month contract (lasted 3m)
Out of work
Feb 2003 – 12m (14m)
Permie job for 6m
Oct 2004 – 2.5m (2.5m)
Jan 2005 – 4m (4y3m!)
Out of work
June 2009 – 3m (2m – I quit)
August 2009 – 5m (still in it, looking good for another long one touch wood)

So you're pretty much not going to be working for 3 months at a time in certain places, especially if you are a PM I'd say.. In development a lot of short jobs are just covering manpower shortages for a short time when they are busy, but that wouldnt' make sense for a PM probably.

Contracting can affect your ability to get credit, what about pensions, tax etc etc.

Personally when I did it I didn't like it as your constantly chasing the next job, and I found that more stressful.

Molgrips;

I'm still taking 6-8 weeks of holiday a year

Sheesh fella,how can you cope? Duckman-teacher

Don't start willy waving, or I'll start talking salary 😉

Btw it hasn't really affected my credit rating that I know of, but it did affect our mortgage slightly. Our builder was going to give us 10% deposit but the only lender that would take it was Northern Rock, who wouldn't give me a mortgage based on the fact that I was self employed. In the end we ended up with a 5% deposit, a load of free stuff (which is ok but not appreciated as much as the capital would have been) and a Nationwide mortgage – which is good.

Sorry to be a bit of a stickler here, but the decision's already probably been made for you. If you haven't got your CV in for that role by now, you are a long way down a very long list of candidates. Got to get in there quick once the ad goes live – lots of people looking for not so many roles these days, many who can start this Monday. You won't get through to a recruiter on the phone either. Recruiters are an unfortunate part of the contracting game, one that can definitely wear you down (all of the great guys in recruitment on this board excluded, obviously).

I contract in IT and have done for the past 8 years, sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it. It's not been great the past two years (I am on the bench again at the moment), but there you go, I'm sure it's not been too great for permanent staff either. Apart from whether or not you are in a relationship, because one of you being a contractor can change the dynamic quite significantly, it's mostly all been covered in what's been said above.

If you triple your rate of pay then it becomes : how many weeks of the year do your really want to work?
Even if you only work half the year what have you lost?

Appart from as mentioned above good credit rating , access to a wider choice of mortages etc

torsoinalake agree. We are also being squeezed on percentage AND ask to put forward lower market rates.

Sadly, we are asked to work harder with a larger candidate pool all demanding top service for potentially a promise of no money at the end.

Strangely, you could transfer our predicament nicely over to the contractors market.

(Not in IT) but I've found there are longterm contractors out there who now want into the permanent market due to oversupply of contracting candidates (who heard that they can get 2/3xtimes their permanent salary) but struggling to get back in due to a slight stigma attached to longterm contractors..

hora – definitely noticed that, added to the current economic climate, there are a be a lot of people coming onto the market backed up with redundancy money who want to give contracting a go or are forced into it by the lack of jobs out there. It's always been hard to get yourself noticed, and it's now even harder.

I could imagine there is a stigma attached to contractors by some employers, but then who would want to work for them if they are going to judge you on that? To be honest, if the right permanent role came along I would probably take it. I don't look for them, but over the years I have had offers from companies I have worked for and on recommendations from ex-colleagues, but they haven't really appealed.

Actually, it's probably more along the lines of those jobs haven't really fitted into my 'If Carlsberg made jobs' fantasy.

True though. Any permanent role/company could fold asap if the Directors are witholding the true extent of any problems from you.