Contract vs Full time

pearljam

I have an phone interview with a hiring manager for a network engineer position that supports 10,000+ sites. Thing is the job is contract to hire. I've never done contract work. Then I got an email this morning from a recruiter for an ISP NOC position that would be full time. Any advise on contract versus full time. The first job seems way more enticing however, the contract part concerns me.

TechGromit

First off statically only 27% of Contract-for-Hire lead to full time employment, so if you hoping the job will transition for full time status, it usually doesn’t.



Generally full time positions are more secure, have better benefits and often pay more. Contract positions might be great to get experience, but just remember your expandable. Any day you can come to work and be told we don’t need you anymore. If you Need to have a steady paycheck, contracting may not be right for you.


If you have experience in your field, the contracting pay might anywhere from fair to good, if your just starting out, expect the pay and benefits to suck. If your goal is get hired full time, I would set a hard deadline for them to hire you Full time, say a year. Some employers will make promise after promise to hire you full time just to string you along forever. Do not let them get away with this, decide when your deadline is and if they don’t meet it leave.

Queue

If you can get a network engineer position I would go with that. At my organization that title is awarded to an expert in the field. An ISP NOC job is not the same caliber. The engineer position could put you in a better place in the future getting hired.

Now if it is about job security and benefits obviously full time is better. Just verify what exactly each position does. Titles are hard to judge sometimes.

mjnk77

Some companies prefer to do contract to hire. They don't want to invest money, ie beneftis, 401k, etc, in someone who may not last 3 months. When I worked in a DC for a big pharma company, there were no direct hires. It was a 2 year contract, but if they wanted you, you'd be brought on between 1-1.5 after start date. When I started on the contract, I got more money hourly than the salary for my DC position, and I was able to get health/dental benefits from the contracting firm for a decent price. Even though when you get hired and you may take a pay cut, look at the full benefits package. It could be really beneficial. Hope that helps. Good luck!

pearljam

Thanks Everyone,

If they weren't to hire me after the one year. Would some other company look at my resume and hire me as a network engineer, seeing that I have the experience and this is an extremely well known company?

shimasensei

Working for a well known company is a definite plus, but the main thing is to learn and improve yourself as much as you can while you're there. Go above and beyond when it comes to handling projects and working with technologies, even if you've never had experience in them. The key thing is to show your prospective employers that even though you may be pretty new in the field, you have a genuine interest, a fast learner, and you're someone who is teachable and trainable.

I would start looking for a new position about 4-5 months before the 1 year contract is finished. Don't forget to apply if there are internal openings as well.

Good luck!