Permanent vs Contractor

TripleAce

Hi, will be looking for a new job in May when I finish with my current company and one thing I have always wanted to do is to go contracting. Pay is usually much higher in the short term and I also like the idea of changing company from time to time without attachments....said this the current climate is not as it use to be. Would you be able to advise whether there are contractors making good money out there in these days (in IT, Finance, Project Management, BA, Consultants, etc roles) or the party is over? I would like to discuss this topic a bit....thank you

Ellechim

I have done interim management over the past few years (currently on maternity leave) and my other have has contracted (IT project mgmt) for years. I'm jobhunting at the moment.

In the downturn many many companies have said 'all contractors out' and i know quite a few contractors that have been let go and also know some contracting agencies and they have said to me they have very little.

In terms of rates, for permanent staff salaries are down 20%ish depending on the sector but rates for most contract roles are down up to 50%. Where developers were getting 450+ per day last year there are next to no contract roles at those rates but more like 300 per day.....

There are sod all contracts out there: the company where I did my last contract has let several contractors go: it had one 6 mth role recently and where HR usen't get involved in hiring contractors this time they ran aptitude tests, numeracy, etc, as well as an interview.......

I have seen some finance contracts advertised and when I inquired about them they were only for three months and paying the equivalent to a 50K salary where a year ago they would have been paying 85K.....

In my experience depending on what sector you're in most of the time you will have a break between contracts, this can be a couple of weeks or a couple of months and bears no relation to how good you are or what kind of references you have but simply the luck of when roles for which you're a good match come up.

You need to know what sector you're relevant in and then phone some of the better agencies and ask what going rates are for permanent or contract and weigh it up.

bear in mind for a 50K a year permie job (I'm just picking that number out of the air) with paid hols, bonus, sickpay, pension, vhi, etc, you need to be earning the equivalent of about 275 per day to compare money wise........ pro-rate that up or down depending what salary bracket you're in......

I do think the party is over - I don't know anyone contracting who hasn't been given notice or whose contract extension has been for shorter than usual - the stress of that would be enough to put me off!

Best of luck..........

herya

That might be true indeed but in many companies perm positions were made redundant and contractors brought on board instead. You can control their tasks/schedules better and seeing how the rates went down they are no more expensive than perm employees. There is a lot of movement in the contracting market, you may be lucky or unlucky.

jkmanc1974

Contracting is completely dead at the minute as far as I can see UNLESS you have experience in Pharma/Manufacturing......

Brgds
Johnny

TripleAce

Thank you guys....very useful feedback. I will have to look for a permanent role then after all

CorkFenian

TripleAce wrote: »

Thank you guys....very useful feedback. I will have to look for a permanent role then after all

As a contractor looking.All I can say is thats easier said than done..They seem to hold it against you if you were a contractor previously.Thats been my experience with some anyway.

Mrs OBumble

Be aware of the welfare implications of moving from employee (no matter how temporary) to contractor/self-employed: as I understand it, no access to JS-benefit, JS-allowance or sickness benefits, restricted access (eg 52 weeks class-S) to other benefits.

This may be a factor if you were offered a very short term contract (eg 3 months), with a lower rate and no likelihood of further work on it.

Xiney

Just Mary is correct - no more Job Seeker's Benefit since you would be paying a different class of PRSI.

However, as long as you satisfy the means test requirements for Job Seeker's Allowance, you are still eligible for that.

eoinf

recent 20% pay cuts and limited hours with month to month uncertainty. makes it extemely unattractive

sorry to piss on your parade

CaraFawn

I agree with all previous statements but I'd also say to double your chances you should be opened to both in case something pops up.

Sometimes you can get calls from an agency where you are asked what type of contract you are looking and if you provide the wrong answer the guy will almost hang up on you saying he will call you back later.

If you have an opportunity, getting you set up as a freelance is very easy and quick.

Now no need to go through this right now if you have no contract.

TripleAce

eoinf wrote: »

recent 20% pay cuts and limited hours with month to month uncertainty. makes it extemely unattractive

sorry to piss on your parade

This is probably true, but I always had permanent positions so far and was really jealous of the overpaid contractors, so I always wanted to be "one of them" .....I think -20% of what they were getting before is still good money. I am not really worried about job uncertainty, I am lucky enough to have a profitable hobby that would keep my finances going when I don't work. I obviously would prefer to avoid long periods out of work though (I just would feel really frustrated sitting and home, would rather go crabs fishing in Alaska! ), but it would be exciting to change company every 3-6 months for a while and certainly a good experience!

The bureaucracy scares me a bit though, I am never been good with taxes, papers, etc etc....

finisklin

Just wanted to follow up on this tread.....are we talking about IT contracting specifically or in other functional areas? Interim management is something that I have considered previous and never really researched it.....the plus point about it, as the OP mentioned, is (or was) the rate of pay over permies.

Is there opportunities out there for other areas bar IT e.g. finance, sales, marketing & general management. I would be interested in hearing how people have got on with agencies or have they canvassed companies directly....any thoughts would be appreciated.

I'm also assuming the opportunities are Dublin based....