Applied for a full-time job, got a contractor offer (job offer, employee, application)
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I am a PhD with 2 years of postdoctoral experience in life sciences.
This past summer (yes, almost 7 months ago) I applied for a scientist position in a big pharma (XYZ). In this period, I had 4 phone and 2 onsite interviews, all went well. Sometimes I had to wait about 1 month between the interviews as they couldn't find a good time that meets everyone' schedule in the team. My experience with this job application was so far so good. All HR persons who contacted me were always from XYZ's own HR department.
Long story short, today I was contacted by their HR, and I was told that everyone in the team is very positive about me and therefore I will be offered a contractor position . So far all I know is a staffing company(!) will be (who knows when?) contacting me for the details for the job, I don't even know my salary, benefits etc.
Now HR does not want provide me any details as they are "only" hiring FTEs to the XYZ, and do not handle the contractors.
Can a big company share my personal information with an external staffing company without my consent? Is this even legal?
I applied to this company for a certain position, during all my interviews nobody had ever mentioned "contractor" position. Job description that I applied for was also for a full time job for this big pharma. All of sudden I have to deal with a different contractor company that supposed to represent me.
What would you do in this situation? what are my options? I am open to your suggestions!
Sounds like they are trying to save money and not pay benefits or a long term job.
They probably have been dragging their feet to wait for the new year's budget to kick in too. Just a guess.
It would bother me too. I would request an interview to learn more about this option, if you are still interested.
Hi all,
I am a PhD with 2 years of postdoctoral experience in life sciences.
I really don't know what this means, and I need this information to customize my response to you with regard to your career level and family responsibilities. My answer to your question would heavily depend on that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sevimli
This past summer (yes, almost 7 months ago) I applied for a scientist position in a big pharma (XYZ). In this period, I had 4 phone and 2 onsite interviews, all went well. Sometimes I had to wait about 1 month between the interviews as they couldn't find a good time that meets everyone' schedule in the team. My experience with this job application was so far so good. All HR persons who contacted me were always from XYZ's own HR department.
Long story short, today I was contacted by their HR, and I was told that everyone in the team is very positive about me and therefore I will be offered a contractor position . So far all I know is a staffing company(!) will be (who knows when?) contacting me for the details for the job, I don't even know my salary, benefits etc.
I am a computer programmer, I change jobs about every 2 years, so I work with different companies.
if i was told that I would interpret it as either:
I did not pass their background check for a full time position.
They don't have the perm budget for my position, but can utilize contractor budget.
As it happens, I have never had a problem with a background check, so I would think it was a budgetary reason. I have had companies offer me the first 2 years as a consultant and then convert to perm spot. It is usually accepted with mixed feelings since their consulting rate is sweeter then the full time salary...
Quote:
Originally Posted by sevimli
Now HR does not want provide me any details as they are "only" hiring FTEs to the XYZ, and do not handle the contractors.
Can a big company share my personal information with an external staffing company without my consent? Is this even legal?
They have a proffered vendor, they will give that vendor your contact info, like You email and phone number.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sevimli
I applied to this company for a certain position, during all my interviews nobody had ever mentioned "contractor" position. Job description that I applied for was also for a full time job for this big pharma. All of sudden I have to deal with a different contractor company that supposed to represent me.
What would you do in this situation? what are my options? I am open to your suggestions!
[/quote]
I really don't understand what the bold part means. If I was just starting my professional career, like as if I had only 2 years of experience, I would be concerned more about my "Resume"(the experience I am going get there and how many doors that will open for me). But I am in the middle of my career and now I apply for perm spots because I need benefits, and when I don't need benefits consulting pays better. If your married and your spouse can cover your benefits stay in consulting, more money.
I want to mention Salary negations with the consulting company, they will try to convince you that to divide your annual salary expectations by 20, so if you are expecting 100,000 then your consulting rate is 50/hour. In reality 100k translates into consulting rates more as 60-75/h range. 60k and 30/h are not the same either, 30/h is more like 50k...
Hi,
I really don't know what this means, and I need this information to customize my response to you with regard to your career level and family responsibilities. My answer to your question would heavily depend on that.
Thanks for the detailed reply!
Basically I've finished two years of fellowship at a research institute after getting my PhD. I am trying to change my carrier by switching from academia to industry. I am married and we have 2 children.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DPolo
I want to mention Salary negations with the consulting company, they will try to convince you that to divide your annual salary expectations by 20, so if you are expecting 100,000 then your consulting rate is 50/hour. In reality 100k translates into consulting rates more as 60-75/h range. 60k and 30/h are not the same either, 30/h is more like 50k...
What happens if the contractor company doesn't come close the salary numbers I am considering? How soon would they give up on me? Is the negotiation easier with a contractor company relative to a perm job offer?
One advantage of a contractor position is that it gives you the opportunity to size up the company and its management without a lot of commitment. If you accept this offer keep in mind the fact that you may want to use the firm, managers, as references in the future.
Whether or not the $ are adequate it for you to decide. Ball park, reduce their offer by a bit more than 35% and you will see the salary equivalent of their offer.
As someone else has said the company may want you but their administrative constraints don't allow for another headcount (employee) but the budget is enough for a contractor. That said you are not obligate to stop your hunt for a regular position with other employers.
My question of you .. is this work something that will further you in your field?
We are a small company and often hire people as contractors first so that both sides get a trial period. The thing about doing it this way is that we do have to make sure they behave as contractors per IRS rules: they use their own tools on their own time. We can set deadlines but not schedules. It's usually a perk for our line of work (software development) and we're small enough that we couldn't bring everyone we like on for FTE even if we wanted to.
I would reserve your skepticism until you've actually seen the written offer. I wouldn't worry about sharing your info with a staffing company; if you're getting any kind of job offer out of it, that has some value to you even if you don't accept it.
IMHO, 7 months from application to hire suggests that they are disorganized or else having money problems. If it were government or academia I'd say that's normal. In the private sector, it shouldn't take 7 months to make an incomplete hiring call unless the place is small enough that they had to wait for someone to retire or otherwise were expecting a headcount reduction as Nell Plotts said - maybe it didn't materialize. We have no way of knowing, so just consider the facts as you get them and decide if it's worth it to you.
That is typical for pharma and why I didn't go into the field. They off-shore everything they can and use contract agencies to rip off the scientists here in the states. Basically they want you to be their disposable trash with no employee rights, no benefits, and one day you will get a phone call telling you your "assignment" ended firing you.
I had that happen to me as well. I got an interview from a recruiter. They interviewed me. It seemed to go well I even had classmates from the University and former coworkers there. The recruiter said they were continuing to interview other candidates. Then months later after I was already about to start my current job the recruiter called me back and asked if I was willing to do contract. I politely told her F no. I've played enough BS temp/contract games for one lifetime.
BTW in the sciences you can bet that the contract rate won't come close to what you would get as a full time employee even without the benefits. The agencies rob you blind. I still get routine emails from recruiters about contract jobs at "our client in Lake Co Illinois [Abbott Labs/Abvie] and their rates are significantly less that what I earn as a salaried employee in addition to having full benefits. Big Pharma sucks.
BTW in the sciences you can bet that the contract rate won't come close to what you would get as a full time employee even without the benefits. The agencies rob you blind. I still get routine emails from recruiters about contract jobs at "our client in Lake Co Illinois [Abbott Labs/Abvie] and their rates are significantly less that what I earn as a salaried employee in addition to having full benefits. Big Pharma sucks.
If I were him, I wouldn't take a contractor position unless unemployed partly because of the pay.
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. So far all I know is a staffing company(!) will be (who knows when?) contacting me for the details for the job, I don't even know my salary, benefits etc. 
