Microsoft contract position? (contractors, legal, best)

[marylee54]

Well, my husband has been offered a contract position with MS. we were hoping for something full-time with benefits, but this position has a possibility of FT.

Can anyone comment on the possibility of contract going to full-time? How often does that happen? Is it once-contract-always-contract, or does MS promote from within?

[obsidian97]

Originally Posted by marylee54

Well, my husband has been offered a contract position with MS. we were hoping for something full-time with benefits, but this position has a possibility of FT.

Can anyone comment on the possibility of contract going to full-time? How often does that happen? Is it once-contract-always-contract, or does MS promote from within?

Who told you it had a possibility of going FT? If it was someone at MSFT they are in pretty deep crap if anyone in legal or HR finds out about it. They got sued years ago for not treating contractors like FTEs (all the same benefits) even though they kept auto-renewing their contracts. Now they're paranoid to the hilt about not telling contractors anything that might be construed as treating them like FTEs.

That said, it's definitely not a once-contract-always-contract for everyone. There's a myriad of reasons that they might hire someone on contract rather than FTE. They may not have had the headcount available, might only have a limited time-horizon for the need, etc. Generally speaking, if your husband wants to go FTE then his best bet is likely to figure out who has positions and then show the hiring manager or director that he has the capacity to not only do the job he's given, but quickly learn new things and adapt. A few months before his contract expires, he might want to start looking around at what's open in his group or other groups. Contractors do get hired by groups that they interview with other than the one they're currently in, so don't limit your search only to the group you're in on any given day.