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I love being a tempy worker....aka "consultant". I prefer this over being a salaried worker.
The pros to me are
1) I am paid for the hours I work. This usually means I work 40 hrs a week because often the company doesn't want to pay for more hours. However, if more hours are needed, I will be compensated.
2) When salaried, the expectation for working evenings, weekends and middle of the night, as needed, is present(in addition to the standard M-F 40 hr work week). Weekend, evening and middle of night work in my line work is very common due to the nature of the work. It can burn you out due to the strange hours/extra hours. No extra pay for those hours (when salaried) makes it more painful.
3) when temping, no annual review, no politics, no worry about getting promoted or getting a bonus. Not as many staff meetings or required training for the temps...you can do the real work.
4) if you need to take days off, you dont have to worry about having X vacation days accrued. You take what you need if you can handle taking the unpaid time off.
5) pay is very good...can be equiv or higher than the salaried peers on your team if you work the standard 40 hr week and take standard amt time off as salaried folks. If you work extra hours you get paid quite a bit more. If you take 3 months off then you get paid less.
6) no health insurance is the biggest drawback. However, many temp firms offer it - you just have to pay full price for it which can be $450/mo for single person. With Obamacare starting 1/1/2014, temps can buy health insurance from the exchanges if their companies don't offer it.
7) You get great experience by working at different companies. This can be quite fun for someone that thrives on change and that learns quickly. Exposure to different companies policies/procedures/computer sytems can give you lots of seasoning/experience/expertise.
The mindset is that you can be let go at any time (perm folks don't often have this mindset, but it can happen to them also). Contractors aren't as upset when let go,, because you are prepared for it. You don't have the long term expecation. It's way easier to move on.
Contractors also can be extended for many years . Some go perm. Some turn down the offer to go perm(I was one of these....perm was less pay and more hours.)
You move on to the next job when the prior job ends. Often you know it's coming for several months because the contract expiration date is coming and the project is winding down.
Sometimes the contractor chooses to move on when the contract is expiring even though the company wants to extend the contract. You can 'quit' without quitting by letting the contract expire and choosing not to renew. Looks better on your resume.
Now a days the contract agencies rob people so much so many times someone on contract is recieving significantly less pay than and FTE while still not receiving any of the perks of FTE like insruance or Paid time out.
The mindset is that you can be let go at any time (perm folks don't often have this mindset, but it can happen to them also). Contractors aren't as upset when let go,, because you are prepared for it. You don't have the long term expecation. It's way easier to move on.
Contractors also can be extended for many years . Some go perm. Some turn down the offer to go perm(I was one of these....perm was less pay and more hours.)
You move on to the next job when the prior job ends. Often you know it's coming for several months because the contract expiration date is coming and the project is winding down.
Sometimes the contractor chooses to move on when the contract is expiring even though the company wants to extend the contract. You can 'quit' without quitting by letting the contract expire and choosing not to renew. Looks better on your resume.
Wish I had the choice,but many of my assignments came to abrupt ends
That's my biggest issue with being a temp. Granted, it's the BEST way to get your foot in the door to a great company, but while you're there as a temp, there is NO job security at all. Albeit, there really is no job security even if you're not a temp, but still.....I like stability and a job I can "own." You can never "own" a job being a temp.
You can be let go in a snap for no reason whatsover, temp or not, in a right to work state.
True, but the exception is when a large corporation is doing massive layoffs. Not sure of the nitty-gritty, but employees are, by law, given a 60-day WARN period. (WARN stands for something but I forget.) This is what happened to me. While I was thankful for the notice, those two months were excruciating!
But yes, temps are frequently let go for "not working out" and a host of other reasons which really have nothing to do with their quality of work.
There are always pluses and minuses to any given situation. After having been a salaried employee for years, I was actually looking forward to a long-term temp contract, and the sheer joy of leaving at 5pm, since all OT would have to be approved ahead of time.
I've applied for many jobs through different types of staffing agencies -- and their benefits do vary a lot! One of my friends is a salaried employee of the agency, placed at her old company. She gets a really good salary, good health benefits, and vacation time! Hourly workers with the agency do not get the same benefits.
Yes you can. You can become the expert, the superstar. The contractor that stays longer than all the others. You treat it like it's your career, just like a salaried person.
I have been on temp jobs for 5 years and 3 years. Both times I resigned due to moving far away, else I could have stayed longer.
Yes you can. You can become the expert, the superstar. The contractor that stays longer than all the others. You treat it like it's your career, just like a salaried person.
I have been on temp jobs for 5 years and 3 years. Both times I resigned due to moving far away, else I could have stayed longer.
I'm talking about short-term temp jobs or temp jobs that only last a few weeks or months. IMO, contract jobs that last into years and temp jobs that last only a few months are two different things. I know that in one of my former jobs, this company brought in many IT employees as contractors, and yes, they could and did own their job. They were not temps, who can never own their job because they are either (1) filling in for someone out for whatever reason or (2) working their 90 days as a temp before they're hired by the company, IF they're hired by the company. During this 90 days, they can get released from the job at any given time and another temp can be brought in. I've been in that 90 day position three times and I'm telling you that during this time, you can't get too comfortable or complacent and you certainly cannot "settle into" the job any more than is necessary to get the daily work done.
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