Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm moving to Durham in a few weeks to start a new job. My wife has two potential job leads - 1 within academia (permament) and 1 within industry (contract-to-hire after 6 months). Does anyone have any experience with contract-to-hire jobs? Particularly with larger healthcare/IT companies within the area?
The lack of stability makes me fairly nervous since she is giving up a great position in our current area to moving to something that is potentially not permanent. However, the pay is quite generous and does include benefits. Both the recruiters and the company she is contracted to indicate they are reasonably confident this will lead to a permanent position since its to fill in for a previously permanent position of someone who left and they would prefer longer-term staff. They could just be saying that though...which is what has me nervous. Without posting too much detail, both companies are extremely large and legit operations so we're not talking about a fly-by-night recruiting firm trying to get cheap labor for someone's startup. Perhaps most importantly, its a job she is excited about in a field she has wanted to move into and this provides an opportunity to do so she is reluctant to leave behind. I'm just a pretty risk-averse person when it comes to these things.
I realize no one can tell us what to do - just looking to see if anyone else has experience with companies in the area doing this and whether companies in the area are just running scams with these contract-to-hire positions or if people are finding stable long-term employment with them. Its completely new to both of us so we aren't entirely sure what to expect. If need be, she can stay put here a little longer while continuing the search (we've managed long distance before!) but obviously we'd prefer to minimize that...
It may be just me, but I don't see contract to hire positions that often anymore, mostly just contract positions and some agencies offer benefits with them after a year of hourly employment. Anyone else?
Many of the positions I applied for when conducting my job search were temp to perm. I thought it was very unusual but since found out most of positions that are open at my current company are structured that way. If she can get benefits through the placement firm and it is a position she would potentially love then it may be worth the risk.
Glad to hear that it can work out. The company she would be working for was very clear that they have lots of "true" contract positions overseas but this is of a different nature. The fact that they are drawing the distinction (rather than just labeling everything contract-to-hire to dangle the carrot) gives me some comfort. The placement firm offers the full health/dental/vision/PTO/401k/etc. starting immediately upon beginning the contract, so that seems promising as well.
Its a pretty high-level position and comes with solid benefits (albeit less PTO than we'd like...but its tough to beat the 30 days plus holidays we have in our current jobs so our standards may be unreasonably high). Seems they are approaching it more like a "probationary" period that often occurs even with permanent hires. Why they don't just do that without involving a recruiting firm I'm somewhat unclear on, but I'm on the academic side so what do I know. I'm not by nature very trusting of corporate america, but this is increasingly sounding like it is worth a try...
Glad to hear that it can work out. The company she would be working for was very clear that they have lots of "true" contract positions overseas but this is of a different nature. The fact that they are drawing the distinction (rather than just labeling everything contract-to-hire to dangle the carrot) gives me some comfort. The placement firm offers the full health/dental/vision/PTO/401k/etc. starting immediately upon beginning the contract, so that seems promising as well.
Its a pretty high-level position and comes with solid benefits (albeit less PTO than we'd like...but its tough to beat the 30 days plus holidays we have in our current jobs so our standards may be unreasonably high). Seems they are approaching it more like a "probationary" period that often occurs even with permanent hires. Why they don't just do that without involving a recruiting firm I'm somewhat unclear on, but I'm on the academic side so what do I know. I'm not by nature very trusting of corporate america, but this is increasingly sounding like it is worth a try...
Because it's easier to let the temp-to-perm people go for any reason, on a whim, with zero fear of a lawsuit. Plus, they do not have to count them as full-time headcount.
__________________
When in doubt, check it out: FAQ
It sounds like it would be worth the risk for her to be able to move into a new field. But, you need to consider what you'll do if six months is it and she's out of a job (impact on finances, how difficult to find a new position, etc.).
The lack of stability makes me fairly nervous since she is giving up a great position in our current area to moving to something that is potentially not permanent. However, the pay is quite generous and does include benefits. Both the recruiters and the company she is contracted to indicate they are reasonably confident this will lead to a permanent position since its to fill in for a previously permanent position of someone who left and they would prefer longer-term staff.
I just spent 2 months dealing with recruiters after a layoff.
The recruiter told me that "contract-to-hire" doesn't mean what it used to, that far more companies take on new people in this status than just hiring someone "off the street" full time and having to pay their benefits, only to realize there's not a match. I can certainly see the appeal to them.
OTOH, you need to be wary of what recruiters say because they are kind of like "slick salesmen" who get a commission only if you accept the job, so they will ALWAYS make it sound like you are the perfect person and that the company is drooling over your resume. I learned to take what recruiters told me with a grain of salt.
However, if the COMPANY itself has told her that it's likely they'll take her on FT, that's a much better situation. Yes, they, too might be just trying to get someone in there right away to do the work, and maybe people have balked at the "contract" part and so they are having to promise them it likely will go to perm. But she should really get that feeling from THEM, not from the recruiter.
The recruiters did tell me that if you're working a contract position through their agency, you are eligible for benefits from them (the recruiter agency), so you wouldn't be without some benefits.
Just make sure you never take what a recruiter says as gospel--it's always sunshine and rainbows with them, then suddenly the client "went another direction".
Think we're going to move forward with it. Seems worth a try and my wife's CV is solid enough that I'm confident she'll be able to find something quickly if this ends up not panning out (already had multiple interviews/offers after only 1 month of looking - some for permanent positions but at jobs she wasn't as excited about).
We're definitely cautious about what the recruiters are saying, but like I mentioned above I do take some solace in the fact that apparently they do offer lots of straight "contract" and not "contract-to-hire" jobs. The company itself was very optimistic but you never know....we're just going to cross our fingers and save up while she is there. Shouldn't be too hard given we're combining significant salary bumps with a sizable decrease in cost-of-living so we can float by for another 6 months or so if this doesn't pan out.
Also - to clarify - this isn't really "temping" as people typically use the word - this is a mid-high end managerial position in healthcare IT.
Also - to clarify - this isn't really "temping" as people typically use the word - this is a mid-high end managerial position in healthcare IT.
Right, I meant to add that the recruiter explained the difference between "Temps" and "contracts", as well.
BTW, Healthcare IT is exactly the field I was looking in. PM me if you want to ask about the specific recruiter and maybe some leads for others? I ended up getting a FT job independently of recruiters, but there were a couple I really liked and would use again.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
