What do you prefer.. Permanent or contract?

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In an ideal world what would you be more happy In doing?

I prefer the security of a permanent job and being comfortable in knowing what I need to work towards. But I also know some people who get itchy feet after a few months and some obviously love the lure of crazy money.

So what would your preference be?

 

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Permanent so your atleast guaranteed an income for a bit.

 

I've only ever really been staff. Perhaps a little bit of agency work for a while, but no real contracting.

Staff brings benefits, and stability, but contracting can net you a lot of money depending on the market and your skills. I've thought quite a bit about contracting for a while recently, but I dont have the funds to make the switch and take the chance. Shame really, as I think it would be very interesting.

 

My job before Boson was a contract job, and I didn't like the idea of having to find new work after the contract ran out. I much prefer working directly for a company where you have a vested interest in the company succeeding.

 

Contracting for me, I have been on rolling 3 month contracts for about 4 years now. First position lasted 18 months, walked straight into another, been at my current place for about 28 months.

 

I've been contracting for the last 4 years also - which has only been 2 jobs - i've been fairly lucky in the length of it. But it is a bugger if you are ill for a week - as that can mean no pay if you have no cover with your umbrella company.

If you set it up right, it can work ok - with mine, i automatically have £60 deducted each week from my pay, £30 for pension, £30 for my holiday pot, which the umbrella company keep aside, and i can claim at any point. And with enough experience jobs are fairly easy for the taking once you've got a few years under your belt contracting - when i last swapped i was out of work for 2 days.

saying all of that though there is a possibility of going permanent with the company i'm at right now - and i'll probably take it, the money isn't all that different, and i'll have permanent benefits with that too

 

Both lol

 

How much job security do people have nowadays?
Personally I'm finding contracting to my liking, but I have no partner, kids or mortgage to worry about.

 

Same with me pal, in that respect it's alot easier i think - and freedom to move around alot more. there is alot of contract work out there (In Bristol there is anyway) - my contract im in now was due to expire last year, but ended up being extended, and i had been offered 3 different interviews when i put my cv back on jobsites, all between 6-9 month contracts.

 

I prefer the job security of being permanent, but now in my current position it comes off more as a temp job because I'm at the mercy of the job market when it comes to our clients wanting to book us consultants for an engagement.

So if there's a downturn and nobody wants to hire a consultant, then I'd be out of a job, literally! Of course this may happen even if one wasn't a consultant as a number of companies may try reduce personnel count to keep costs under control.

The advantage of temp work (or consulting) is of course in the wide variety of things you could do, never a dull moment I would say.

 

I prefer permanent.

 

Contracting for me.

I've not had a perm job since I started in IT almost 4 years ago, in that time the longest period between contracts has been 6 days.

In the current climate, I don't see any reason to go perm as the benefits of holiday and sick pay are irrelevant as I do my best not to use either. Job security is laughable these days whether contract or perm so I'll take the extra money and more varied experience of contracting anyday.

SR

 

in ideal world I'd like to get a 5 bed council house, about 4-5 k of benefits, and healthy 2 kids
If I knew my future is safe I really wouldn't bother about working. there are much more nice things to do in your life than work.
the only reason why I work is because above mentioned is impossible, so by hard work, ambitions and education I try to make my family's life nice and comfy.
If I had to choose of what you mentioned I'd rather permanent well paid job. I like to work in one place (when paid well), gain experience in one field, be promoted in same place, know the company well. I would never employ person who at age of 25 has worked in 10 places

 

Really? I've just looked back through my employment history. By the age of 25 I'd worked in 32 different places (not counting the various sites I worked on when I was roofing/hod carrying/bricklaying/plastering). These ranged from two years to two weeks in various contract/perm roles. Glad you weren't hiring when I was looking. Most employers valued my experience of various working environments.

 

Just curious as I would like to know your reasoning behind the above statement as experience no matter how trivial counts a lot in the job market.

 

I've never really considered contracting, I guess its because its something I dont really know much about and its too risky for me to jump headlong into something I'm not sure of. saying that though most of the jobsites ping me links to contracting work so I'm sure it would be ok to do it.

edit: hmm got me thinking about it now, I guess there would be more opportunuties for learning new stuff in contracting roles, might have to investigate further.

 

Thats exactly why i started this thread. Im in a decent paid permanent job at the moment. However i've been looking for other opportunities and had a few calls about contracts. Im not interested in contracting at this stage of my career but its made me wonder how i would adapt to it. Various environments, big pay, alot of exposure etc. Hmmm...

 

The pay is always alot more on shorter assignments - example i've been in my current contract over a year, and i'm only on a couple thousand more a year than permanent role.

I prefer permanent, cos of usual things like paid holiday, and bank holidays. I was in hospital for 2 weeks last year after an operation on my foot. for which you won't necessarily get paid unless you take out sickness cover.

You've also got an admin fee each week to your umbrella company, or you can set yourself up as a ltd company. (My admin fee is 25 a week, this covers them doing my tax and also insures me)

Paperwork can be a pain in the ass - as a contractor you can claim back mielage to a workplace, and also daily subsistance - but some providers require proof of receipts for travel, and if you lose them, you can't claim them.

Contracting is good, but it also comes with its risks

 

At 23 y/o , If I could get into IT contracting I'd larf myself into a fit.