Contract to permie Salary Worth it ????

[BlasterBates]

Agree with above. Are you taking into account travel, if you think you will be a "travelling contractor" my view is, it's a no brainer go for the perm. If you are working in banks in London, what do you reckon the market will be in 6 months to a year, because to be honest I think it will be more likely to be difficult than easy.

[AndrewK]

I don't think in current climate, that you are much safer in Perm. Some of banks are running redundancy cycles every 6 months.

At then the end of the day everybody makes their own decisions based on personal preferences and situation.

[SueEllen]

Agree with above. Are you taking into account travel, if you think you will be a "travelling contractor" my view is, it's a no brainer go for the perm. If you are working in banks in London, what do you reckon the market will be in 6 months to a year, because to be honest I think it will be more likely to be difficult than easy.

I know people who have taken permanent jobs then 1-2 years later they have been made redundant.

Some have been lucky and paid redundancy but others haven't.

[ChimpMaster]

Just a general comment, someone I know went in for a similar deal, previously on £550 PD.
Around 97K basic, I believe.

He said he has never felt so short of money.

He also has a 3 month notice period factored in now too.

If your mate feels short of cash whilst on a £97k salary then he's got 99 problems and money management is one of them.

[PermMCCon]

If your mate feels short of cash whilst on a £97k salary then he's got 99 problems and money management is one of them.

Agreed. Average salary for the UK (ie c70 million people) is around £24k

And here we are arguing about £100k vs £120k

[MrMarkyMark]

If your mate feels short of cash whilst on a £97k salary then he's got 99 problems and money management is one of them.

All relative, especially as he had earned £500 PD back to back for the previous 10 years.

Hence he felt short of money by comparison.

[Lambert Simnel]

I don't think in current climate, that you are much safer in Perm. Some of banks are running redundancy cycles every 6 months.

Agreed. The disadvantage with perm in that sort of climate is that if you see the axe is about to fall, your notice period makes it difficult to jump quickly to something else. As a contractor, with just two weeks notice and a general expectation that the role is soon to disappear, grabbing a new role is easier, and in my experience is seen as understandable by the boss you're leaving, as long as you do a good handover.

[newcontract]

Thanks for the responses guys,

To add a bit more detail to the specifics of each role :

Contract role 500/day:
- walk commutable
- 9-5 most days
- old tech

Permie role 90k/yr:
- car commutable (30mins)
- 9-7+ often
- cutting edge tech


So the contract role is very comfy, next to home, no travel expenses, sleep more and more free time. The permie one would look better on my CV due to the tech, would learn more and for free, but is a bit more intensive.... for me these pros & cons cancel each other out.

In terms of bench time, I consider the contract to be easily extensible for another 1-3 years, similarly the permie job could be made redundant any time as they cut a lot of jobs at least once a year so I am not taking this into account at all, I am assuming I will be working continuously regardless.


The ONE thing that is really pulling me to the 90k role is, my last permie salary was 55k, so I think getting a 90k perm salary in my job history might help negotiate in future roles. Whereas when they ask me "what was your last perm salary?" and the answer is 55k, it puts me in an unfavorable negotiating position? Has anyone had an experience like this?

[northernladuk]

Thanks for the responses guys,

To add a bit more detail to the specifics of each role :

Contract role 500/day:
- walk commutable
- 9-5 most days
- old tech

Permie role 90k/yr:
- car commutable (30mins)
- 9-7+ often
- cutting edge tech

Again you can't compare like this. It's like comparing Oranges with Donkey Balls. The contract role is short term. Could end in 3 months or before you've even walked through the door. The next one could be 3 months off and the other end of the country. Take the perm role as you just don't understand the contracting aspect.

[TheFaQQer]

Take the perm role as you just don't understand the contacting aspect.

Phone, email, face to face, carrier pigeon, smoke signal, semaphore...