Perm or Contract in Investment bank

[biggie]

Which is better from a financial perspective, future prospects

1) Perm @ 65.5K + 10% pension (Contributory pension) + bonus

in the hot area of credit derivitives.

Advantages: Training courses, perm job security etc etc
Disadvantages: Long hours and politics

2) 1 yr Contract role at 400 per day

not so hot area of Asset management

Advantages: Paid for overtime, not involved in poltics, quite easy going, think the take home pay is much much higher especially under ltd.
Disadvantages: not such a hot area of IB and may not be as good in the long term.

Which one would you guys consider and why ?

[dogzilla]

My uncle works for Barcap and the bonus he got last year was well worth the downsides to being a permy

I'm not sure but i wouldnt have thought contractors get anything at all apart from their worked hours.

[biggie]

hi Dogzilla,

Is your uncle in IT, also what level ?. I heard that the bonus there wasn't particulary that good when compared to some of the other IB.

[TheFaQQer]

Permie on £65k.

Deluding yourself if you think that permie has any job security, or that contract will avoid office politics though!

Take the permie job, get more experience, then leave for a contract elsewhere. Not at £400 a day though.

[biggie]

Permie on £65k.

Deluding yourself if you think that permie has any job security, or that contract will avoid office politics though!

Take the permie job, get more experience, then leave for a contract elsewhere. Not at £400 a day though.

that was my original thought,
but 1yr contract seems quite good, and seems hard to turn down 400 a day.

[XTC]

The perm on the surface sounds tempting, but like u already know the hours could be a killer. I'd go for the contract. Liklihood is that there will be plenty of work for you and although you won't get a bonus, u get to finish at 5.

[Ruprect]

hi Dogzilla,

Is your uncle in IT, also what level ?. I heard that the bonus there wasn't particulary that good when compared to some of the other IB.

as a contractor every day is bonus day

[Bright Spark]

I would go for the perm role in credit derivatives, get loads of product
knowledge, and work on the pricing and risk of products in the front office.
you could easily leave in two years time and go back to contracting on £700/£800 pd.

[TheFaQQer]

that was my original thought,
but 1yr contract seems quite good, and seems hard to turn down 400 a day.

£400 a day compared to £65k a year isn't that far apart.

General rule of thumb is to divide the annual salary by 1000 to get an hourly rate. £65 an hour roughly equates to £490 (7.5 hours a day), so you'd need to be looking at a higher contract rate than £400 to make the same.

A years contract may sound good now, but what do you do if four months into it, it's utter crap? Mind you the same could be said for a permie role.

What do you do now - permie or contract?

If it were me, I'd take the permie role compared to that daily rate - unless you can push the rate up to £500 and above on the contract, then £65k looks pretty tempting to me. Of course, it's not just about money though - I earn pretty much the same as I did when I was permie, but I only work 7 months a year and spend time with my family for the rest. To me, that's worth much more than the money - something to bear in mind if the permie job is going to be all hours, but the contract one really does turn out to be 9 to 5.

Finally, you mention paid overtime in the contract - does this mean that you are on an hourly rate that works out at £400 a day, or is it just your expectation? I work a "professional day" which can be anything from 6 to 12 hours depending on requirements and travel etc.

[biggie]

tnks 4 the reply guys it all helps when it comes to decision time.

btw the contract is 50 p/h