Conversion to perm?

[Mustang]

As the recession bites, I hear of more and more people 'retiring' from contracting and most moving to the dark side and becoming a permie again.

For those that have, what motivated you to do it? The simple answer is just money but was there something deeper than that? Mrs Mustang and I were talking recently and she is very nervous about me continuing to contract. When I started, we were not married and didn't have kids; now we are and have 2 little mustangs. Difference circumstances.

Fortunately I am currently in a contract with the potential for work up until October. The question will come as to what I do if more work is not forthcoming and October is looming.....!

Thoughts? Comments?

[Shimano105]

Only you can answer that one.

I have the same issues and tbh I am looking at perm roles.

But I don't want to. The only other option is to reassess after you have been out for a while but try to develop another revenue stream in the meantime.

[deckster]

I took a permie job in April, after 10 years of contracting. The main reasons were

- I had been out of contract for 6 months - although had been considering making the move for a couple of years.
- Security - similar to you, I started contracting with no ties. I now have two small kids to think of and a regular, reliable income is more important to me than it used to be.
- Career progression - I had gone about as far as I was going to go as a contractor. Director & VP level roles are pretty much a permie-only space and that's where I'm aiming.
- Financial - perhaps a surprising one this, but with the current downswing in rates I make more as a permie than I would have done out of the contracts I was applying for this year. Even when compared to my last contract, on decent enough London rates, the difference is not large particularly taking pension, healthcare etc. into account
- And hell, it was time for a change. 10 years of dealing with agency crap, HMRC crap, accountancy crap - I fancied a bit of permie crap just for variety's sake.

[mace]

Experience

Contracts tend to fit in to 1 of these areas:-

1. Project based. i.e. company needs to ramp up staff for 1-off project.
2. Poison chalice. i.e. no permie wants to take on the role so they'll find a contractor
3. Niche skillset. i.e. company's tried to find a suitable permie but has failed so looks to a contractor to fill the role.

Now that I'm in my 40s I don't like the stress of being on the bench every 9 months or so, which I believe is a typical average for 1 & 2 above, so I went back to permiedom. As a permie you are more likely to gain better experience and training/re-training in to a new role. If you climb the slippery pole, you can potentially earn more than a contractor but it's very much a case of who you know, whilst contractors are more geared to what you know. If you can get on with your colleagues being a permie is much more satisfying than being a contractor as you get invited to the drinks/parties. If you don't like your colleagues, obviously the reverse is true.

Contracting isn't that much more stressful than a lot of jobs e.g. owning a failing company is much more stressful, dealing with office politics is as stressful as being on the bench. It's getting that over to your wife which is the main issue.

[bassy]

No two peoples situations are the same really. In my case I've been a contractor for 11 years but after spending the last few years in the public sector I think my skills have got stale. Therefore I have taken a one year salaried contract - it will tide me over the quiet period, the money is not good (in fact the money is pretty bad) but it'll just about pay the bills - just have to tighten my belt for a year and ride it out, but for me the big thing was working on some new technologies.

Hopefully once the year is out I have some new skills on the CV and the market will have hopefully picked up a bit - even if it hasnt I now have a better idea of how much permie roles pay (I had zero idea' when I took this role - was too used to the amounts in the contract market and not elsewhere) and could look to a decent permie roll elsewhere for a nice increase. Though I really dont want to stay permie, I am actually desperate for the year to finish so I can contract again - after 4 months doing this performance reviews, HR, stupid "compulsory" company meetings etc have put me completely off permie life.

[EddieNambulous]

Mrs Mustang and I were talking recently and she is very nervous about me continuing to contract.

I'm currently looking at going permie. Similar reason to yours...Mrs Nambulous ain't too impressed with this 'ere contracting lark when you are out of work for months on end.

Never known the market to be this bad before...even worse than around 2000.

[DimPrawn]

My wife is a permie and earns £150K salary, year in year out, plus final salary pension scheme.

You try matching that as a contractor for the next 20 years.

[Boycie]

My wife is a permie and earns £150K salary, year in year out, plus final salary pension scheme.

You try matching that as a contractor for the next 20 years.

Wow - what does she do?

[Shimano105]

That's 2 contractor salaries in 1 from the missus alone! Bloody ell, get thee retired.

[ChimpMaster]

Wow - what does she do?

I can think of a few things