applying for perm role,contract experience count against you???

[SPURSN17]

i have recently applied for a perm role locally and one of the recruiters advertising it said they were reluctant to put me forward because i have been doing contract roles for past 5 years and have ''jumped from one job to another".is this a common problem?

[FiveTimes]

i have recently applied for a perm role locally and one of the recruiters advertising it said they were reluctant to put me forward because i have been doing contract roles for past 5 years and have ''jumped from one job to another".is this a common problem?

This was a problem I encountered, however try and force home the fact that you want to put some roots down and highlight the benefit of working local

[Zippy]

I get a fair number of calls from people wanting me to return to the 'dark side', so I'd say not.

[TykeMerc]

i have recently applied for a perm role locally and one of the recruiters advertising it said they were reluctant to put me forward because i have been doing contract roles for past 5 years and have ''jumped from one job to another".is this a common problem?

It can be. In the perception of a percentage of employers and some agents a contractor going perm is only looking for another short term position and they will be off as soon as they find a good contract.
It's fairly ridiculous of course, but it's another of those unfortunate daft realities associated with recruitment.

[stek]

Not for me, all my contract roles have been in years not months, oddly enough my two (now three) permie roles since 1990 have been shorter than my contract ones...

I've been at this permie role six months now - time for a change, honestly, a third of my time is spent actually doing my stuff, the rest is meetings, RCA's, RFC's, change plans, catchups, straw fukn men, touchpoints, Q and A's, let's pop it into the percolator and see if it comes out brown type stuff....

[jmo21]

and some agents a contractor going perm is only looking for another short term position and they will be off as soon as they find a good contract.
It's fairly ridiculous of course, but it's another of those unfortunate daft realities associated with recruitment.

Usually (always?) the agent only gets their fee if the employee stays past the 6 month mark (or some other time period).

I imagine this is the actual reason.

[PropertyCrashUK]

I think it depends upon the mindset of the corporate you are hoping to work for and the mindset of the people doing the hiring.

No two bodies are the same.

You might come across a public sector body where the mentality is that the only time people leave their home town is to go on their 2 weeks in the Costa De Sol.

Or you might apply t a public sector body which is undergoing a change of management and who wish to bring in experience from people who have worked in different organisations.

The person in charge of hiring might loathe contractors with a vengeance or might be an ex-contractor him or herself.

I don't think you can ever know until you get to the interview - at which point I think it becomes clear within minutes.

If the mindset of an organisation or individual is some pathological hatred of contractors then I personally think they are best avoided anyhow - that mindset is unhealthy to work in and is part of the reason why this country is in such a mess.

I had a contract about 10 years back in a public sector body with a great guy who openly recognised the value of contractors - tried to get me to go permie - and held no grudges even though he admitted he could never go contracting.

[monobrow]

I think it depends upon the mindset of the corporate you are hoping to work for and the mindset of the people doing the hiring.

No two bodies are the same.

You might come across a public sector body where the mentality is that the only time people leave their home town is to go on their 2 weeks in the Costa De Sol.

Or you might apply t a public sector body which is undergoing a change of management and who wish to bring in experience from people who have worked in different organisations.

The person in charge of hiring might loathe contractors with a vengeance or might be an ex-contractor him or herself.

I don't think you can ever know until you get to the interview - at which point I think it becomes clear within minutes.

If the mindset of an organisation or individual is some pathological hatred of contractors then I personally think they are best avoided anyhow - that mindset is unhealthy to work in and is part of the reason why this country is in such a mess.

I had a contract about 10 years back in a public sector body with a great guy who openly recognised the value of contractors - tried to get me to go permie - and held no grudges even though he admitted he could never go contracting.

^This - close thread!

[monkeyrhythm]

Before going contracting I used to be responsible for taking on new techies and I was a bit prejudiced against contractor's applying for permie positions; mostly 'cos it could be a soul destroying place to work at times and contractor's would know the grass was greener elsewhere and would be more likely to jump ship than put up with the tulip.

[Wanderer]

i have recently applied for a perm role locally and one of the recruiters advertising it said they were reluctant to put me forward because i have been doing contract roles for past 5 years and have ''jumped from one job to another".is this a common problem?

The agent is being a It's not up to him to judge you - that's for the employer to decide.

Make up a spiel to use when you come across people like that. Something a long the lines of:

"Yes, I've done a number of small projects over the last 5 years and for a time I quite enjoyed the challenge of adapting to new tasks. However, I have now reached a point in my career where I would like to settle in to a stable permie position where I can make a real long term commitment to a company and use my broad range of skills to really make a difference"