First Timer - Scared Of Contracting

[ChloeRadshaw]

Ok - I have six years experience in IT development and a solid degree. I have only ever worked perm and generally speaking been good at it - Never sick , always arrive early and stay very late and generally focus on what needs to be done.

I have been offered a contract role at 500 per day (and given that my salary iat the moment is £50k) you can tell I am quite excited. Its a one year contract.

Why would I not take it? Is it SAFER to e a permie? I have seen these people let go but contractors tend to get chopped right at the beginning - Right?

Can anyone please give me guidance - I am really only concerned of getting the role and then getting sacked five months in.

In this environment this would be devastating as going back to perm after contracting is impossible??

Any ideas?

[BolshieBastard]

500 quid a day for a first time contractor? I dont think so, Chloe.

[Sundial]

500 quid a day for a first time contractor? I dont think so, Chloe.

Dunno, why you would say that! It's perfectly possible if you have the skills and are clued up about how to handle the agencies etc.

But Chloe, you are thinking about giving up a perm role to be a contractor? How were you offered the work and are you still in your perm job? I know contracting seems like a lot of money at first, but you have to factor in the expenses, training, personal goals, pension etc - what do you want long term?

I don't think you can refer to being letting go as being 'sacked' as such, it's a whole different ballgame. You could get let go in your permanent job, nothing is definite.

[zamzummim]

Chloe it all depends on your commitments, circumstances and the risks you are willing to take, the contracting market at the moment is not great that is true, if security and stability means more to you then stick to permie work, if you are able to take the risk of being unemployed for a few months or have a bit of savings to be able to take time off on the bench, then go for it. No guarantees. No one here can tell you the right decision, in fact there is no right or bad decision, it’s a choice we make.

And no its not impossible to go permie after being a contractor, I did it a couple of times, if a contractor does and is good at his/her job almost always the client will try to keep them on and tries to offer them a permie role.

[TykeMerc]

I've been telling people this for at least a decade.....

If someone comes to me and asks me "should I go contracting?" my answer is always NO. If you're not fully committed to working as a contractor with all of the risks and frustrations it brings then DO NOT DO IT!!!!!!
However if someone asks me "I've decided to go contracting how should I go about it?" I'll give them all the useful advice that I can.

There's a mental aspect to contracting succesfully and that requires you to be sure that it's the right move for the right reasons (they are many, varied and personal of course).

You're a clear case of NO since you're obviously scared of the risks and uncertaintain nature of contracting.

[Sundial]

I've been telling people this for at least a decade.....

If someone comes to me and asks me "should I go contracting?" my answer is always NO. If you're not fully committed to working as a contractor with all of the risks and frustrations it brings then DO NOT DO IT!!!!!!
However if someone asks me "I've decided to go contracting how should I go about it?" I'll give them all the useful advice that I can.

There's a mental aspect to contracting succesfully and that requires you to be sure that it's the right move for the right reasons (they are many, varied and personal of course).

You're a clear case of NO since you're obviously scared of the risks and uncertaintain nature of contracting.

You should advertise You could deter uncertain contractors! Wish I'd found you!

I definitely agree there's a mental mindset to successfully contracting, and that it should be considered carefully (I got into it after some very non-specific temping, didn't even realise it was contracting at first).

But Chloe, hope to hear why you'd like to.

[BolshieBastard]

Dunno, why you would say that! It's perfectly possible if you have the skills and are clued up about how to handle the agencies etc.

But Chloe, you are thinking about giving up a perm role to be a contractor? How were you offered the work and are you still in your perm job? I know contracting seems like a lot of money at first, but you have to factor in the expenses, training, personal goals, pension etc - what do you want long term?

I don't think you can refer to being letting go as being 'sacked' as such, it's a whole different ballgame. You could get let go in your permanent job, nothing is definite.

Oh yes, like any agent in the current climate is going to give a first timer 500 sheets a day! Wise up!

[ChloeRadshaw]

I work in portfolio risk but my background was computer science. The problem is I DO NOT understand the RISK involved in perm -> contractor.

People talk about stability of perm and this was my first intuition - Can someone actually quantify this? I have seen perms and contractors sacked so how is perm more safe?

I have money set aside and could not work for a year comfortably

[ChloeRadshaw]

Oh yes, like any agent in the current climate is going to give a first timer 500 sheets a day! Wise up!

Well that's the deal as it stands. Why do you think this is incorrect? The interview was ruthless and they wanted someone to write analytics in an area I knew a lot about.

[TykeMerc]

Oh yes, like any agent in the current climate is going to give a first timer 500 sheets a day! Wise up!

It's possible but unlikely since 6 years exp isn't exactly loads unless it's an incredibly niche skillset.

I'm rather tired and didn't consider the sockpuppet angle