Reply to: Not sure contracting beats permie anymore

[SuperZ]

Bloody 'ell - I have a beard. I'm doomed

Aye, but a beard is a little different than someone who has a day or two of growth. It has been purposely grown rather than some git who couldn`t be bothered to shave each day or before theinterview.

Even if you wanted to grow a beard, if you only had a day or two of growth I`m sure you`d shave it off for an interview?

Must admit that I`d probably hire the one without the beard if two similar candidates appeared, old beardy should have been a teacher.

[Shimano105]

I was thinking of asking about going permie at my current site cos it is local and have been missing my family too much when working away.

Then they went and organised a team-building day.

Contracting has its ups and downs but permiedom is selling your soul to the devil.

[PM-Junkie]

As much as I would like to agree with you, I disagree with this, I don`t think it is necessarily to do with being shallow. First impressions and all that. Human psychology (if that`s the way to put it)pretty much dictates that those with a nice car, a big house, probably have more money that those that don`t, and therefore probably are also successful at what they do. I know it is BS though. Notice I use "probably"

You turn up at client site wearing a nice suit, freshly shaved face, nice car, fresh breath.
You turnup at client site wearing old badly fitting suit, haven`t shaven, driving a dirty old Ford, bad breath.

If both of those people interviewed the same, which one would get the job? The bad breath could be down to a health problem, but they`d be less likely to get the job just based on that alone.

Would you turn up at an interview looking scruffy? SAme thing really, You dress to impress. A nice car impresses, even if to many of us when we think of that it makes us sick.

Bloody 'ell - I have a beard. I'm doomed

[NickFitz]

You turnup at client site wearing old badly fitting suit, haven`t shaven, driving a dirty old Ford, bad breath.

i'm hoping that this is a generalisation of a contractor rather than a description of fitzy and his car?

The car reached 170,000 miles last week...

I don't know where my suit is - I haven't needed it in a number of years, although I'm pretty sure it no longer fitted the last time I checked

[Tingles]

you can always hire a good suit and park your heap round the corner , and drink a bottle of
mouthwash before the interview for the gig.

HTH

Fixed....

[Bright Spark]

you can always hire a good suit and nice car , and drink a bottle of
mouthwash before the interview for the gig.

HTH

[DS23]

i'm hoping that this is a generalisation of a contractor rather than a description of fitzy and his car?

[SuperZ]

If you're so ludicrously shallow that you think having a "good" car earns you respect, then you're never going to be happy. It doesn't, and for as long as you think the opinion of others is important you'll be dissatisfied. Nobody else actually thinks about you at all.

As much as I would like to agree with you, I disagree with this, I don`t think it is necessarily to do with being shallow. First impressions and all that. Human psychology (if that`s the way to put it)pretty much dictates that those with a nice car, a big house, probably have more money that those that don`t, and therefore probably are also successful at what they do. I know it is BS though. Notice I use "probably"

You turn up at client site wearing a nice suit, freshly shaved face, nice car, fresh breath.
You turnup at client site wearing old badly fitting suit, haven`t shaven, driving a dirty old Ford, bad breath.

If both of those people interviewed the same, which one would get the job? The bad breath could be down to a health problem, but they`d be less likely to get the job just based on that alone.

Would you turn up at an interview looking scruffy? SAme thing really, You dress to impress. A nice car impresses, even if to many of us when we think of that it makes us sick.

[Tingles]

I will only leave contracting if I am forced, I much prefer the freedom I have doing this.

WHS!

[Waldorf]

I will only leave contracting if I am forced, I much prefer the freedom I have doing this.

[NickFitz]

sure, it ,pays good when you're working to get a good car so society can look at you and say "wow, he looks a success"

If you're so ludicrously shallow that you think having a "good" car earns you respect, then you're never going to be happy. It doesn't, and for as long as you think the opinion of others is important you'll be dissatisfied. Nobody else actually thinks about you at all.

however in the workplace we don't necessarily get treated with respect. They can fire you immediately if they needed to. They can throw trashy work at you. They can be nasty to you.

I find lots of permies say exactly the same (but with the correct use of capital letters)

[DaveB]

It all depends on the job. You can have a tulip permie job for years and you can get a run of tulip contracts or no contracts at all.

In my particular niche rates have gone through the floor and anything decent is a weekly commute away and has the world and his dog chasing after it. That plus 3 months on the bench make a big hole in the finances.

Permie rates have not suffered as much as contract, if you can stay in a job generally your salary will not be dropping anything like contract rates for a similar role.

Right now I'm in a good permie role thats paying less than I was getting 18 months ago contracting, but on a par with rates today. Yes there is crap to put up with, but that happens all over, including in contracts. It's just the type of crap that varies. The benefits are also far better than I could get contracting ( co. car, co. pension which is basically free money, subsdised health care, and they are paying for me to take an OU Law Degree as "personal development" ).

If I could get a contract that paid what I was getting before I'd take it, but right now this is a better deal. If times change in another 18 months then it will be time to reconsider.

[chris79]

Just do whatever suits your situation at the time. I think some people are fooled into thinking that discussing being a perm is as if you're no good, or can't hack it, etc..

I did 2years on a gig with good money, finally got bored and it came to an end, stayed contracting though.. found it quite tough since last year.. was those 3 monthers where you go in at a s**t rate, get dumped with all the s**t.. not able to land a good rate 12 monther etc.. finally decided that I wasn't being compensated at all for the high risks involved being a contractor..

Now back in a perm job on half the money, but in (what I think) is a good company to get a lot of new experience, and perhaps work my way up to a level where the money is enough to deter me from considering contracting again.. the fact it's on my doorstep is the big seller for me as I have 2 young kids to consider.. money and staying away from home can't compensate for a good family life/environment I reckon.

Failing that I can always consider my options at anytime I feel, if contracting suddenly seems a viable option and better for me in x years from now, I'll go back contracting.. right now unless you have niche skills or good contacts the battle against the other 3mil+ out of work every 3 months is too much hassle... esp. for the piss poor rates on offer..

[kaiser78]

In my experience and in my simple mind, the harder a time you get as a contractor, means the more envious the person is that you are actually a contractor. To me from past experience that is prestige in itself.

[SueEllen]

however in the workplace we don't necessarily get treated with respect. They can fire you immediately if they needed to. They can throw trashy work at you. They can be nasty to you.

That happened in my last permanent workplace as well.

In fact the only companies I've seen treat people with respect regardless of position in the company, are companies where I was a contractor. Sadly they don't exist any more as they were gobbled up by bigger concerns...........