Nearly everyone reading this will resonate with the statement “ Job Hopper ” it came around that employers wouldn’t hire or even consider for interviews people who seemingly only stayed in roles for short periods of time i.e. months. However, with 38% of millennials planning to leave within 2 years in 2017, it would seem a rise of Interim Contracts are becoming more popular.
Interim contracts can actually be beneficial for your career and do not contribute to the “job hopper” stereotype, there are occasions upon where an employer needs to fill a role quickly or for a temporary period during certain company projects where specialist skills are required or covering periods of maternity/leave. These roles can be based on time i.e. 3 months FTC or ended by a milestone i.e. project finishing.
There is also a set of regulations called “The Interim Employee Regulations” brought to light by the boom in certain FTC’s, aimed at protecting and ensuring there is no unfavourable treatment of temporary compared to permanent employees. We aim to explore the advantages of FTC work for candidates considering this career path.
Flexibility
Being able to focus on skills and roles you enjoy, the easiest way to explore this point is to take a Marketing candidate for example. Marketing covers such a broad range of job titles, from Design to Data Analytics where as part of an in-house team you may be required to take on roles within Marketing that you may not be extremely good or passion about compared to say the SEO/PPC side of Marketing, whereas entering a company as an SEO Specialist/Manager for a 6 month FTC for a company looking to utilise this Digital Marketing technique can provide not only great productivity from doing something you enjoy but better job satisfaction.
Higher Earning Potential
If a company is hiring for sake of an urgent requirement they are more likely to pay a higher rate through urgency however if you bring in a specialist skill or are providing experience the company does not possess in a certain area you can demand a higher wage for your services.
Security of earnings also plays a factor, whereas in a permanent role you have a structured secured pay rate, in interim contracts it is factored in that you could well have long periods of unemployment that you need to prepare and be able to sustain yourself for.
Companies may offer other incentives, however for interim positions such as completion bonus’ for projects finished to a satisfactory standard, this compensates for the wage and time of unemployment.
Experience
FTC work can hold real value when it comes to bolstering and “beefing” up your CV in terms of work history. For example, if you are struggling to find permanent work after coming out of Uni then Interim is not necessarily a bad idea. Gaining real life experience is never going to go against you, even in situations where you are looking to trail whether you are good at something i.e. stepping up to management level. Also, should you not get on with colleagues or a culture of an environment you are not subject to stay and face the scrutiny for leaving after 3 months when on a 3-month FTC.