Is contracting right for you?
Most contractors, or ‘free agents’ if you’re contracting in America, are refugees from big corporations who value the autonomy and flexibility of contracted (temporary or project based) work. The pay is pretty comparable to what they’ve earned full-time, sometimes even better.
Best of all, they can leave behind all the politics, endless internal meetings and colleagues looking to kick them into the long grass to get ahead themselves.
Increasingly, contractors are being trusted by companies, (sometimes even the ones they’ve just left!), to take on mission-critical work that has always been done by a permanent employee.
Why does someone trade in a ‘permanent’ role for a series of roles in an uncertain economy?
One contractor told us, “Because it’s fun, for starters”. He continued, “I have the opportunity to really tell the truth and maintain my own integrity for once. I’m not compromising my values for a pay check. I can more easily say the tough stuff. “ Another contractor said, “I’m in control of what I do, when I do it and for whom. I’m making all the decisions based around the lifestyle that I’m trying to achieve. I succeed or fail by my own efforts and the skin that I have in the game is the amount that I want to put into the game – I’m not waiting for the inevitable day where I am in the redundancy pool.”
In the UK, the market for interim positions was $1.8bn in revenue in 2009; and across Europe, the market has been growing by 20% annually for interim executives since.
China, an emerging market by recruitment standards, has recently seen the growth of contractors in roles from 20,000 in 2007 to 125,000 in 2012 but these roles tend to be in the less skilled manufacturing sector to date.
Demographics are set to play an even bigger part in the contractor market because of opportunities around ageing populations. The supply of ‘here and now’ executives is set to decline as many older people seek retirement. This boosts the need for temporary talent and senior advisory resources.
There are downsides, of course, to consider as a contractor and they include: project/cash flow, the loneliness of independent work and the need to continue to search for professional development opportunities. In the UK, you would also need to consider the burden created by managing your own business and tax affairs, and in the US you would clearly need to consider the cost of healthcare before taking the decision to choose contracting as a lifestyle.
Is contracting right for you?
Talk to Marketingmoves. We recruit only the best marketers. Only for IT and Telecoms. We have permanent and interim (contractor) roles always available for talented marketing professionals.
www.marketingmoves.com or 01932 253352.
