During my job hunting process, I have received many offers for interview from contracting agencies such as Volt and Excell. Since I have never been working as a contractor before, I needed to do some research to see what the pros and cons of being a contractor are. Here are what I found out.
Pros
- Money. Contractor might earn more since most of them get paid on an hourly basis. That also means overtime pay.
- Job variations. Contract might change job frequently, contracts are typically short (6 months to a year).
- Tax Benefit. There might be a tax benefit, especially if you have your own business.
Cons
- Contract tied up. If an opportunity comes along, a contractor might not be able to pursuit it without risking breaking the current contract.
- Too expensive to be hired. Employers feel reluctant to hire a contractor for fulltime job for fear that he/she might quit soon to pursuit higher pay positions.
- Day off benefits. Depend on the agency, contractors might not have the benefits of sick day or holiday.
- From my own experience: Contractors and fulltime employees are treated differently. For example, if the manager decided that the whole group should go see a movie; it means “the whole group minus contractors”.
- Health benefits generally are not as good as those offered to fulltime employees.
- Usually, 401k are not matched
- Not permanent. Duh!
References
Mueller, Carl. Contract Work: The Pros and Cons of Being a Contractor. [Link]
Legless. IT Contractor – pros and cons of a contractor’s life [Link]
Niznik, Steven (1999). About Working as a Indenpendent Contractor [Link]
Bourque, Holly (2007). The Pros and Cons of Working as a Contractor. [Link]
Posted in: Opinion
Holly Bourque
April 2, 2008
Hello! Thank you for referencing my article! I had no idea it was linked anywhere, but I appreciate it. Hope you are doing well!
-Holly