IT temp-to-hire contract positions, are they worth the risk?
Asked by
luminous00 (
350
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March 19th, 2008
from iPhone
I work for a pretty reputable bank who was just bought out, sadly. I’m in a nice, under paid IT LAN analyst position which was stable, but recently has become unstable. This gives me an opportunity to look for jobs that pertain to where I really want to go, which is the network admin side. Unfortunately I have no backend experience, so I’ve been putting it off, until I got a call yesterday. I have an interview with a contract to hire co who is looking for a junior network admin position in a college down the street…..sounds awesome, its a 4mo contract to hire position, think its worth the risk?
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Go to the interview and see what sense you get of the company and of the people you’d be working with. That may decide things even faster than the contract terms.
The usual reason for contract to hire positions is that it’s really hard to get a sense of a candidate’s technical abilities in an interview, and (as noted several times) certifications are little help. So companies offer contract to hire positions on the theory that it will be apparent after 4 months (or whatever the contract term is) whether the person is working out. If they are, then the company offers a permanent position; if they aren’t, then the company has fulfilled its commitment after 4 months and can look for someone else.
On the other hand, I’ve seen contract-to-permanent jobs offered because the company wanted a contract programmer for 3 months and knew that if they just asked for that, they’d pay a lot more for the contractor.
So the two things you need to ask yourself in the interview are, do I think I can do the job they want me to do well enough that they’ll hire me? and, do I think they’re being honest about actually wanting a permanent employee?
If you can say yes to those, it’s likely worth the risk. If either one is a “maybe” or a “no,” then you should think twice about it.
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