Most companies deal with staffing as just an overhead. However, in this post, we examine the breakdown of working as a contract recruiter by highlighting the good, the bad, and the ugly of contract staffing.
The Good
One good about working as a contract recruiter is the fact that the cash is often better than a permanent position. Since from company’s overhead view, you are a vendor but not really an employee, many good companies will pay very high for a contractor, particularly in the IT field. However, If the company offer less or the same that you would make as a permanent employee, quit.
Another good in working as a contract recruiter is that there are less pressure and smaller metrics. Therefore you need trying to actually justify your pay as you are there to execute a given task and then move on. Because there is often a set time to execute the tasks, usually six months or a year.
The Bad
Working as a contract recruiter, you remain an outsider to the company. Meaning that you will never be really seen as part of the team. Many companies will not even permit you to attend their end of the year parties! Also, only very few companies offer health insurance. And, it can be rare unless you are working for a company that engages many contractors. Painfully, even the fact you are not an employee and they treat like an outsider, most companies will still want you to act as one mostly when it comes to hours when you are scheduled to leave, among others. This is pretty discouraging!
The Ugly
The ugly part of working as a contract recruiter is the fact you have to pay for almost everything that you use. Although there are some few workarounds, they are not money saving. If you are independent, it then means all the insurance is shouldered by you.
Similarly, they do not care about you. Since you only there to execute a task or solve a problem, once that is accomplished or at least managed, you become dispensable. Thus, companies are always getting something from those working as contract recruiters even if they don’t know that they are giving it to them. The more you know, the wiser your decision especially when contracting comes with some real pitfall and caveat.