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Subject:Re: The Worst Thing About Contracting From:Maurice King <benadam -at- CYBERDUDE -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 9 Apr 1999 09:30:55 -0400
It really isn't so odd to talk about the insecure existence of contracting and the fact that "permanent" work doesn't exist any more in the same breath. Both are true.
There's a big difference between being an hourly contractor and a salaried consultant. An hourly contractor can do an excellent job, please all the people with whom he/she works, and still have gaps between contracts that are less than welcome. A salaried consultant does not have that experience.
If I can point to a difference between a contract job and a permanent job, it's probably in the way the employer relates to the person when the need for that person no longer exists. A contractor is just told, "That's all. Thank you." A permanent employee may receive severance pay and other things that may cushion the blow a bit. What's more, a permanent employee may also be invited to try for openings in alternate sites or subsidiaries of the employer.
When I was laid off from my "permanent" job in December, there was no nastiness or unkindness. When we were told the news, we were also presented with a contract regarding our separation from the employer in which we were assured severance pay and the option of continuing our health/dental insurance through COBRA, and the employer provided for us a seminar in "Career Transitions" for two days that I found very informative and helpful. A contractor doesn't get that kind of send-off.
By the time that the severance pay arrived, I was in a contract job, so my former employer at least made the transition tolerable for me and my family. Compare that to a contract job in which the company in which I worked determined that their needs really did not require a technical writer and cancelled my contract with no warning whatsoever. If I were to choose which way to end a job, I'd choose the former any day.
- Maury
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