Just got back from an interview for a three month contract position.
Background: I am rather early in my career. I have a Masters degree in my field and one year of professional experience.
In July 2014, there’s a good chance I’ll be moving out of state. I won’t know until March. I have already missed out on one great job opportunity because of this fact. Any work I pick up between now and then is most likely going to be temporary. For this reason I have considered picking up some short-term contract work rather than look for something ‘‘permanent.’’ I really don’t like the idea of bailing on someone unexpectedly after they have taken time to train me.
Out of the blue an employment agent e-mailed me after finding my Info on LinkedIn. The job is for a nationally recognized organization, and it pays oodles more than my previous position. When I went into the interview today (with absolutely no info about the job at that point) I learned that I would basically be doing the fundraising equivalent of stuffing envelopes. I think I would benefit from the experience but it’s definitely not exciting, ground-breaking work. Very little will be required of me that I haven’t already done.
I didn’t like the environment at all. I’m an introvert and this place was lousy with people. The two people doing my interview seemed rushed and indifferent. (There is a rush, they need to fill the position ASAP which is why they skipped much of the formality.) If this was for a permanent position I probably would not take it. It just didn’t seem like a good fit.
That said, I’m wondering if it would benefit my career to take this job. It would give me some additional experience and perhaps open the door for future contracted work (an avenue I’d like to explore.) It’s also with an organization that has a good national reputation. Handling that volume of donors might help me get an edge when I do find something permanent.
But if I take the temp job, that pretty much eliminates the option of getting a ‘‘permanent’’ job for the year. I would have to find another temp job after that one. So I guess the question is whether a 3-month contract would really add to my resume all that much, or if I should keep looking for something permanent.
I would say it depends on how important it is to you that you have something lined up that will pay you through the end of the year.
I would also say because you didn’t like the environment and the job sounds beneath you, it probably will not be a good fit and you will be miserable for three months.
I say find a shorter term temp job. Temping is so fun! I used to register with about 8 agencies at once, and let the calls roll in! When I had a pager, I felt so important, ha ha.
We aren’t starving, but we are losing money every day I’m not employed. We did the math and with the generous pay rate, I would only need to find 1 more temp job like this one in order for us to break even.
Quit worrying about bailing on people. The fact that you might find out that you are moving in a year is totally irrelevant. Anyone can move in a year, or get sick, or anything. Companies deal with the fact that people leave.
Take the job. Keep looking for a permanent job. If you get offered one, put in your two weeks notice and take it. If. after that, in March you find out you are moving, keep your mouth shut about it and give them at most a month’s notice before you actually go.
This is your career. This is your life. You shouldn’t make decisions based on whether or not some HR clerk will be irritated at having to go hire someone else.
Would it benefit your life? (The living you’re going to do while working there.) Doesn’t sound like it. And if taking it means you can’t look for a permanent position in the near future it seems like a lateral move at best to me.
Thanks for your advice guys. I decided to take the job if it is offered to me. It’s easy to say not to worry about bailing on an organization, but because these are non-profits, often small ones, I do feel a responsibility not to waste their resources.
After really thinking about it, I think temping is probably my best bet for the year. The headhunter also told me that this particular organization generally keeps people on longer than originally planned.
And yes, this job is MUCH closer - less than 10 minutes away.
You are seriously NOT wasting their resources if you MIGHT move in ten months. Really. Unless they are going to pay to send you to training and nothing but training for six months, first.
I mean, by your logic, anyone who MIGHT get pregnant in the next few months shouldn’t take a new job without being open about their plans. You are a competent professional. If anyone hires you and spends six weeks training you to get six months of solid, meaningful work out of you, that more than justifies your wage, and there aren’t many jobs where you’d need six weeks of training before you were adding more than you were subtracting from a company.
Yay! I think it’s a good move, especially if you can’t really say where you’ll be in a year. Temp jobs have a way of opening doors, too - your boss knows somebody who knows somebody, or another department or another branch needs somebody, and on it goes.
They won’t have to re-train someone should you have to quit suddenly (if it’s pretty much just stuffing envelopes). It pays well, and it’s temp (which means they expect short term people anyway). Even if it’s got stuff you hate (too many people, social etc), if you’re just starting in your career, there are lots of job oriented things you can learn from it, that you don’t learn in college.
What is there to lose? 3 months is nuttin’ in career time.
Even if you were leaving after a very short time, a “second search” for the same position is often a matter of grabbing the pile of resumes from last time and calling in order of preference. The amount of resources involved is tiny compared with that of a full search. And from what you say, it doesn’t sound like a job that needs a ton of training (I’m betting it will turn out to involve more than originally stated, but not so much as to turn into “omg what a waste of resources!” if they need to replace you before they run out of work to give you).
I know you tend to want to save the world; heck, you’ve gone into a line of work that involves fixing it. Are you going to fix all of it at the same time? Start by fixing the parts closest to you, there’s several billions of us to work on the rest.
My experience is that in any entry-level position, you start off doing the equivalent of stuffing envelopes, at least to some extent. What the point of having a minion if you can’t make her do the grunt work?
Congrats on the new gig. I know you will do well - you already show that you want to do your best for the company, and people sometimes notice that.
