US jobs mostly contract…
I have been browsing thro the monster and dice websites looking at availability of jobs in the IT sector in the US. What I find surprising is that most of the jobs are of “contract” nature. Some stating 6 month terms, some lower at 3 months and the lowest I found was one that was expected to last only 1 month. Very few had the “permanent” tag. So here are my questions:
Q1. Why is it like this? I have ideas but would like to hear opinions.
Q2.Since there are so many ads offering such “temporary” work, it logically follows that there must be available temporary “contract” candidates too to fill the vacancies. What do they do and how do these temporary contractors manage to remain employed on a relatively consistent basis? How much can someone really store away in 3 months or 6 months, and expect to draw his subsistence from it until he gets another job? How do these people “settle”? I mean, don’t they buy stuff like sofa, beds, TV etc etc.? Do they keep moving all the stuff every 6 months or whatever? How does it work? Am I missing something here?
Lots of people have small jobs that need to be done but no need for a full-time IT person. Sometimes, an IT department needs a person to come do a small side project while they are busy with other things. I am surprised that you’re finding mostly contract positions; that was not my experience when I was searching for programming jobs recently.
Q2.Since there are so many ads offering such “temporary” work, it logically follows that there must be available temporary “contract” candidates too to fill the vacancies. What do they do and how do these temporary contractors manage to remain employed on a relatively consistent basis? How much can someone really store away in 3 months or 6 months, and expect to draw his subsistence from it until he gets another job? How do these people “settle”? I mean, don’t they buy stuff like sofa, beds, TV etc etc.? Do they keep moving all the stuff every 6 months or whatever? How does it work? Am I missing something here?
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These magical people are called “consultants.” They are almost always paid hourly and they may be working several jobs simultaneously, billing their clients for the work. This is no different than a lawyer or accountant, for example. (Naturally, it eventually becomes more economical to hire your own permanent lawyers and accountants and IT people as your needs increase.)
Maintaining client relationships and juggling lots of simultanous jobs is tough work, but good ones can make a metric shitload of cash.
I think I’m going to start with sort of a tangent and hopefully work my way around to your main question.
You mentioned that “permanent” rarely appears in ads. That is largely because the word “permanent” implies a contract where none exists. The term “regular” employment is more common. In the US, this is almost always at-will, which means the employer or employee can end the employment relationship at any time for any reason without legal penalty (unless it is the employer ending the relationship for an illegal discriminatory reason).
In a contract employment situation, the contract might well have penalties built in that each party would have to pay if they break the contract. For example, if the employer doesn’t need you for the full contract they pay 2 weeks severance, and if you don’t fulfill the contract you forfeit some payments.
Not everyone who does this contract work is a full-time independent contractor like friedo describes, although some are. In many cases it is much like a “real job,” but for a limited time commitment. In these cases is it good to build relationships within the client company, other companies you may interact with in the job, etc. with an eye to future contract opportunities. Yes, in this type of employment situation you may have some unplanned vacations, but the hourly rate is often higher to offset the risk.
Most of these folks, in my experience, do not constantly travel from city to city. It may be work they can do remotely as telecommuters, or they live and work in a major city with many potential clients. Some do travel, though, and their contract may provide for them to have a furnished apartment, as an alternative to buying and selling furniture all the time.
If you’re looking for “regular” employment, you may do better on specific companies’ web sites, rather than a job site like Monster.
Contract positions have been commonplace in the engineering industry since the 1950’s. Another common term for this was “job shopping” and the contractors were called “jobbers”. There was a thriving band of engineering “gypsies” that moved around the US going wherever they were needed on the next project. They consisted of mainly of very independent individuals who wanted nothing to do with working “perm” anywhere due to all the political BS that went on in most companies plus they were able to make significantly more money working contract.
Many of the contract agencies (or job shops) that were popular back then are still around today; CDI, VOLT, Yoh, Tech Aid, TAD (now Adecco Technical).