Reasons You're Not Contracting Yet - Job Security Worries

A lot of people in my Facebook & LinkedIn groups (along with people I speak to) cite having worries over "job security" and concerns about "short-term contracts" as reasons they're not contracting yet

But do you REALLY have that much job security in your current role?

The amount of people I hear about being made redundant staggers me, and it can be a bitter pill to swallow for some...

Trust me, if the wind (or market) changes and your company needs to save MONEY then make no mistake, they will get rid of you one way or the other

I've seen it happen many times before

And if you DO think you have job security, is that because you're not being PAID what you're truly WORTH in the the open market?

Ask yourself that question as honestly as you're able to

And if you ARE being paid well then I'm happy for you, just make sure that you really are, and that your definition of "paid well" is accurate amongst your peers and according to the market rates for your skills & experience (you have to compare your salary against something concrete to make this assumption)

And what's the definition of a "short-term" contract anyway?

Most contracts I have seen personally are either 3 months or 6 months initially (note the word INITIALLY), so you have no idea how long a contract will be until it ends (unless it's made crystal clear from the onset that it's only a 6 month contract in total due to budgets or project length etc.)

So why would you stop yourself going contracting based on the FEAR of future contracts only lasting 3 or 6 months?

Most contracts over the past 10 years for me have lasted between 1-3 YEARS

Enough time for me to get the job done (or try to), and then think about my next exciting challenge...

And all the time you could be earning £500/day (or more depending on you niche)...

That's £10,000 per month

That's £100K per year

(if you assume you would have 2 months off for example)

So if you're earning £50,000 right now in your "perm" job, you could get yourself a contract for 6 months @ £500/day, earn MORE money than the perm job in HALF the time, take 6 months off to do all the things in life you WANT to do but currently don't have the TIME for

Can you see it yet?

So many of us carry on like mindless drones (no offence, I did it too), working to make someone else rich, dying a slow death, bored out of our minds...

A great quote one of my mentors said really resonates with me when I type this...

The definition of Hell is getting to meet the man you could have been

Boom!

Also check out the top 5 regrets of the dying - it hopefully makes you think...

So if you're STUCK in a perm job, waiting for that PAY RISE, waiting for that BONUS, waiting until you have the right SKILLS, waiting until you have the right level of EXPERIENCE, waiting for the right TIME to go contracting, then my advice to you is to MAKE it happen sooner rather than later...

Don't wait for life to throw you a right hook like it did for me when I was lied to by my boss, or when my Dad died for example...

Life's too short - it's a cliche but it's true (most are)

You WILL be dead in the ground one day, that's for certain (you get what I mean)

So don't wait for the PERFECT time as that time won't ever come

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About the Author:

David Gerrish has been an IT Contractor since 1996, working all over the UK, Europe and further afield in locations such as Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia.

Dave's IT Contracting Academy Facebook & LinkedIn groups have thousands of contractors and aspiring contractors, making them invaluable communities for IT professionals seeking advice, support and to network with one another.