Advice on whether to stick with contract role or to take permanent role

Jimbo88888 · 16 Aug 2019 at 14:07

Hi all,

I'd like some advice on my next career move. I'm an agile/digital business analyst and I've recently ventured into my first contracting role. I'm currently on a 12 month contract doing a systems BA role i.e. issue investigation/resolution, configuration, test scripting/execution, supporting business users. The role is not going to help my career prospects, but the day rate is decent and the working environment is great I.e. nice/helpful colleagues, good/flexible hours and I can work from home. However I've just been offered a permanent role doing agile/digital/mobile/web work which will help my future career prospects a lot but the salary is a lot less.

So my dilemma is either

1. Stick with the contract role for the money, start my job search in 6 months and hope to get back into a role I want to do once my contract finishes or possibly slightly earlier if I’m lucky enough to get the right role.

2. Take the perm role and make do on the lower salary for two to three years and then hopefully I'll be in a better position to get a better paid permanent role or go back into contracting doing a role I want to do (not had any luck securing one of these this time round, possibly due to lack of experience).

I've spoken to a couple of recruiters who have suggested I take the permanent role as it's better to have continuity of the same roles on my CV. However I have a young family with my son about to go into nursery and my wife and I are looking to buy a bigger property as we're hoping to expand the family so the extra boost in income would really help albeit it's a short term boost. Plus the flexible and relaxed working environment helps if I have any baby related emergencies, although the permanent role may also be similarly flexible.

Slightly long winded but any advice would be great!

Thanks very much.

Diagro · 16 Aug 2019 at 15:46

Can you still make it work financially on the perm role?

A2Z · 16 Aug 2019 at 15:48

1. For SURE.

Jimbo88888 · 16 Aug 2019 at 16:00

Diagro said:
Can you still make it work financially on the perm role?

Yeah, the perm is still a decent salary and is in middle of the market range for this type of role. Also has the usual perm role perks e.g. private medical insurance, 6% pension, discounted gym membership, etc. Only thing it's lacking is a bonus.

Diagro · 16 Aug 2019 at 16:04

Jimbo88888 said:
Yeah, the perm is still a decent salary and is in middle of the market range for this type of role. Also has the usual perm role perks e.g. private medical insurance, 6% pension, discounted gym membership, etc. Only thing it's lacking is a bonus.

Personally, I'd take it.
Especially when you have a baby and nursery costs to pay soon.

A permanent salary is nice. Especially when you don't have to worry about the tax stuff or problems of lost income due to illness or childcare issues.

Jimbo88888 · 17 Aug 2019 at 09:43

Diagro said:
Personally, I'd take it.
Especially when you have a baby and nursery costs to pay soon.

A permanent salary is nice. Especially when you don't have to worry about the tax stuff or problems of lost income due to illness or childcare issues.

I am leaning towards the perm role due to the reasons you mention among others. Thanks for your opinion.

jdderbys · 20 Aug 2019 at 18:48

I run a team of 12 BA's containing both perms and contractors and i'm recruiting 4 more. I can say that both have benefits. IR35 may cause significant issues for you, and of course, all companies would rather replace contractors with perms so your stability isnt guaranteed for the full term. I can end any of my contractors with 7 days notice despite then being on fixed 6 month contracts. Thats always a worry as a contractir

If you have a number of contractor roles you will command a higher perm salary and the recruitment manager will probably value your skills on paper stronger than someone only having worked as a perm.

If you think IR35 will greatly affect you then i'd move into the perm role based on the fact that a) its the job you want and b) you can easily go back to contracting.

One other thought is as a contractor if you do a great job then many companies would happily transition you into a perm role at the top end of their salary band because you are a known entity and highly valued.

dowie · 20 Aug 2019 at 19:31

jdderbys said:
If you have a number of contractor roles you will command a higher perm salary and the recruitment manager will probably value your skills on paper stronger than someone only having worked as a perm.

That is interesting - why is that out of interest? Variety of experience at different organisation? An opinion that a contractor is probably skilled at the role in order to be able to move around/adapt quickly etc..? (Obviously there is a potential counter view there that some contractors couldn't progress any higher as perm employees and so needed to go contracting to get higher pay).

jdderbys · 21 Aug 2019 at 17:27

Because contracting is a natural progression for both experienced and quality BA's. If the average salary for a BA is 38-50k and the day rate for a good contractor is 400-500 the money is the a lot more tempting. I've found that better BA's often move into contracting or go to PM or PO route when they hit the earnings ceiling as there are not many BA managers or head of practice roles available. Plus they become more people managers and a lot of the best BA's doing want to give up the hands on delivery. Getting paid the most you can more something your good at masks a lot of sense.

They also see a lot of different environments and good ones adapt well. Also as explained in the book ultralearning, its the throwing themselves in the deep end which keeps them learning by doing in order hang onto their contract and day rate. If you want to temp a contractor back into perm most people will automatically offer the top end of the salary range knowing that it's still a big pay cut and you need to offer a great deal or they will just continue to contract. Natural instinct up to make the offer as high as possible.

At least that's my experience in 12 years as a BA. I've seen some terrible contractors but i also have some working for me that i'd cut off my right arm to try and get them to go perm.