“Try it before you buy it” is a popular sales slogan to encourage customers to take a chance on a new product or service. Yet, this slogan is also being used by employers offering lucrative and highly competitive technology jobs. They’re looking to “try out” employees for a trial period before hiring people on full-time, full-benefits. No matter how well-screened a candidate is, there is always a chance that the job or the company will be a wrong fit.
So, employers may offer technology jobs as:
- Internships
- Temp Agency Hires
- Contract-To-Hire Positions
- Probationary Period Hires.
Dice Holdings data found that technology jobs more frequently fall under the “contract-to-hire” umbrella than other industries. For instance, only 8 percent of finance workers were contractors, whereas 48 percent of technology jobs listed on Dice.com were looking for contractors. Twenty-seven percent advertised the positions as “contract-to-hire,” specifically, which indicated that there would be a beginning, middle and end to the opportunity – whether it was to be hired or let go.
It can be a scary and frustrating prospect for the seekers of such technology jobs. If you just started work as a contractor-for-hire, it’s probably not time to celebrate by purchasing a big screen TV or new car. You may have a year – or even two – of testing the waters before you have any type of job security! Knowing how to manage your expectations in this industry is the name of the game.