Categories: Business

Contracting vs Full-Time Employment

The idea of becoming self-employed is something a lot of us think about doing but never make the jump. After all, it can be a scary transition to make, especially if you don’t have much experience working contracts or have many friends that can help within the industry. It’s always a good idea to compare the two options to see how you could benefit from a transition into contracting rather than staying in full-time employment.

Brookson compares the differences between the two and how you gain to benefit from becoming self-employed.

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Income

The first difference many people pick up on and are attracted to is the prospect of increased income. Contractors get paid at a higher rate per hour compared to full-time employees for their highly desired skillset. Usually for a short period of time, as businesses need work completed quickly and don’t have the time to train their full-time staff to a high level. It’s much more cost efficient to hire a high skilled contractor to complete the work.

Because of this, you’ll find that you’ll be doing the work you want to do and you’ll be getting paid at a much higher rate for it.

Control

While getting paid at a higher rate is all well and good, if you don’t have control then some people find that there’s little point. Fortunately, this is where contracting shines, as you are your own boss. You get to decide what work you take on when you do it and how much you’ll be getting paid.

Since you are the product so to speak, you get to make all of these decisions, you’ll never be doing work that you don’t want to be doing. Even having the choice of turning down work if your skills are in too high of demand and you just don’t have the time to take on every job that comes your way.

With full-time employment you’re at the whim of your employer, you don’t get to choose the work you do (within reason) and without using your holidays you rarely get to choose the hours that you work. This lack of control is what convinces many people to choose the contracting path when looking to their future.

Skills

As previously mentioned, the skills you possess and choose to enhance are the product. Because of this, you get to choose what skills you then develop and what you decide to take on. As a full-time employee is often difficult to find the time to learn new skills and employers regularly refuse to pay for particular training.

As a contractor, it’s up to you whether you feel potential skills will become useful to you and whether businesses will want to hire you for them. Your personal development is at your own fingertips, whether you want to buy a book or go on a course, it’s all up to you.

These are just a few comparisons between contracting and full-time employment, with advantages to both sides. If you’re looking for more freedom, control, and income at the end of the year and you’re ready to take on more responsibility, contracting is the perfect path for you!

If you are interested in even more business-related articles and information from us here at Bit Rebels then we have a lot to choose from.