Contractors are self-employed professionals who work for other organisations for a set period of time. Contractors might also be called freelancers or sole traders, and are usually highly skilled in their field and making a living from regular contracting work.
Contracting can give the contractor flexibility to choose when and where you work, which can be very appealing in certain industries or at certain times in a person’s life. Of course, there are also potential downsides to consider. Here are some examples:
- Can you find enough contracts or clients to make a stable living?
- Do you know where to find information about paying your taxes and registering as a sole trader?
- Do you feel confident about negotiating terms of your contract with big organisations?
Contracting allows you to network between different companies and meet lots of people, but often for short periods of time. So, if you’re the kind of person looking to make deep and lasting friendships at work this might not be the route for you!
If you’d like to find out more about this career path, there are some useful resources below. Over the next two weeks we will also have more blog posts about contracting and freelancing, from someone working in the field and from an accountancy firm who specialise in contractor accounts.
Resources:
Contractor Calculator article on the advantages and disadvantages of contracting
10 things to consider when contracting (Computer Weekly article)
‘What is a Contractor’ blog post (Crunch.co.uk)
A big thank you to our Career Ambassador, India, for her hard work in researching for this blog post!