Who has done this

This has been a Krallum inquiry

12/26/2012 8:02:07 PM

Is it a position specifically called "Contract to Hire", or is it a contracting position that has the potential to hire at the end?

I was a contractor at a company, but I wasn't told the position was contract to hire. They did tend to hire contractors full time at the end of the term if they were designated as good employees, though. The contract was for 1 year with the potential for a 6 month extension. After that, you either had your contract expire or were hired. I was told that anything after that 18 month period caused legal haziness in terms about their intentions to hire you full time. I'm sure other companies or fields might do it differently (testing/programming was my area).

I ended up being hired, but due to company policies a formal position had to be opened to the public. I had to interview for the position just like anyone else. This included talking with HR which is always a joy . Let's just say I understand the character of Catbert now.

Of all the contractors that have interviewed for their own position (albeit full-time), there have been two times that HR put up a full-blown hissy-fit. One time the contractor actually ended up not being hired. There was something about his resume that was untruthful, so someone outside the company got hired. The other time, our group wanted to hire the contractor but HR wanted a different candidate and put their foot down. He ended up being flown to the Business Unit HQ and had to interview with a bunch of higher ups to get the nod.

Hopefully your "Contract to Hire" is a bit more ironclad in its expectations.

12/26/2012 10:27:04 PM

Contracting agencies say a whole lot of stuff about "contract 2 hire" when they talk to you making you assume that's what your doing. However, once you get the job and fill out their 200 pages of paperwork it always ends up being a indefinite permatemp position.

12/27/2012 5:55:50 AM

Ive had two "contract to hire" jobs and luckily got hired on both times. If you do a good job, eventually you will be brought on full time however this may take months or years. Contractors cost quite a bit more than permanent therefore in the long run the company benefits from converting you if they think you are worth it (aka not going to get fired or quitting).

12/27/2012 8:33:38 AM

^Right. I'm under the impression that most contract positions are only so because its easy to fire you if you suck. The contract is 3rd party I think, and they gave me all of the information about the perm position. Was the reason they had to open it to the public because you were there for so long?

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[Edited on December 27, 2012 at 8:52 AM. Reason : --><//]

12/27/2012 8:51:07 AM

I currently work as a contractor (perma type). I get 401k, 15 pto days + holidays, etc. The company I work for has a contract for this position across the US for this one company. So in order for me to lose my job they would have to lose the contract.

It's fun and to be honest it gives me a sort of layer to get out of stuff. I can say "well im contractor I can't really do that". So its definitely a get of jail free sometimes.

12/27/2012 9:01:26 AM

Quote :

"I can say "well im contractor I can't really do that". So its definitely a get of jail free sometimes."

...lol

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12/27/2012 9:21:27 AM

im serious. I was sent some 200+ questionnaire from HR that the company needed to fill out. I point blank said no, i was a contractor. If i answered a question wrong then the company could be fined and i could lose my job.

12/27/2012 9:29:14 AM

I've never been contracted, why were you exempt? Because technically you aren't an employee? Was it not anonymous or something?

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[Edited on December 27, 2012 at 9:45 AM. Reason : --><//]

12/27/2012 9:45:11 AM

They are under constant audit and often times IT is managed/outsourced as well. So i can't speak for networking security or server hardening. I punt it to the guys who need to answer it.

12/27/2012 9:57:15 AM

Oh well, I talked to the chick and its definitely for a perm position.

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12/27/2012 11:27:34 AM

I think a lot of companies are trending towards contract-to-hire to cover themselves in case it doesn't work out. They basically get a test run with you for 6-months to a year, and by then they have a good idea if you're a good fit/employee and can hire you if they'd like.

Myself and another guy did a 6-month to hire contract with our current company and we both got offered at the same time. Didn't require any further interviews or any headache either. Probably just depends on the company. It was the first time doing "contract-to-hire", not really as bad as I had imagined it would be.

12/27/2012 3:28:20 PM

Quote :

"Was the reason they had to open it to the public because you were there for so long?"

It was just a company policy. Any time a job position opened, it _must_ be posted to the public to allow everyone a fair chance. HR didn't care that they opened the position for a specific person whom basically had an extended 1.5 year interview. To some extent I can understand the position of HR wanting to protect against a good-ol'-boys network hiring unqualified friends, but in my case it just ended up wasting a lot of time for everyone else who interviewed for the job.

12/29/2012 1:13:00 PM

I am in a permanent position and started with a short contract as an extended interview.

12/29/2012 1:46:40 PM