6 Month Contract Offer

After a lot of networking and chasing up I managed to get a job offer at a F500 firm. The job, salary and benefits are all great. The problem is the offer is a 6 month contract starts from August and ends in February (with a potential conversion to a full time role).

If the team keep me on, there is no problem (except I would have spent 6 months trying to prove myself instead of being in a full time role and long term I guess this role wouldn't 'count' as full time experience).
If the team don't keep me on, I am in a worse situation as very few firms are still hiring in February/March time.

As I've been unemployed for 1+ year I can understand why the firm is offering this type of contract. I'm worried about taking the contract, as when I previously worked for a F500 company with a 'potential FT role' after the internship, I was left unemployed because there was no headcount in the team.

I have no other offers on the table (or forthcoming interviews).
Should I take the offer? (I have tried negotiating the 6 months with HR but they will not change it)

 

Well, is this something you would like to do? If not, do you have the financial means to stay unemployed for the next 6 months or next year? How are your prospects looking?

Worse come to worse, you take it and they do not extend the full time offer. You can try to recruit again explaining to recruiters that this was strictly a 6 month internship.

 

It looks like a nice role so I am happy with the offer/firm/etc.

I could stay unemployed and look for other things but I got this role after a lot of difficulty (mostly because I'm not eligible for quite a lot post-graduation and have an unemployment gap on my resume) that passing it up may not be a good idea. I'm just worried if I give it my all, add end up being told there is no headcount again, that will suck (that's what happened last time and I was pretty annoyed about it). However at this point I am sick of unemployment so may be just compromising...?

I can continue recruiting in the meantime but typically no roles start in Feb/March so I could potentially be looking at another 6 month wait should I not be offered to continue with the team/unable to land something starting directly after.

 
Best Response

Personally, I'd say take it. You really don't have much to lose from what i can tell. I think that regardless of what you expect the outcome to be, it has more upside than downside. Also, if you see the writing on the wall towards the end of the stint you can look around and put feelers out, possibly land something while you are still at the role (Yes, I know you said you finish in a low hiring period but you never know).

It would suck to do the 6 months and end up with nothing, but I think it would suck more to go 6 more months unemployed.

 

Take it for now. I started on a contract position and networked near the end of it to full time with an another group. Your chances are much better with the bigger network. Personally, the sting of being unemployed for longer would drive me crazy.

PE is the new black.
 

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