whilst many people thrive on the freedom and flexibility that contracting offers, others find they don’t have the discipline and organizational skills that they need to go it alone. Many successful employees find that once removed from the secure embrace of a large company where they were told what to do, things aren’t quite so easy. This article will look at some of those downsides and the barriers they present to potential contractors and highlight how the truly determined can overcome any potential problems that might come along. http://hamiltonbradbury.co.uk/contracting/is-it-for-you/

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What it takes to be a Contractor

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Overview - whats covered
For many people who have made the leap into contracting already the advantages of the contracting working style massively
outweigh the disadvantages and it can be hard to understand why everyone isn’t doing the same thing.
But there’s no security in contracting
So what happens if I can’t find any
contracts?
Will I Have The Right Skills?
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For people who are yet to make the leap one of the things that
give them pause for thought is that when they leave their
companies behind they also leave the security of their monthly
paycheck. Not only that, they also leave behind company
pensions and pension contributions, company holidays and any
extra benefits such as health or dental, company cars or gym
memberships. However for most this is the reason they do it.
Make The Right
Decision
Most contractors are people who are sick of being told what to do and what projects to work on and who are fed up with the direction their career is
heading. For these people contracting is the ideal solution. They see the way the world is going – there are no such things as jobs for life anymore – and
think that they would rather rely on their own skills and determination than a company run by other people. For many contractors the flexibility and
freedom of contracting allows them to ensure that no one ever derails their career. They are in charge and they can put measures in place to build their
own security. How? By taking advantage of the extra pay that comes with contracting and putting some aside every month for those rainy days. By
choosing their own individual contractor pensions (an excellent tax break for contractors incidentally) and health plans, contractor mortgages and other
contractor oriented financial products. And by ensuring that there are few, if any rainy days:
But there’s no security in contracting…
The idea of being out there on their own is both the biggest draw and the biggest barrier to contracting.
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Clearly if a contractor can’t find contracts then his/her
contracting career isn’t going to last long. But most contractors
find a way to ensure that they always have contracts lined up.
And these days, provided a contractor has the required
experience and skills there are more than enough jobs to go
around as companies move increasingly to outsourcing certain
jobs to temporary and contract staff. And if a potential
contractor is having any doubts about the amount of work that
is out there, all they need do is spend some time online
browsing through the thousands of job boards and job sites
offering a wide range of jobs across every industry – and the
specific job sites targeted at each contracting sector.
Make The Right
Decision
So what happens if I can’t find any contracts?
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Some contractors will look at contracting as a suitable career only
for those people with a specifically niche skill and to a certain
degree they would be right. Most contractors, or successful ones at
least, do have particular niche skills that are clear-cut and in-
demand and they therefore can charge a premium to companies for
those services. They will normally be something that they did
particularly well for their previous employer and want to
concentrate on and which they therefore want to transfer into the
contracting market.
Make The Right
Decision
Will I Have The Right Skills?
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That is the standard model and it is true, it is possible not to be suited to contracting because of a lack of niche skills. However it is not always the case. There are
hundreds upon hundreds of contracts out there for contractors who are good organizers or project managers, who have experience of managing capacity or who
are able to slot into a firm for a few months because staff have gone on sick leave or maternity leave. Indeed if a contractor has experience of serious project
management (on say, large scale IT projects) then they will find themselves constantly in demand. And at the other end of the scale it is also possible to be too
niche for contracting. It might be that a contractor’s niche skills are redundant anywhere else but their previous place of employment. This could be because they
worked on outdated computer code or an old legacy system which is all but extinct elsewhere. But even in such cases it is easy for employees who feel their skills
might not be in massive demand in the contracting world to retrain before they make the leap. All it takes is some research as to the point where current skills and
passions intersect with what the market is looking for.

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Thanks
Hamilton Bradbury
The Foundry, 156 Blackfriars Road
London, SE1 8EN
United Kingdom
Phone: 0800 808 5427
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