People take temporary work contracts for various reasons. Some want to find work in a different or related area and may take a temporary contract to fill a gap in employment before finding a permanent position. For others, depending on the field of work and the level of skill and experience required, temporary contracts make up part of a freelance career. While others still just have no choice if permanent work is scarce.
Whatever the reason for taking short term temporary work contracts, making the experience work for you is the secret to your future career success. In this blog I consider the opportunities of such an experience, whether the temporary work contract is in a related career field to the one you want or otherwise. And how to exploit the opportunities to help you achieve your career goals.
What’s in it for me?
The opportunities offered by temporary work contacts are varied. How you go about taking advantage of those opportunities will depend on your career choice and whether you are a career starter or a seasoned professional.
Soft skills development
Employers often comment that newly qualified or inexpedience new recruits lack soft skills. If this sounds like you a temporary work contract is your opportunity to develop and evidence such skills to a future employer. Evidencing the ability to interact with others, communicate well across all mediums and time manage will add credibility to your CV that empty buzz words never convey.
Tangilble Skills and knowledge acquisition
Whatever stage of your career you are at, there is always an opportunity to seek and enhance your job ready skills. This could be learning new software applications or industry specific regulations. If there is a chance to upskill, take it.
Contacts
Networking is an obvious advantage no matter how unrelated the temporary work contract might be to your career choice. Take the example of a graphic designer with a temporary contract as an admin assistant to a coffee chain. Within this role you might meet the decision maker or future decision maker for advertising at the company. You may meet others who will go on to work for businesses that would either employ designers or use such services. Or just someone who happens to know someone who can help with your career ambitions in the future. The point is you never know, so make the effort to nurture business relationships now. They may prove invaluable further down the line.
Training or industry events, team meetings and coffee breaks provide great opportunities to network. While LinkedIn is the go to online networking opportunity. So make connections while the people you’re connecting to remember who you are.
A stepping stone
Using a career related temporary contract as a stepping stone to your chosen career relies on you taking advantage of the opportunity to impress. If you are given a job to do, do it well. Show interest and don’t attempt to prove your worth over your colleagues. Ability to be productive within a team is an important attribute that will interest the current and future employer. Causing dissatisfaction and dissension will not be welcome. This doesn’t mean you should not highlight your achievements, whether in a team meeting or at a coffee break. Just be careful not to belittle others or highlight their shortcomings through your achievements when you do so.
Diversification of industry
If your career field is not industry specific you might want to use temporary work contracts to build experience across different industries. Often employers look for new recruits with industry specific experience, whether the role is in accountancy, marketing, administration or sales. If your specific skills apply to a range of businesses you could widen your career options by building your skills and knowledge across industries.
Try before you buy
If the employer has hired a temporary worker to assess whether or not they would be a good fit for a permanent job, this is your chance to shine. This does happen, so getting the most out of your temporary work experience is all about the right attitude. If you approach every temporary work opportunity as if it were a job interview, you cant go wrong.
Is a permanent job offer likely?
If a permanent job offer is the goal, bear in mind it may not always be the outcome. This is unlikely to have anything to do with how well you carried out your work. Bear in mind that there are many reasons an employer will engage a temporary worker. Unfortunately this means it may not be with the intention of making a permanent job offer. As Malcolm Brady and Anthony Briody observed in research carried out in 2016 “temporary employment contracts increase flexibility and reduce irreversibility for the organization and shift risk from the institution to the employee”. In other words, the employer may not want to invest in employing someone permanently.
At a time of economic uncertainty, it makes the case for temporary workers to exploit every advantage available while in the role for their own gain.
In addition, many employers use temporary contracts as a solution to an immediate problem. For instance, to cover maternity leave, a sabbatical or for support in delivering a project. It offers a way to limit investment in training if specialist skills are required, avoid long term employment costs or cover short term periods of increased work.
That’s not to say a permanent job will not be on offer at the end of the temporary contract. In a good many instances it is. Just that you should be prepared for that not being the case.
And finally…
Temporary work contracts are a great solution for job seekers that want a freelance or portfolio career. Or those who would like to get on the job ladder for a particular career area. Having a career plan that addresses your goals makes sense. This is irrespective of whether there is a job offer at the end of the temporary contract. Exploit every opportunity you can while on the job. That way you ensure the temporary work experience always delivers a positive outcome for you.