temporary OR permament job

bronzie

I did a placement for a company last summer - not particulary interesting job but it was something different within my field that I thought would look good on my CV, it was meant to be for 6 weeks but I ended up staying on 2 days a week up till March of this year. Then in late April I got an email saying that they had recommended me to a colleague in another team in the company and did I want to get in touch, I did and I am now with them on a 3 month contract. Two months in and I absolutely love it, the people, the job, the offices - everything, I overheard my supervisor discussing with my manager last week about the possibility of extending my contract and its got me thinking. I can't keep living forever on temporary contract forever its not practical and I need to make plans for the future?

So to cut a long story short do you think I should stick it out where I am in the hope of tehm offering me something permament or should I give up and look elsewhere?

melancholly

well, it won't do any harm to look while you wait, will it?! that's what i'd do.... i'd push for a permanent job anyway. as a temp you have very few rights, no holiday pay (unless you've been there a long time anyway), and they can fire you at zero notice!

with a month to go, can't you just ask your manager whether there will be a possibility for more work, as otherwise you'll need to start looking for something else. it's entirely reasonable to do that and i can't imagine the people you're working for now would be annoyed - they have given you no long term security, so it's in your interests to get something lined up for a month's time.

bronzie

Yes but I dont really want them to know I am looking elsewhere then they might think that I am not commited to them

melancholly

bronzie wrote: »

Yes but I dont really want them to know I am looking elsewhere then they might think that I am not commited to them

well if they aren't guarenteeing to give you a job a month from now, they can't expect you to not be looking, can then?! it's not a lack of committment from you that's the problem!

Voyager2002

If you are on a temp contract with just a month to go, they will assume that you are looking elsewhere. You have nothing to lose by asking about further employment, and potentially could gain a lot.

zzzLazyDaisy

I am assuming that you are employed directly with this company and not through a temping agency?

If that assumption is correct, then once you have been employed by the company for a continuous period of 12 months (whether full-time or P/T) then you have full employment status and protection under the law.

This does not mean than your employment cannot be terminated, but it does mean that they cannot dismiss you without a fair reason. If the reason was that your current contract has ended (ie redundancy) then they have an obligation to look for alternative employment within the company and to offer it to you. So if you are approaching 12 months, hang in there!!

However if you are employed through an agency, the above comments don't apply.

It sounds as if the company likes you and wants to keep you. If I were you, I'd have an informal chat with your manager or someone in the HR department and make it clear that you enjoy working for them and ask what your prospects are of staying with the company when the current temporary position ends.

Good Luck!

EDIT - sorry, just re-read your post and see that you had a break in your employment with them. If the break was for more than one week, saturday to saturday, then the 12 months starts again from when you went back to work for them

bronzie

Thank you for all your advice, I have a meeting tomorrow might try and get a word with my supervisor then

findingmyownway

By looking for other jobs (and making sure they know you are) you show yourself to be a proactive person. This makes you more desirable to them - not less.

I think you are more likely to be offered a permanent position if you make an effort to ask for one / apply elsewhere. If they think you are happy bobbing along on temp contract then they have no reason to commit to you and give you the benefits that go with perm contract.

melancholly

bronzie wrote: »

Thank you for all your advice, I have a meeting tomorrow might try and get a word with my supervisor then

any news on how that meeting went btw?! hope it went well!

bronzie

I had a chat with my manager and she said that they can offer me another three months (which I accepted). She said that there is restructuring going on in the dept and they are waiting to find out if they will be allocated the funds to employ me, not sure when that’s going to happen but I have decided to just stay put and see what happens for the moment I mean if they don’t know after six months then they’ll never know...

melancholly

glad that went ok! i guess you can also keep an eye out for anything else that comes up and it sounds like you'll be guarenteed a great reference from them too!