A growing number of jobs in the United States are being offered on a contract basis. Essentially, a contract position is a job that lasts for a fixed quantity of time, such as three months or one year.

There are numerous reasons why you should engage in contract employment as part of your career. However, most people looking for work only focus on “permanent” work as a regular employee. These folks are passing up on the several opportunities offered by contract positions.

Work-life balance

A contract position gives you a lot of control over your schedule. You get more time to travel, raise kids and/or work on your own business. Essentially, your work/life balance is very much under your control.

Many people need a routine with rules and structure. These folks like having day that starts at 9 a.m. and ends at 5 p.m., for instance. On the other hand, contract workers should be able to find an arrangement that allows them to stay late, put in extra work and start the next day late or get off early.

Contract work also means not being restricted to just a few weeks of vacation time that can only be taken when someone else isn’t also on vacation. Contract professionals can use the time between contracts as vacation time, to travel or pursue other interests on your own terms.

Skip the office politics and pressure to impress

A different advantage of contract work is the ability to side step stress that comes with performance reviews and the typical office drama. In its place, you can concentrate on the work you were hired to do and getting out at a reasonable hour.

Having committed long term to one business, many staff members work in fear of formal reprimands and not impressing management with their work. They always have to think about their long-term prospects for promotions and making more money. Contract workers, conversely, are not seeking raises or a promotion, nor do their work in fear of making minor errors.

Contract work also means less emphasis on nonsense happening in the workplace and office politics. There is almost a sense of rising above everything and not getting stuck down in it.

Some contractors maintain this limited in engagement on the job has done wonders for their level of work-related stress.

Better career security

When you gain a good reputation as a contractor, you are building a brand for the rest of your professional life. A strong personal brand means you can switch to a full-time job; then go back to contract work if the full-time job doesn’t work out.

Because there’s always an open position at the Company of You, you can always go back there for work. Folks who don’t build that personal brand don’t have that option if they get let go from a job.

At Action Group Staffing, we work with men and women to find career opportunities that best work for them. If you would like to learn about the opportunities we currently have available, please contact us today.