Say Yes To Contracting


by Mark Lim T.T. - Date: 2010-08-25 - Word Count: 343 Share This!

Singapore's successful positioning as an attractive destination has led numerous international banks to base their operations and IT infrastructure here. More often than not, an organisation's strategy to set up its new team would include hiring permanent resources, as well as outsourcing specific operations to various IT services companies and independent contractors.

A contractor is a specialist in a specific area who is hired for a fixed term to complete an allocated task. Because these people are professionals in their area of expertise, they are typically paid a premium salary.

An individual specialising in a technical field has two career choices - to take on the managerial career route, or to become an expert individual contributor. Contracting is a very popular career path in western countries such as Europe, USA, UK, Australia and New Zealand. This is due to the flexibility it provides to an individual's lifestyle - contracting professionals often make use of the breaks in-between contracts to pursue hobbies or travel plans.

A majority of IT professionals generally have a high preference for specialising in a niche area whilst moving on from one organisation to another. This allows them an opportunity to gain exposure to new environments, technologies and projects which contribute to their knowledge and expertise. Based on the types of projects they are exposed to, they are often able to increase their rates after garnering adequate experience in various areas of expertise.

From an organisational perspective, there are many benefits of hiring talents on contract:
• Completing a six-month task in three months by employing an expert provides a more cost-effective solution to an organisation.
• Having a pool of contractors offers more flexibility in maintaining the work-force balance in times of downturn.
• Contracting offers an initial insight into new markets which will help in making manpower decisions in countries with stricter labour laws.
• Headcount issues can be easily managed by hiring talents on contract and passing on the responsibility of HR administration to professional organisations instead.
• Organisations have the flexibility to transfer talents from one project to another based on appropriate skills-sets required for different projects.

Related Tags: contract jobs, contracting jobs, singapore temporary jobs, short term jobs

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