Author Topic: How would you handle a temporary (for you, not the company) full-time position?  (Read 3753 times)

DebtFreeBy25

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I'm currently interviewing for a full-time work from home position that I would consider temporary. It is a permanent position with the company, but I wouldn't consider it a good long-term role for me for salary reasons.

I left a position with an unethical company a few weeks ago because at 60ish hours a week and 50%+ national travel my search for another job was going nowhere. In the past few weeks, I've learned that this search is likely to last at least another couple of months. I'm currently freelancing but am concerned about the not great income and lack of health insurance. To be completely transparent, I'm close to being FI now and have the resources to support a long search, but I'm paranoid about the impact of a gap in full-time employment to my marketability. This potential "temporary" position is a great short-term fit for me because it's 100% remote, utilizes one of my skill sets, sounds relatively easy (for me, not necessarily for anyone) and at 40 hours a week or potentially less (!) would give me the time to continue to freelance and pursue more lucrative positions.

I have been in a similar situation once previously but could still use some advice. Have any of you accepted a full-time position and continued your job search uninterrupted? If so, how did you handle your current position on applications and in interviews? Did you feel that you needed to stay in the interim position for a certain amount of time? Did you feel that the "temporary" job helped or hurt your marketability? The particular position that I'm currently considering would be an asset for some of my preferred jobs, but I'd be hesitant to voluntarily disclose it because the salary's so low (about half of what I'm targeting) and I'd be wiling to move on almost immediately for the right position.

As I mentioned above, I've accepted a full-time job as a resume filler/interim gig once before. In a similar scenario, previous employer #2's leadership also behaved unethically, tried to force me to behave unethically and required 60+ hours/week including weekends.  When I indicated that I was going to resign (per their ridiculous one month notice policy), horrible employer #2 forced me out immediately. At the time, I had significantly less experience and financial resources. After about a month of searching I accepted a sales position as a resume filler to avoid having to list a gap. I continued to apply for jobs in my field uninterrupted. In that situation, I wasn't concerned about disclosing the interim job because it obviously was not a great use of my skills. Ironically after passing on a few jobs in my field because they paid terribly, I was promoted to regional manager with the employer I didn't consider long-term. Unfortunately, a few months later the company was bought out by their biggest competitor, who planned to either substantially reduce my base salary or eliminate my job entirely, so I moved on to another position.


nereo

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What kind of time-scales are we talking about? 
Is temporary here 3-6 months?  1-2 years?  More/less?
Why are you so certain the position will be "temporary"?

(note: all positions filled by humans are temporary - some just last longer than others)


DebtFreeBy25

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What kind of time-scales are we talking about? 
Is temporary here 3-6 months?  1-2 years?  More/less?
Why are you so certain the position will be "temporary"?

(note: all positions filled by humans are temporary - some just last longer than others)

The position is permanent for the employer. It would be temporary for me because I'm qualified for and would be seeking a better paying position elsewhere. I don't have a good guess as to how long it would take for me to find a more appropriate position that I'd want to accept. I'm guessing at least a few months which is why I'm considering an interim position. My last "temporary" role last 5 months and ended with me being promoted by the "interim" employer, so anything could happen.

AZDude

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How many short-term jobs are on your resume? If you a generally good resume and work history, with just a blip or two... not a big deal.

Just make sure you do your best at the "temp" job, and not take their money while surfing for a better gig.

DebtFreeBy25

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How many short-term jobs are on your resume? If you a generally good resume and work history, with just a blip or two... not a big deal.

Just make sure you do your best at the "temp" job, and not take their money while surfing for a better gig.

I currently have one job on my resume that lasted less than a year. That would be previous employer #2 briefly described in the first post. I stayed for a total of tens months when I really should have left after one (took a while to work up the courage to quit). I have another job that lasted only a year, but that was due to the corporate acquisition described in the original post. Overall, my work history is okay. I don't have any gaps, but I'm not afraid to move on from a bad situation (definitely learned my lesson there).

I do a good job at any job out of habit. I performed well enough at my last "temp" job to get promoted to a respectable position with that company after 5 months. I'm definitely not worried about not doing a good job.

bobechs

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Woah, you seem like a bit of handful; finding again and again that you are in a compromised ethical position.

I would worry more about what that is all about, whatever it is, about than obsessing about a resume gap. 

Frankly, I don't know how this national resume gap fetish got launched but I guess it's out there now, fwiw.  So don't listen to me.

ShoulderThingThatGoesUp

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Woah, you seem like a bit of handful; finding again and again that you are in a compromised ethical position.

Agreed, though maybe OP really has had bad luck with employers.

AZDude

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I'm the same way, but I work in technology and places are usually more forgiving about short stints than other fields. I have had to explain myself a couple of times over my work history, but generally speaking, they accept my answers and move on.

My advice if it ever comes up is to be honest, do not run from your history, and use the answer to explain why you are awesome and will be worth it regardless of how long you stay.

DebtFreeBy25

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Woah, you seem like a bit of handful; finding again and again that you are in a compromised ethical position.

I would worry more about what that is all about, whatever it is, about than obsessing about a resume gap. 

Frankly, I don't know how this national resume gap fetish got launched but I guess it's out there now, fwiw.  So don't listen to me.

Most recent employer lied to the client about their technology platform to sign the project I was working on. They continued to lie to the client about their technology platform for the next six months and tried to enlist me in telling bold face lies. No, these were not small lies. They claimed to have a technology suite that did not exist and will not exist until at least 2017 (best case scenario). I'd worked for this employer for about a year prior to this situation, and they were okay up until they sold this particular deal. I was looking to move on because of the way they did business. I left because I was completely miserable working 60 hours/week and traveling 50%+ for a project that should have already been completed. (The project kept dragging on because my employer still didn't have the technology that they told the client they had in spring 2015.) If my position were more manageable, I would have stayed until I found another job, but with the hours and the travel, that wasn't happening. 

Horrible employer #2 was a union, and though I remain pro-labor, the best word to describe the director of the division I worked for is thug. This union had no problem intentionally misleading the employers they dealt with, using underhanded schemes to gain an advantage or using members, staff or management as pawns to advance personal or union agendas. (Quick example: they had union employees pose as potential customers to deceitfully gain access to nursing home during an organizing campaign.) My biggest mistake was not leaving as soon as I discovered how they operated. To be fair to my younger self, the national union does not share this terrible reputation, and there was no way of knowing just how bad this particular district was until I worked there.

I really don't care whether anyone considers me a "handful". I have standards (not even high standards, reasonable standards) and refuse to compromise them for some job. I do not want to work for an employer that risks getting themselves sued on a regular basis. I do not want to work for an employer that damages my professional reputation. If that makes me high maintenance, I'm okay with that. I don't need a job badly enough to work in situation like the ones I described above.