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5 Ways Contracting Can Fast Track Your Career

Contract roles have always been popular across the mining, energy and infrastructure sectors thanks to the financial benefits and flexibility they offer. But what many project managers may not realise is that contracting is also a great way to fast track your career.

Contracting today provides a level of choice and control that can be hard to match. For some that may be flexibility around the type of role or project you take on or choosing a roster that suits both your career ambitions and personal circumstances. For others, it provides an ideal way to accumulate the breadth and variety of experience required to secure the role you are working towards as your long-term goal.

If you are a project manager thinking about a contract role now or in the future, here are five career-related benefits to consider.

1. Exposure to a wide variety of roles

The ability to gain practical experience in a broad range of roles, company types and industries is one of the main benefits contracting can deliver. For project managers at the start of their career, it can be the perfect way to determine which stages of the project lifecycle you enjoy working on the most. For example do you prefer the early stages of risk analysis, forecasting and defining a projects’ scope, or are you better suited to the execution phase of taking a capital works project through to delivery? As a more senior project manager looking to change sectors, you may find value in taking up a contract role to show potential employers that your skills are more than just a theoretical fit. Securing a permanent role will then be easier as you now have both position and sector experience. 

2. Ability to forward plan your career

Many project managers use contracting as a way to quickly secure the range of experience required to secure their ideal long-term role. This process involves mapping out the skills and project experience required, then seeking out a series of contract roles or certain projects that will provide the practical exposure needed. This is a long-term, calculated approach using contracting to your advantage. Exposure to different project types and environments also looks great on your resume and ensures you don’t become pigeonholed in one particular area. This is an additional benefit to personality types that enjoy variety and change.

Contracting can also be used as a bridging strategy to a permanent role within an organisation. Many employers will often take on a contractor with the view to it leading to a long-term role.

3. Showcase the soft skills that employers value

Adaptability is something all employers are looking for. Succeeding in a contracting role is a very practical way to demonstrate your ability to adapt and achieve results in a project related position. This is not always as easy to do in a full-time corporate role. Specific examples can include your ability to adapt to the challenges of a FIFO role, delivering on project objectives within a set, tightly-managed, rostered-on time frame, and the adaptability to work with different teams and individuals to deliver your project on time and within budget.

4. Quickly grow your professional network

Contracting is an excellent way to expand your professional network. You can form strong relationships with a wider range of colleagues across industries simply by working on a series of different projects with different companies. This can be incredibly helpful when it comes time to secure your next role. A high percentage of roles today are filled by referrals. Here at Concentis, reaching out to our networks is one of the first actions we take when hiring for a specific role. Building a large and connected network will help increase the likelihood your name is put forward when a new role becomes available. That role could well be the ideal job you have been working towards. Strong networks are invaluable as a project manager.

5. Personal benefits that support your career choices 

It takes more than securing a great role to enjoy a successful career. Factors outside the role itself can also have a major impact on job satisfaction. Contracting presents three distinct opportunities that often lead to individuals enjoying their job on both a professional and personal level due to the flexibility, choice and control provided. These benefits include:

• Higher rates of pay: Typically, contractors are paid more than a permanent employee carrying out the same role. This is simply because contractors are paid by the hour. You are remunerated for the hours you work rather than a set salary regardless of the hours put in. Feeling financially valued is a key component in career satisfaction.
• Flexibility: Work/life balance is the holy grail for many and contracting gives you a level of flexibility that can help achieve the exact balance you are looking for. For some of our contractors that means working a 2/2 FIFO roster so they can spend two solid weeks at home with their young family each month. For others, it means a longer swing that allows them to complete other projects in their block of R&R time such as studying, renovating an investment property or travelling. You can shape a contracting role to suit the life you want to create.
• Avoiding office politics: As a contractor, you are less connected to issues around office and company politics. You are hired to deliver a clearly defined objective and that is your main focus. This provides a nice, natural separation that allows you to keep out of the political issues that permanent staff often need to navigate to get ahead. You can simply come in, do your job, deliver on your objectives and enjoy the experience without needing to play the company game. 

Every project-based role has pros and cons that must be evaluated to suit each individual. However, what is clear is that project managers looking to fast track their career or utilise the flexibility, choice and control that contracting offers can really reap the benefits with a little forward planning.