I’m not cut out to be a contractor

[Wishiwasonabeachinmaldives]

I was made redundant this year in March. I got a job really quickly but they’ve contracted me out to another company. They have given me the most boring tasks I can do in my sleep and I feel like I just don’t belong. Stupid things like it was a persons anniversary and we were sent an email to congratulate him on this. I went to the link and I couldn’t get on it as I was a contractor basically! I sent him an email but there’s a lot of things I am not party to. I’m usually a very good connector with people but as I started this job as a contractor as soon as I started my new job I feel I don’t belong in either camp! I also feel I’ve taken a massive demotion! Work know how I’m feeling and is trying to drop down my allocations but want me to wait till after Christmas! I was head of dept at my last job and I knew everything that was going on. They’re also not v organised and I offered to chair a meeting every month. I’m on hol soon and asked for a volunteer and got a snidey remark via email from a director saying they were sure they could do without a chair for one week! I’m sure they can but they do often spend too long in discussion on something minor and then often we run out of time when others had topics! I was told not to be innovative but it makes me feel like shit not adding value! I applied for a couple of jobs this week as a result! Is it best to try and get a more interesting role! I’m grateful to the company giving me an opportunity but feel I’m doing very little in a day to challenge me!

I say this from being a contractor and also having experience of being a permanent member of staff too but I think you are overreaching your remit as a contractor and acting like an employee (albeit a good one). This is then frustrating permanent members of staff.

I suspect from what you have written that the company culture does not fit.

It's frustrating for a conscientious person, however as a contractor you're not meant to get involved in company policy, politics, social etc and so you feel powerless to change anything (improve things) but again that is not part of your role as a contractor. You are there just to fulfill your contract, nothing more.

I would continue to look for other roles - preferably permanent ones where you get a good sense of the company culture before you start and preferably one where you can be in a position to act on those things that need improving/ changing.

Thanks. My job is full time with the company that contracted me out. However they are negotiating 2 year contracts with them!! I am getting great feedback but that’s because the work is in my wheelhouse and I’ve been doing it for years. It’s annoying as my colleague reports to someone else who is really involving her in interesting work and said her LM was really asking what she was interested in pursuing! This company has loads of contractors some of whom were made permanent! Most people are nice but some a treat you like you don’t know anything!

The problem was getting a new job quickly and then not applying for anything else at the time. You knew from the start this wasn’t the right job for you, and so why has it taken you until now to start looking elsewhere?

personally if you were the head of department at your old role, you’re going to find a lot of tasks to be beneath you, you’re going to find it annoying not being in the loop and not being part of the core team. So like it was always obvious that this would have been the outcome…

Probably but I need a job like anyone else to pay the mortgage and support the family! And there ain’t a lot out there the last time I was looking! I’ve only been in this role a short time so it looks odd if you move so quick. The roles I’ve applied for are head of dept and they don’t come up v often! There’s a lot of lay offs in my industry just now and I don’t have savings!

I totally sympathise. I also found myself as a contractor for a period almost by accident (again, mostly driven by the need to earn money and a very sticky job market) and I really missed feeling ‘part of things’. My current role is consultancy and it’s not wholly different in that I work frequently in different teams and still don’t really have that sense of a group of colleagues and fitting in.

I’m applying for all sorts right now just to get back into that environment but the appalling market means I’m not even getting interviews for things I fit very well. It’s dispiriting and has really shown me how important that sort of work environment is to me.

Regardless of the availability of head of department roles - I don’t think you’re going to easily land a new “head of” role under the circumstances. You don’t have recent experience, and you were made redundant which sort of suggests you weren’t vital to your ex employer so a negative inference could be made, you also seem to have taken an interim role which is not in accordance with a “head of” role.

Most employers like to hire from within for those kinds of senior roles to purposely get a “head of” with a good internal network, proven reputation, aware of internal culture, knows the others involved etc as they’ll have an easier time achieving results so the cards are stacked against you. So maybe it’s better for you to take a slightly lesser role like senior management and work your way up?

I’m just saying to cast your net a bit wider and keep applying. As long as you get an interim job that’s strategic/in accordance with your desired job, you’ll be fine. But it kind of seems like, your current job isn’t that and might working against you. Personally I would be looking at an exit strategy ie do my contracting to a bare minimum and use my extra energy for job hunting.