Contract Work Compass: Contract vs direct hire positions

The Gig Economy. The Fourth Industrial Revolution. Artificial Intelligence. Machine Learning. There’s no doubt that the world of work is changing. And big change inspires important questions. At Raise, we believe every question is valid in the search for meaningful work. Our Contract Work Compass blog post series answers the questions we’re hearing from candidates as they chart their courses in the new world of work. 

The Question:

What’s the difference between a contract position and a direct hire position?

The Directional Assistance:

As you browse through Raise’s current job opportunities, you’ll notice that at the top of each position posting there is an information key. Each posting is categorized by job type as either “Contract” or “Direct Hire.” The term “Direct Hire” means that an outside company has contracted Raise to do their recruiting on its behalf. When a person is hired for a Direct Hire position, they become a direct employee for a company other than Raise and, in most cases, it will be a full-time, salaried position.   If a position’s job type is listed as “Contract” it means that, in addition to hiring Raise to recruit for the position, the outside company has contracted Raise to oversee all aspects of that position. The worker that is ultimately hired for the position will be placed on contract for a specific job, for a specific pay rate. While they will likely work on-site at the outside company, they will not be a permanent employee of that company. Instead, they have two options: they can choose to become an Raise employee, or they can choose to offer their services to Raise as an independent contractor, and then Raise, in turn, will contract their services to the outside company. Either way, Raise manages the contract with the company, pays the worker, and the worker provides their services to the outside company for the duration of the contract.      Read our other blog posts in our Contract Work Compass series to get answers to questions that we often hear from our candidates:  Contract Work Compass: Deciding Between Contract And Salaried Work Contract Work Compass: How Are Contract Employees Paid? Contract Work Compass: Contracting Services Through Your Own Company Contract Work Compass: Who Can I Turn To For Support?