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> One way to get to know people want to hire is to do a contract-to-hire
> position, yet I haven't seen that mentioned.
(snip)
> Aside from the fact that some people won't work contract to hire
> because they can get a captive job, what's the drawback? Why would
> this not work for me as a potential manager? I'm hoping to add staff
> this year and I'm new at that process, so any wisdom would be
> appreciated.
Well, it's an interesting idea, but I can think of a few reasons why I
might think twice about taking a job under these circumstances:
(1) If I have another offer, and both jobs are equally appealing to me,
I'd be more likely to take the offer of a definite job over the offer of
a trial period. This may or may not be a factor depending on the job
market in your area.
(2) Contractors generally don't receive benefits (not without going
through an agency, anyway, and I don't know if that's what you plan to
do). If I'm leaving a job that provides benefits, I want to go straight
to another job that provides benefits. Unless you're going to pay me a
little extra to make up for the loss of my health insurance (yes, I know
about COBRA, but it's not free!)
(3) It's uncommon enough (in my experience) that it would make me wonder
if you simply couldn't find anyone you were happy with and wanted to
hire me temporarily while you looked for someone better.
(4) If I wanted to be a contractor, I'd be a contractor. I'm applying
for your job because I don't want to be a contractor.
(5) It would make me wonder if you were responding to a long history of
new hires who just didn't work out, which would make me wonder about the
reason for such a history... was it the fault of the employees or the
employer?
These are just my personal reasons. I'm sure they wouldn't matter at all
to some people, and none of them are strong enough to prevent me from
taking a job I think I would love. But it's something to think about.
