KEY POINTS:
With New Zealand's skills shortage showing no sign of easing, opportunities are opening up for skilled people who want more variety.
More people are choosing careers as temporary or contracting workers, and more employers are hiring them.
Megan Alexander, division director of Robert Half Finance & Accounting in Auckland, says today's temporary recruitment market bears no resemblance to that of five years ago. "Companies have to use contractors more now than ever before because of the very tight labour market."
Not only are the "bridging temps" - hired between permanent employees - staying longer, but companies are also seriously looking at vacancies to see if they need a fulltime employee or whether it is better to hire contractors for each project as it arises.
"That leads to a more companies using temps in a much wider variety of roles."
Alexander says Robert Half has about 500 temporary or contracting workers on its books, working at every level from junior clerical positions up to temporary CFO level.
Skilled people are much in demand, with about 40 per cent of the company's placements being at senior level.
And good temps are seldom out of work - often going straight from one assignment to the next, without any unwanted downtime.
Today's temporary workers have a wide range of motivations. They include:
* For senior people, a desire to work on interesting projects and not just turn up for the same routine, day-in, day-out.
* For people who have been made redundant, an opportunity to earn income and gain new skills before they find another permanent job.
* Some people simply want to do the work they are good at, without getting involved in the office politics that go with fulltime employment.
* At mid-level, temping is often a way for people who are returning from their OE to fit back into New Zealand as they sort out where they want to settle.
* Some people want a bit more flexibility in their working hours and commitments so they can spend time with their children, or travel more.
* Others, if they have been working in the same type of role with the same company for several years, want to broaden their skills.
* More junior people may want to get a taste of the temping lifestyle before they head overseas for their OE.
* Immigrants find they can gain some "New Zealand experience" for their CV.
* Some people want to expose themselves to a wide variety of work styles before settling into a permanent role.
* Others want an opportunity to get their foot in the door at companies they would like to work for.
Below are case studies of three different people who have chosen a temping lifestyle:
LYNLEE RIORDAN
Works as: Commercial analyst
Temping for: 3 years
After nine years in the same job, Lynlee Riordan felt the need to do something new.
But when she started job hunting, she couldn't find a permanent job that attracted her.
So she left anyway, and went temping.
Having broken out of the rut, after six months' temping she made another major change and travelled to Britain for her OE where she worked in two contract roles in her two years there.
On returning to New Zealand last year, Lynlee told Robert Half Finance & Accounting she'd like a month's holiday and then wanted a temporary contract. One was waiting for her at the end of her holiday.
So why did she seek a contracting position rather than a fulltime job? "I didn't know whether I wanted to live in Auckland or what I wanted to do. I felt a bit unsettled, and preferred to take up a contracting role."
She was also, by now, used to contracting and not concerned about what some people perceive as the insecurity.
"There's a lot of work out there at the moment, so I'm not worried about it."
Contracting has lots of upsides for someone who is still figuring out where they want to be and who they want to work for, says Lynlee.
"I think the good thing about it is you can take what you want at the company and see how you go and how you fit in to the environment and the work and if it's interesting.
"There's nothing worse than going into a permanent role and realising you are not happy, and so letting them down.
"I like the fact that you get to meet new people and learn new things."
Lynlee has been lucky with her jobs - her first placement in Britain was a three- to four-week temporary position, but her second contract lasted for the rest of the two years. Back in New Zealand, she's been with the same company for 11 months.
This contract will expire in August and Lynlee will continue with temporary assignments at the end of this contract.
Now that she is feeling more settled she would like her next temporary role to be one that could lead to a permanent job.
ELAINE ANELAY
Works as: project manager/financial manager
Temping for: 18 months
Two-and-a-half years ago, Elaine Anelay was working in a job she really enjoyed for a French multinational.
Trouble was, she was putting in about 60 hours a week, which didn't leave her the time she wanted to spend with her young daughter, so she decided to quit work and be a stay-at-home mum.
That caused another problem: "I found that I didn't like not working."
Elaine decided to try contracting and approached Robert Half Finance & Accounting. Since then, she hasn't looked back.
"I went into contracting and did a four-month contract and then had a week off. Then I came into the company I'm with now. It was initially a four- to six-month contract which took me up through to Christmas last year."
Elaine took a five-week holiday over Christmas, then came back to the same company and has been working there since.
The big plus for Elaine is that before she accepts a contract she can state when she needs to be with her daughter.
It's then up to the employer to decide whether that's okay or not - so far, there hasn't been a problem.
"On Wednesday this week I coached my daughter's netball team and yesterday we went and had a game."
Elaine now works an average 30-hour week - and is happy with her current remuneration based on these hours.
Contractors are paid for every hour they put in, rather than working a lot of unpaid overtime as many permanent employees do. Equally, employers often don't want them to do too much overtime (because it costs) and so their hours become more manageable.
Another fear some people have about contracting is that they won't be treated as part of the team.
That's not happened to Elaine in either of her roles.
"I'm viewed as part of the team - I'm invited to everything, involved in everything, attend all the meetings."
And she is more than happy to continue temping when this contract ends and believes she will continue down this path for the foreseeable future.
"At this stage I'm quite happy to keep contracting, but sometimes the perfect opportunity arises that you don't want to turn down."
BRIAN JAGO
Working as: Senior consultant
Temping for: 19 years
It was not long after the 1987 share-market crash. Brian Jago and his business partners had sold up, and he started looking for work.
"Employment opportunities weren't that great around that time," he says with some understatement. "Also, having been part of my own business, I liked the freedom that came with making decisions and I couldn't see that being an employee, I would get the same opportunity to make decisions.
"It was suggested to me by one of the consultants that I should go contracting."
Since then he's averaged contracts of 15 to 18 months - the longest time he has been without a contract is three weeks.
Brian found he really enjoyed the challenge of helping companies set up new technology, systems and processes, but didn't much like the routine of the same old job, day in, day out. For him, contracting has been ideal.
"I've managed to get a very interesting work field which doesn't get me bogged down in meetings and office politics and so on, which I don't play very well.
"I can just do the work that I'm reasonably good at.
"I'm easily bored, I get bored with routine, and when I get bored I'm not as efficient. This is an ideal way for me to contribute without getting bored."
While contracting, Brian has put three children through university. To do that, he admits he's taken some contracts that haven't been ideal. But, he says, they've mainly been shorter-term ones.
"You know that there's a time limit, so therefore it doesn't bother you as much as when you are an employee and can see no end to it."
One of the big advantages for Brian has been personal: "My wife says that I'm a much more relaxed person. I don't bring work home, either physically or in my mind."
He has seen the contracting market change enormously in the past 19 years.
"When I started out, there weren't that many people around and employers were dubious about the role of contractors.
"Now they are much more accepted. There's also a lot more people and agencies like Robert Half in the market now."
Because Brian specialises in deadline-driven work, he doesn't think he will work fewer hours a week as he approaches retirement. But he can see that contracting will give him flexibility to slow down.
"It may be that what I do is still do the same types of contracts, but look for a longer period between contracts. Perhaps I'll start taking a month off between contracts."
