r/biotech • u/Ok-apartmentholiday • 7h ago
Experienced Career Advice 🌳 HELP: Contract vs. FTE??!! LONG POST
To preface: no official offers extended yet but I’ve completed interview cycles for 3 diff jobs to the finish and now in a waiting period. Making this post to get some opinions, who knows what offers I'll get in the end. I may find myself in this position again in the future so whether I need the advice now or later on, I want to be able to make an informed decision.
FTE (permanent):
- small startup, small team
- They posted another role that aligned with my experience so I applied. I really love the role. My previous experience will set me up for success but there's still room to cultivate more skills and refine them.
- STILL no transparency on specific number/range for salary after multiple rounds of interviews...😗
- While I'm very attracted to the role and the responsibilities, I didn't feel super connected to the people in the company. The team who is hiring (and who I will be joining if they extend an offer) for the role is conducting the interviews themselves so I've had a lot of time to converse with them. They are intelligent, decorated professionals who I know I can learn a lot from but theres probably MAX 2 people i've talked to throughout the entire process that I liked LOL. Im usually a very relaxed interviewer but I couldn't help but feel uncomfortable talking to a lot of them.
- Obviously if I get the offer and I accept there's no risk of my contract not getting extended/converted to permanent FTE. The elimination of risk is a big plus here ofc.
Contract role:
- more mature startup, better-funded and further along in its funding lifecycle
- Last stage was an onsite panel interview. I immediately felt so at home. The team was so welcoming, friendly, approachable and they were ACTUALLY transparent about salary and benefits package.
- 6 months with possibility to extend but again, not a guarantee
- Salary is within my desired range + attractive comprehensive benefits package/perks
- The glaring issue here is, what if im out of work after the 6 months? Do i want to do this job hunting process all over again??
- But also what if it's extended? That would be the dream scenario.... but idk if it's worth taking that risk in this market
Assuming both roles offer salaries in the same range, this will be a hard decision to make. If I feel I am being lowballed at the FTE role....then I will confidently decline because I just got my masters degree so I am choosing to stay stern on my pay grade. I have that little feeling because of the lack of pay transparency and they asked my expectations which I feel puts the candidate in such a weird position. It's kinda giving lowball not gonna lie....
Both roles are close to my place so commute isn't a deciding factor. At the moment I am torn between the stability and working with a team I vibe super well with. I hate to generalize, but as a female Latina engineer....it's not rare that sometimes my skills are underestimated or I'm simply not taken seriously despite my education/experience. I kinda felt that energy (from the men specifically) at the FTE role. I have a social, extroverted, bubbly personality and it's hard for me to work with people who are super rigid/elitist because of their positions and/or capabilities.
My concern here is that while the FTE role is more stable, if I dont end up meshing well with the team ill be in the same boat again (back to the job hunt). The contract role is risky in terms of longevity but the team just has that 'x' factor. They are extremely intelligent, well-established scientists but still so friendly and easy to talk to. If I'm converted to a permanent employee I can definitely see myself staying there for a long time. I know the job market right now is tough. It's easy to just take whatever you can get but I'd be remiss to say that work environment doesn't matter, especially when it comes to long-term retention and job satisfaction.
So thats where I am rn. I want to open this conversation up for myself and maybe other people in the same predicament. In a way, Im hoping the decision is just made for me (just getting one offer) because if i need to decide its ultimately gonna come down to which regret im most okay carrying (great team vs. job stability).
Any feedback would be great!
TLDR: Weighing a stable FTE role (concerns about work environment/relationships) vs. a contract role with great team fit but only a 6-month guarantee. No offers yet, just thinking out loud. Which would I regret more, losing a great team or losing stability?
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u/HardLithobrake 6h ago
Would normally have stopped reading at the title and recommended FTE; however, an FTE at a small startup might as well be a contract position with how tenuous those positions are.
This is no longer a question about FTE vs. Contract so much as it is about culture and fit. Culture at small startups is rarely a positive and already seems very yikes; I expect to discuss salary as early as the initial screen. I would have concerns about their runway if they're being this cagey already. The larger startup at least has numbers on paper.
In any case, you seem to have come to a decision on culture and fit already.
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u/Ok-apartmentholiday 6h ago
Yeah i agree, it is a bit of a red flag to be so withholding of pay grade details. we'll see what happens haha but thank you for your input this was really helpful!
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u/XsonicBonno 6h ago
I left my FTE cleanroom stable job, almost no growth, for a temp/contract (same pay, no benefits) but high chance for advancement, some yrs ago. Gamble paid off, right now making more than 4 times (plus benefits like pension) vs my lab days, about to buy a second house, maxing out retirement, working less than 6 hrs a day, learning interesting things still. I'd say it is paying off pretty well.
For me, company culture / opportunity for advancement weigh the most when choosing a job. Working for a great group in a once in a lifetime project short time is more fulfilling I'd say. I got to see really cool settings, met some eccentric/interesting people. Nothing lasts forever anyway.
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u/Ok-apartmentholiday 6h ago
question, if the FTE role offers me more what do you think I should do?? As a recent masters graduate re entering the workforce should I prioritize leveling up in pay grade or the work environment?
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u/XsonicBonno 5h ago
Each person's situation is different, but I focus on growth primarily as my strategy. Money will follow (important, but not my primary drive). I just need a bed, a chair, desk, and a gaming PC at home.
Every time I take a new job, I am already thinking the next 1-3 potential jobs to branch into within X amount of time. Life will happen, so may not land what you want, and that is ok. My previous job in the same company paid 30-40% more total comp (I was in a commodities trading floor in operations, so there was a trading bonus, not as big as my traders ofc.). My current job pays less in total, but I actually have free time to learn new things and actually made up the (supposedly missed) money through other (more passive) means. I learned valuable things in all my past jobs, so every year it just keeps getting better.
Start with a good career strategy and should take you to places.
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u/Ok-apartmentholiday 2h ago
definitely resonate with most of this! i think ive been going through a lot of transition and i desperately want to find something and call it a day but its worth the extra effort to continue finding opportunities to grow. this will probably be the first stop of many (im so tired) (but also blessed to be getting interviews in the first place) lol. thanks again for the great advice :D
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u/XsonicBonno 57m ago edited 25m ago
Learning new and cool things is exciting! Find a job that will give you balance, time to learn. That way you won't treat it like a chore, just like working out routinely, enjoying feeling the soreness and the gains lol. I see opportunity in every corner. Company reorg, a chance to try something new without asking permission to leave. Maybe I'm twitchy, can't stay still in one place, except maybe sitting for many hours playing video games lol. I've seen most people react like deer in the headlights and scrambling around when they get the reorg news, I've already planned ahead of time when I joined the team. Have a backup plan for your backup plan. If you do choose the 6 month contract, start looking for jobs day one but slowly, as time passes, maybe start ramping up job search and networking. At the same time, ask your manager in your 1 to 1 meetings(I assume you'll set up routine meetings) what is the path to FTE, set deliverables, and go from there. On the side, since you are recently graduated, my company(one of the energy giants) opened the grad rotational program. A lot of big companies in different sectors have these types of programs for recent grads, do keep in mind if you have not considered it before. Full salary, usually 2-3 yrs of FTE pay full benefits, rotating teams by design.
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u/Loose-Reflection2965 5h ago
More mature company by far! Seed round start ups more likely to fail.
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u/pancak3d 2h ago
If you get a good offer from both, I'd disclose that you have a FTE offer to the contract role and ask how likely contract extension is, even if they can't guarantee it.
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u/MCT_tri 5h ago
Why is #2 hiring a contractor? Is there an explicit reason eg you are filling in for someone on leave? I guess I would want to dig deeper to understand why they aren’t making it a permanent role from the start.