Ask HN: Recruiters, does contractor vs. FTE matter?

9•salt-thrower•2mo ago

I'm wondering if recruiters are more likely to pass on job applicants who are currently in contract roles, as opposed to applicants who are currently in full time salaried roles.

I know the job market is more competitive now, but I noticed I'm getting fewer responses on job applications than I used to, even a couple years ago. I worry it's because my current gig is a contract role at a boring company that does not scream "high value tech worker here."

Some people assume contract gigs are easier to get and are worse jobs in general, so people with better options don't take them. And to be honest, that's sometimes true. I'm in my current situation because of how tight the job market got the last couple years and now I'm afraid that I'm stuck.

Is there any merit to this or am I just being paranoid? Are recruiters more likely to see "contract" on a resume and toss it in the bin?

Comments

satvikpendem•2mo ago

Is this your post on Reddit as well? https://old.reddit.com/r/cscareerquestions/comments/1pcdsn9/...

I am/was a contractor and I still get a bunch of requests on LinkedIn from recruiters, so it's not that, it must be your resume or something similar. For me I have all the latest buzzwords, as I work as a full stack dev, so React, Node, TypeScript, even AI now, etc. That seems to get me through recruiter searches. I also put down my LLC I've been using for the last several years and haven't seen any sort of discrimination on that.

salt-thrower•2mo ago

Nope, that wasn't me. I have the Node, React, Typescript etc. buzzwords in droves (that's been the bulk of my career experience).

Maybe emphasizing AI more would help like you mentioned, or maybe I need to be looking in different markets.

raw_anon_1111•2mo ago

I would say that it isn’t contracting. The market just suck now for developers. It’s hard to stand out from the crowd. Every open req gets hundreds of applications within hours.

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