Would you take a full-time job?

Eve · 2025-01-30T14:39:20+00:00

I recently received an offer for a full-time job. It's not a job I applied for, I was just contacted by a recruiter on LinkedIn. It's a fully remote job, and...

Gant

It's important to remember that a full-time job is not a lifetime job. You are not committed and you are not an indentured servant. If it turns out to not be what you want, you are free to leave and return to freelancing or go to another job. So it should come down to what you view as the pros versus cons for the job versus what you are doing today. If things were perfect today you likely would not even consider the change. If you are, it simply means that you are open to the possibility that something else might fulfill your current needs better. Examine the likelihood of that actually being true versus what you know to be true with your freelancing career. If you try it, and it doesn't work for any number of reasons, you can return now with greater knowledge and experience than what you had prior.

For me, it's been almost 7-years since I left my corporate career. In a perfect world, I would never return but if something were to come my way that I saw had things to offer that I cannot otherwise get, I'd certainly weigh that. The key would be to understand that this isn't closing out a career or shutting any door. It would be like committing to one client for some unspecified period of time, but one where I have just as much control over whether I stay as the employer.

Knowing that FTE is just as mutable as a freelancing contract can be a bit freeing and allow you to instead look at the merits of a position in the same way as you would a potential client contract.

Eve

Gant If things were perfect today you likely would not even consider the change. If you are, it simply means that you are open to the possibility that something else might fulfill your current needs better.

This is probably true. 90% of the time, I love freelancing and working with multiple clients. Then, the other 10% is terrible. If I have a sick day or, for some other reason, don't get any work done for a day or two, I fall hopelessly behind, and my deadlines start stacking up. If I have just one client or employer, it's easy to explain that I'm behind with work. With multiple clients, it's a bit more troublesome to have to explain to client A that I'll be late delivering this week's deadline because I first need to complete the work clients B and C are waiting for. And, it's frustrating that all my clients seem to always want something urgent at the same time.

I also end up in these kinds of troubles because I love starting new projects and often take on more work than I can comfortably do. Which again leads to a lot of all-nighters, stress, and a non-existent work-life balance.

Then again, as a full-time employee, I typically worked 300 hours a month anyway because I'm extremely detail-oriented and hate it when things are not done on time or to the standards I want them.

Maybe I should give up working altogether. That might be the healthiest solution.

Alexandra

Eve Well, I guess it would be difficult (or nigh impossible) to convince the employer that I could integrate after all that time. But it wouldn't be difficult for me because clients are my 'bosses' when I accept a project, and I am the boss for myself the rest of the time. The way I see it, freelancing is just a bit more complex than being an employee because all aspects rest on your shoulders, and delegation can be much more time-intensive. On the whole, there is not all that much of a difference.

Debs1723

I recently gave a pass to a couple of offers for full time (but temporary) from recruiters. I am working with several clients and projects at the same time and do not wish to hang them out to dry. Also, I would get seriously bored hanging around one project the whole day 😇

Alexandra

Debs1723 Temporary is always a bit of a hassle because training usually takes a while, and then the period is often much too short for you to make any kind of profound impact. But then again, it depends. Sometimes, standing in for someone (e.g. on maternity leave) can make sense because it will lead to interesting contacts. But, like you, I'd rather not be away when long-term or regular clients turn up. It was they who supported you when you had to stand on your own two, after all, so they deserve 'priority handling'

Eve

Debs1723 I am working with several clients and projects at the same time and do not wish to hang them out to dry. Also, I would get seriously bored hanging around one project the whole day 😇

This is exactly what I'm thinking as well. I have a lot of long-term contracts, and I don't want to let those clients go. If I don't like employment (which is likely), then I won't be able to get them back, as they would have long since replaced me. And I easily get bored working on only one project, which is why I've never in my life had a full-time job for more than 2 years. Juggling anything from 4 to 6 projects, like I do now, is perfect for me.

Debs1723

Alexandra replacing someone for maternity leave in Italy is very tricky, as: 1) there's no certainty on its actual length, could be from 3 months to 2 years; 2) you are not allowed to resign by your own volition, it must be a mutual agreement with the employer. You're just stuck there for an undefined period of time.
I counter-proposed a part-time arrangement to both my enquirers, explaining that with my experience, it would not make sense for me to stick around the whole day, but as I understand, that was not an option.

Gant

Eve If Freelancing is great for you 90% of the time, then you have your answer. You aren't likely to beat those numbers. Unless Freelancing is a hobby, taking on more work than you are totally comfortable with is also the right move. One of the downsides of freelancing is that it's much more ephemeral than FTE work. In the blink of an eye, you have slid in the 10% of the time and can only think wistfully on the times you had more work than you were totally comfortable with.

I am certainly guilty of feeling uncomfortable if I cannot deliver something as fast as if I had only one client. I like to show value to the customer and make them feel like they made the right choice and that my rates are worth paying. That's a lot of pressure and not all of it is good. I think we have to take a reality check though once in a while. The client isn't likely to want to start over with someone new who they have to get up to speed and lose even more time with, just because you have to give them a later delivery expectation. I actually just had this discussion with a new client yesterday. I was quick to tell them that it wasn't due to me needing to spend more hours on the delivery itself, but rather because I have other clients and deliveries. In fact, this shows you are in demand and bolsters the confidence of the client knowing others are trusting you with the work. People like working with people who are in demand.

If you give up the work and you aren't financially or otherwise ready to, I don't think that solution would be healthy for long! LOL. You might just need to give yourself some grace and find it okay to tell some clients that they might have to wait a bit longer but the quality of the work will be worth it. I say this as much for me as for you!

Alexandra

2000 work-from-home jobs available at Microsoft!

Petra

Eve

Personally, I wouldn't anymore. I have been freelancing exclusively for over a dozen years now, but I did get employed by an Upwork Enterprise client I had freelanced for for quite a while, and while my job description did not change, and I certainly enjoyed paid leave, paid bank holidays (there are a lot of those here), an extra month's Salary in the summer and at Christmas and the safety net of paid sick leave etc, something changed in my head and I stopped enjoying it. I tried to make it work, but left in the end because I simply didn't want to be employed anymore, even though the work itself was the same as it was before.

Eve

Petra Kinda happened to me as well. The last company I worked full-time for started out as a freelance thing. That was fine for 2 years or something like that. 3 months after I signed an employment contract, I resigned. Haha! The job I did was the same, just as an employee. Makes me feel trapped.

TopRatedTroll

Careful with people offering you work from home. They can reverse that at any time. Amazon did it to a lot of people. They flew me out there to interview in 2019. Didn't get the job but I told the hiring person upfront I did not want to relocate. Hiring manager told me it was fine before I flew out there. I heard they completely did a 180 and told people to relocate or get fired. I feel like not getting that job was a blessing in disguise.

Eve

TopRatedTroll I don't think that would be the case with this company, but one never knows. Their closest office is a 6-hour drive from me, so that's not an option. Not that I have a driver's license anyway... I'm not interested in living in any of the locations where they have offices. I probably could for a year or two, but honestly, I hate living in a city.

Mark

I drove my wife to work today and she was on one of her many, many status calls and I thought to myself and then said to her after she got off the call "never fucking again." Maybe it is just our industry (software dev) that is infected with this constant need for meetings but I doubt it. When you charge $150.00 an hour people do not want you on a meeting unless absolutely necessary.

Eve

Mark Whenever I manage projects or people, I prefer having meetings only every second week. Then, I do my best to schedule all meetings on the same day. It's an exhausting day, but at least I get to actually be productive for the next two weeks.

This is why I actually prefer writing. No meetings required. My clients simply add tasks to a to-do list, and I submit the article when it's done. I have multiple clients where we can go half a year without directly communicating at all.