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I have been offered a 6-month software developer training position. I've been working for one year as a software developer employed in another company. The company after the training period, if the experience is positive, will hire me for a full employment position.

I was wondering a couple of things:

Are there red flags I should watch out for if I accept this position? How would I list this 6-month training period on my CV after one year of full employment?

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Welcome to the workplace. I think you have a good question here but the way your question was phrased it was likely to attract downvotes and close votes. I have modified your question to bring it squarely on topic for this SE, and phrased it so that the question is constructive. If the question does not cover what you are looking for, or is not asking for information you need feel free to edit it further. – Chad Feb 25 at 14:50

4 Answers

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Are there red flags I should watch out for if I accept this position?

I would ask if they have any history of actually hiring anyone after a similar trial period? Also, are there other financial indicators that this company will be in a position to take on another full-time employee in 6 months?

How would I list this 6-month training period on my CV after one year of full employment?

Treat it as a temporary contract position. Be prepared to indicate why you agreed to this. Was it a chance to learn a new skill-set or work on a quality project?

The drawback is if they don't hire you full-time. The reasons may be beyond your control (budget, market decline, etc.). Getting a strong reference from the hiring manager would go a long way in pursuading potential employers that your work was not the issue.

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It's normal, and getting ever more normal. Effectively you're being given a 6 month probation/trial period in a place where the law states those can only last for example 1 month. Makes it a lot cheaper for the company to terminate you if you're found not to be the candidate they thought you were after all, and they think they'll need more than the legal maximum for trial periods to figure that out.
As to your resume, if you make it through the 6 months it won't matter one bit what your status was during those 6 months. If you don't, it won't matter either, so don't worry about the temporary jobtitle.

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From the FAQ Please note that answers should be backed up either with a reference, or experiences that happened to you personally. You should always include in your answer information about why you think your answer is correct. - It is not enough than an answer be correct it must explain why it is correct and back it up with references or experience. – Chad Feb 25 at 14:39
Every European has that experience Chad, no need to explicitly mention it. – jwenting Feb 25 at 15:01
It is the rules of this SE that ALL answers must follow the back it up rule. – Chad Feb 25 at 15:18
up vote 0 down vote

Sometimes you are the employee of a staffing company for that first six months. At the conclusion of the period one of three things will happen. They will hire you; they will send you back to the staffing company who will send you to another project; or you will be out of a job.

The tough thing is to determine how likely one of those options has been predetermined. Sometimes the six month period is just used to get them over a rough patch. You are looked at as a temporary solution without any hope of getting hired. Others use it as way of paying back the hiring company. They get a cut of your pay for 6 months.

I have avoided this situation but I am seeing a lot more of it. With the uncertain budget situation in the US many companies are willing to hire for 6 months, but are unable to forecast beyond that point.

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Which country is this? If Europe it might just be so its easier to terminate during the 6 months. In Europe its actually quite hard to fire people so most companies do this for the first 6 months as a precaution.

I'd ask your employer if you're confused.

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Europe. Germany – distributed Feb 25 at 11:46
Well there we go. That's the country where it's really hard to fire people you've properly hired. You need to go through a very specific ritual of warnings and reasons and you can get sued by the employee if the reason isn't good enough. It's probably just a pre-caution. – Quibblesome Feb 25 at 11:48
From the FAQ Please note that answers should be backed up either with a reference, or experiences that happened to you personally. You should always include in your answer information about why you think your answer is correct. - It is not enough than an answer be correct it must explain why it is correct and back it up with references or experience. – Chad Feb 25 at 14:41
Hi Chad, fancy applying your logic to the rest of the posts in here (its gonna be a loooong day) or do you just feel like marking me out here for some unknown reason? I don't think my answer is correct. It's an answer gifted to the OP. It's based on my knowledge of EU contract, hiring and tax law. – Quibblesome Feb 25 at 15:27
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A six month probationary period is allowed in Germany (and actually quite common), see de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probezeit#Situation_in_Deutschland ("Probezeit" meaning that you get can a month's leave if your employer is not satisfied). It's also not uncommon to start at a slightly lower salary and get a raise after the probationary period is over (this should be negotiated before your start). So there should be no need for any special "training periods" (but since it's not clear what is actually meant it's hard to give specific advice). – Eike Pierstorff Feb 25 at 15:52
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