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I am employed full time with employer A and I want to move into contract and have put my resume on the market. So some recruiter calls me and basically says a contract position exists with a very good rate with the same employer but in a different department.

As I see it, I have two options if I want to apply for the position:

  1. I resign from my full time job and go for the interview (not good idea)

  2. I do the interview while still on the current job but resign as soon as i get it.

How should I approach applying for this position? I do not want to end up with a conflict of interest but do want to transition into contract work.

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    Hi Kaushik, I've edited your question slightly as it is more appropriate for The Workplace. I made it a bit more asking about the "why" so it will get better answers and be on topic, let me know if this changes your intent too much!
    – enderland
    Commented Sep 27, 2013 at 19:40
  • Switching to contract terms often benefits the company. It might seem like you're making more money but often it's a savings for the company. I'd just go to HR and express an interest in contract. That might even switch you to contract in your current position.
    – user7360
    Commented Sep 27, 2013 at 20:26

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I know #1 scenario as it happened in my company, it was announced that the office is relocating. Many people resigned so much so that it became impossible to support the products and contract positions were opened up, the people who had resigned were gladly accepted back.

I do not see how it could be conflict of interest if you re-join a company after resigning. #2 scenario seems unlikely to happen. Why would a company do that? I have heard about team transfers and also heard of people changing their employment type from contract to full time, but not other way around.

Although much depends on your HR.

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Transparency should be your default option. It will certainly help in this case. You can put a good case to your line manager that will have them take a positive approach. This case is:

  • You don't want to spring any surprises on your line manager
  • You are looking for a change in your career
  • You want to continue to support your current employer and leave on a good note
  • Therefore you're tell them about this now, so they can plan accordingly
  • Reassure them that you don't intend to talk about this openly to the rest of the team, to avoid them getting demotivated. It will just be for those who need to know.

You can then talk more generally to your line manager about what you're doing: applying for a contract position in the same company, and seeking opportunities elsewhere. Once your they realise they can't keep you in your current job they may actually help you with the contract role in your current company. And if you apply for the company role you have no fears about HR talking to your line manager.

It will certainly be to your benefit if your line manager knows what you're doing. You won't need to sneak around going for job interviews, and it sounds good in interviews if you say you've already told your boss you're leaving -- it shows you are an honest individual. I have done this before, it worked extremely well.

In this scenario there is no conflict of interest. You've put all your cards on the table, and no-one gets any nasty surprises.

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  • Great first answer, welcome to The Workplace!
    – enderland
    Commented Oct 2, 2013 at 13:10

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