Ask HN: People who employ contractors, what is it that makes them attractive?

5 pointstaphangum2 comments

I am currently in the market for a contractor PHP position, and am trying to figure out what it is (or what group of things) specifically that you look for in a contractors CV that makes them attractive to you as a prospect?

Any insight into this is appreciated!

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Two things are attractive from an employer standpoint:

(1) Elasticity-- it's hard for both personal/morale reasons and legal reasons to lay people off, but it's easy to increase or decrease contractor utilization as needed.

(2) Expertise-- sometimes you need someone with some specialized know-how and you only need them for one job.

Thanks for the answer!

So if I'm understanding you correctly then the best thing to do on my end is:

1. Look for a niche in which I have a deep level of expertise.

2. Target only those employers. With evidence of this expertise.

3. When targeting those employers, only seek out the ones that tend to hire people on a short term basis. I.e. project-focused company, like an agency or something along those lines.

Is this a good assessment of the heuristics I should be following?

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