Folks, need your advice on something. I cleared CFA L2 in june and am giving L3 this June. I landed a quant analyst job at a hedge fund, the only downside being the hedge fund at this time cannot offer a full time position. its a contract position. i am currently in IT and am looking for a career change. i am also eligible for a performance based bonus. the guy said i can expect to clock in 60-70hrs per week. what are the downsides to contract vs full-time job apart from job-security (which anway is irrelevant these days)? and what is the threshold billing rate below which I must absolutely say “no” to the offer.
They can cut you right before your bonus is to be paid…maybe/
You should take it as a way in the door. Don’t stay too long though.
kaushik85 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Folks, > > need your advice on something. I cleared CFA L2 in > june and am giving L3 this June. I landed a quant > analyst job at a hedge fund, the only downside > being the hedge fund at this time cannot offer a > full time position. its a contract position. i am > currently in IT and am looking for a career > change. i am also eligible for a performance based > bonus. the guy said i can expect to clock in > 60-70hrs per week. > > what are the downsides to contract vs full-time > job apart from job-security (which anway is > irrelevant these days)? and what is the threshold > billing rate below which I must absolutely say > “no” to the offer. Hedge Fund… hmmm… should be in CT? Quant Role… hmm… probably ARQ?? If you are from IT and getting this offer already, then please grab it with all your hands, else let me know and i’ll fwd my resume there.
Contract isn’t as nice as full time, and you may not even be eligible for a bonus, but it’s experience, and if the name looks good on your resume, it will make you just as attractive to the next firm. So take it if you need experience. One nice thing about contract work, it’s easier to negotiate any time you need off to study for your CFA, because you don’t have to beg for vacations.
Thanks for your tip! Per the guy I have been speaking to, I am eligible for a bonus although as someone mentioned above, they might as well cut me off before bonus time. Most of the hedge funds are not really known that well. this one’s a mid-size long-short equity firm. I do need the experience, my only fear is the bad market and hence it should not be that I get laid-off very quickly that I have to start searching for jobs all over again.
You asked about threshold income. I don’t have a number for you, but here are things to think about. Your annual income as a contractor generally needs to be at least 30% higher than equivalent full time work for similar pay, because you will be paying additional taxes (FICA, FITA, FUTA, Social Security, etc), plus no benefits (health, retirement, flexible spending). And you should get a premium because you are still easier to dismiss than a regular employee (less risk of lawsuits for them, they can still fire a regular employee with little or no notice). In a lot of work, consultants/contractors should charge 50% more than equivalent full time salaries would suggest, although there is some economy of scale that tends to bring this premium down at higher salary levels. Once you get to astronomical salaries/rates, though, the premium for genuine value-added work goes up exponentially, so it’s a little hard to differentiate. If you are a contractor on short term contracts, the number can go up to 75% or even 100% because as a business owner, you have fixed business expenses and marketing activities that go on unbillable-time. This gets paid for as a kind of labor liquidity premium, for the fact that to get your key (usually intellectual) services, a company only needs to hire you a short time. Hope this helps.
Thank you so much bchadwick…Thats the number folks have been telling me. Its a good opportunity alright but lets see how this plays out.