A permanent contract is where you work full time. It basically means that you are employed on an ongoing basis because you’re a member of staff. These types of contracts are normally financial. The normal maximum hours for a full time contract are around 40 hours. There are pros to working full time such as you still get payed when you’re off sick or on holiday etc. However there are also cons such as how you won’t have much spare time if you’re working full time as they’ll want you in everyday.

A part time but permanent contract is where you have a full time contract but only work part time. These contracts are likely to be situated with marketing and financial. It’s a form of employment that has fewer hours per week than a full time contract. For example the maximum hours to work for part time is around 15-20 hours. The pros for working part time are that you’ll have a lot of free time so you won’t be working all the time. Also like the full time contract you’ll still get payed if you’re sick or on holiday but the money could be reduced due to that. The cons to working part time are that there can be little free time it depends on the contract as there are not as many as there is full time.

Freelance/fixed contracts are not permanent contracts as they only last for a period of time. As you are self-employed you can work as many hours as you please in your own time. These contracts are normally market based. The pros of these contracts are that you can be doing what you enjoy and you decide when the work is done as you create your own schedule. The cons to working these contracts are that because you are a freelancer you have to decide your own terms of sick pay or holiday pay. Also being a freelancer means money won’t be a regular thing as these kinds of contracts are not an often thing so it’s hard to find work.

A shift contract is where you create your own hours for the day a bit like a freelancer would. The jobs you can look for in this is Radio or TV based etc. The pros to these contracts are that you will know how long your shifts are as you set them up. Also you will know how much money you will be earning due to the hours you have set yourself. The cons to these contracts are that these contracts might need to be managed 24 hours a day which may affect your spare time.

Office hours contracts are usually a standard Monday to Friday 9am start and a 6pm end. These kind of jobs are normally to do with sales and marketing as they are usually office based jobs, due to the hours and days. The pros to these are that you will have an easy timetable and you’ll have spare time at the weekend. The cons to these are that you won’t have much freedom due to the jobs based off these contracts.

In my opinion overall I would prefer a part time job as a starter as it’s not time consuming and you’d be earning an income on the side. I would find this useful because I would then feel independent and more responsible to work myself up to a full time job.