The trend to "freelance" instead of employment-at-will

Ana, I agree. To me, it seems that 80% of our "consultants database" consists of old-timers with lots of expertise on offer. The other 20% seems to be those in hot areas -- the PhD ChE with experience in cell culture bioprocessing, the Toxicologist, the Biostatistician, and so forth.

Like you, I would love to hear from those that have done this,

Dave

Hi Dave and Ana,

I have not done freelancing but I can share my experiences and views from my side of pharma.

To Dave's Observation about experience, all freelancers/indpendent Consultants I've worked with have been well-experienced. They have an established record as former full-time employees, that is they had a career in the industry before freelancing.

In General they tend to be of a certain Age, usually in the mid 40s and beyond and tend to have over 20 years experience in the industry before freelancing out. An exception here can be Medical Writers where they've had a few years in an agency or in-house that allowed them to build their skills, sufficient to effectively freelance. In other words, they are experts.

Alot of the freelancers took that step in Response to either a reduction in force or some other external influencing factor that necessitated that they pursue Independent work. As noted some of this can be Age related, it can be hard for mid 40 and beyond to find employement depite experience.

EDITED this Sentance: So this is is related to the key Driver of the trend in my opinion, a conslidating industry that is impacting some seasoned veterans of the industry. I have quiet a few buddies that have been axes and found a new life as freelancers/indepedent Consultant as you do These days. Less driven by entrepreneural or quality of life reasons.

A few Points of note. The freelancers/indepedent Consultants have worked with do have that entrepreneural flare. They have to. Its not easy work. In Addition to delivering quality work to their Clients, they must also find new or continued Business. Yes, there is a Level of freedom they have in Terms of Controlling workload but they still have to deliver and mitigate lack of Business, they Need to plan when and where their next "contract" is coming from. So it may not be a Job where one sips coffee and casually taps way at a lap top. Networking is also key here and most freelancers I know have a very active travel life for work.

Most state that the freedom Comes from being able to choose Projects (once established), get a diverse experience, and get away from corporate politics, they get to bring that indpendent and objective view with out facing political ramifications if they do it right. They still carry workload but they can control it once established in waves, i.e. they may be ape crazy for 8 months but have a 4 months of off-time to Play with during the year.

A few pit falls of freelancers, some have broken way from their employer as full time employees, and use their former employers as their exclusive Client. The bad here is that they only depend on one source of Business and can be at risk for new Business. The bad here is also they may still try to Play the political games as well.

As for mitigating being reduced in force (let go, pink slipped etc), as one gets older its viable Option, the risk is mitigated by continued Networking to secure Business from a diverse set and number of Clients. This is work and can bring a Level of stress especially when one is starting off. Like any Business, it will take time, Investment and hard work until the wheels are somewhat greased. A good part is that one, if an opportunity exists, can always go back in house.

So take home message, to be a good freelancer with sustained Business, one Needs a Network (which is a continuous process), a credibility factor based on Prior work delivered and experience, and an entrepreneural Spirit. One has to be very confident and must be ready to put themselves out there. There is a common personality - that is they tend be very out going Folks, pretty much alpha's, because, they do Need to sell themselves and their work.

Hope this helps, but freelancing..no easy Job but there can be rewards.

DX

Hi again,

Also wanted to give a perspective on why we use freelancers. In General, we are using them on a Project by Project Basis where a fixed budget or permanant FTE may not make sense Budget wise. Budget wise it could be that Senior Management does not want an Additional FTE - alot of this is depending on where FTE Budget sits and what's been planned for.

In recent times with one case, I've had sufficent work load where i did make a case for an additional FTE however from Company/department perspective that was not in the interest Budget wise to allocate in the interest of controlling operational expentiture from their Budgets and Business priorities (this is normal, your priority may not be the priority of others despite the Business case). So I went with my own freelancer/Consultant. In this case then the cost of that freelancer came out of "my" individual brand budget allocation, not the "company's" pot of FTE budgeting. So I was able to pay for a 6 month Support - in this case the freelancer was very operational and tactical but a 100% professional and expert. I can decide if I want another 6 months depending on the team's workload. If push came to shove and I had Budget Limitation the Company would have allocated Budget to me for the freelancer but in no way would they Support a fixed/permanant Budget FTE despite low FTE resources that's plaging us.

At the end of the day the cost of an fixed Budget FTE can have a Budget Impact, there is the cost of a hire, associated insurances etc. that carries over year to year, whereas freelancer, well, you may have a higher cost if you just look a salary but its over the short-term, near one-off expenditure without the burden/cost linked to a fixed Budget FTE.

And just to be clear, this is a freelancer, this is not a "contractor" Situation. The freelancer is a freelancer and has no interest in becoming a fixed-budget FTE, they are providing a Service vis a vis their own Business. In somecase I've instead of a freelancer, I just put it with an agency (i'm doing this for some Projects where I trust the agencies that are driving), again here it Comes out of my individual allocated Budget not HR Budgets or other department Budgets.

Hope this also gives clarity from inside, and where freelancers are getting paid from (either department pot of cash for the year or individual allocated annual Budgets) so despite establshed deficiecies in FTE resourses internally, the trend is to out source it. In General when I've raised the issue, I usually get a push back, i.e. can it be done by freelancer?, or an agency? or what % FTE do you want can you talk to so and so to see if you can get a % of so and so. That's what the discussions look like, top Level, when I'm pushing for a FTE.

So just a Little insight from the inside.

DX

Hi Ana,

Nah, maybe only for Medical Writers they can be on the younger side - generally late 30s, early 40s at youngest.

Other than that..well is the older folk. C'est la vie.

DX

Thanks MPB -- a valuable contribution to that topic,

Dave Jensen, moderator