If there's one thing that we can be sure of in a changing business world, it's that the notion of what is a career is changing.
It's no longer expected that the job you take when you're 22 and fresh out of studying will see you through until you retire at 65, with a company pension payment in your pocket.
Now, workers are more likely to jump from job to job. More and more of them are working as contractors – sometimes just parachuting in to help with a particular project before moving on to another.
For employers, there are obvious benefits.
For some it can be helpful to have contractors come in when required, without the commitment of taking someone on full-time. Also, you can use contractors to cover a set period where you're short-staffed.