Before embarking on a career change, make sure you clearly understand terms that are used in the interviewing/hiring process. If you are interested in a long-term stable employment, you are most likely looking for a permanent full-time job. Sometimes recruiters and hiring managers use the terms full-time and permanent interchangeably. As a matter of fact, these mean two different things.

A permanent versus a contingent or a contractual job means a type of employment, while a full-time verses a part-time job refers to a work status.

While discussing an opportunity, specify what type and what status the job has. By asking specifying questions you would also demonstrate your awareness of the HR terminology and make a positive impression on a recruiter or a potential employer.

Type of job indicates your juridical relation with your employer, whereas status of the job mostly relates to the number of working hours and work schedule.

There are two types of employment: permanent (or regular) and contingent. Contingent workers are those who do not have a regular employment status as permanent employees. They are hired to handle an extra workload, specialized assignments or for vacation and leave coverage. This employment type embraces contract, casual, non-regular, temporary employees, independent contractors (freelancers), consultants or leased employees etc.

Working on a contract you may not have a firm work schedule. However, some organizations may prefer the work schedule of contractual employees to be close to that of permanent employees. So they could easily achieve congruence in their operations. Thus, working on a contract you can have either a full-time or part-time work status; the same as being a permanent employee you might work either full-time or part-time. The specific is that your minimum working hours should be mutually agreed upon between you as a contractor and your employer. Another detail is that working on a contract you are most likely be exempt from overtime pay. Even if you sometimes work more hours than was normally agreed, you are paid your usual hourly rate for those hours. Again, there might be exemptions from the rules that you should discuss with your employer.

There are also two statuses of the job: full-time and part-time.

Full-time means that you work a certain number of hours per day five days a week. In accordance with the Employment Standards Act (ESA) the maximum number of working hours is 48 hours per week. In other words, you do not have to work more than 48 hours a week (applies in Ontario) unless you agree otherwise with your employer in writing. All what exceeds 44 working hours (applies in Ontario) should be considered overtime and be paid accordingly. This is the minimum that is stipulated by the Employment Standards Act. Being a permanent full-time employee, you are entitled to overtime pay. However, certain industries and job categories (such as managers or professionals) are exempt from the hours of work and overtime pay rules set out in the ESA.

The second status of employment is part-time. Part-time employees are those who work fewer hours than full-time employees and very often are paid less than their full-time counterparts and, in most occasions, may not be entitled to benefits. In spite of this fact, the number of part-time regular employees in Canada has been increasing over the last years.