With the economy as nervous as it is, employers are equally on edge. Many are unwilling to take on the liability and risk associated with another full-time employee’s salary, healthcare and benefits. As a result, some companies have resorted to hiring people on a temporary or contract basis, simply because projects still need to be completed and there aren’t enough existing staff members to get it done.

I’ve talked to several clients who were rather disdainful of taking on a temporary or contract position, citing that this could be a barrier to them finding a better-paying full-time position with full benefits. Or, they just felt as though it was below them. “I don’t ‘do’ temporary work,” one client said. “It’s a dead-end.”

But it isn’t a dead-end. It can actually be a new connector to a future full-time job. The way that things are these days economically, having flexibility in your employment approach can have a big payoff later on. Think of it is this way: Some employment is better than no employment. And when the economy does start to recover, who do you think that the employer would be more likely to hire when they have that opportunity? An unknown quantity, or someone who has been already working with the company in a contract or temporary capacity?

The answer seems pretty clear, doesn’t it? You never know where opportunity might pop up, and right now, it is all about creating as many openings as possible. If you create the opportunity for possibility, instead of shutting yourself off from it, there is a higher likelihood that something will come along that you couldn’t have anticipated! So don’t write off something just because of some preconceptions… you need to be as flexible and receptive to opportunity as possible. You never know where it might take you!