I was contacted by recruiter about a full-time permanent role that I applied for with a client they were hiring for. I went through 2 stages of interviews. Everything went great. The only issue was determining my availability of going onsite occasionally. Following the positive interviews, I was told by recruiter that the client was passing.

That was a month ago.

Today I got a phone call from the same recruiter saying they had good news and if I was still available for work. I said yes, and they told me that the client had asked about my availability because they would like to hire me. So for a split second in these past 3 months of hell, I thought I was finally hired.

Then I got a phone call from the same recruiter.

They told me that they would like to have me start as a contractor first and then I would be converted in 2 months. I asked why the change, and they said that they just wanted to cover all parties in case things didn’t work out for some reason. They mentioned that this client was very particular about things and just wanted to confirm that I will be ok in the role. I have over 20 years of experience in my profession. I have no doubt that I will be successful in this role.

This change of plan seems really suspect to me and makes me think that there is no full time role to be had. Has anyone else faced this situation? I need a job, but I don’t want to set myself up to get screwed over either.