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[skinnymargarita]

Hi All!

I have been hired to design a couple courses for nameless college. The contract is not here and I have been given the reason that accounting is holding it up. The contact said that it usually takes 10 minutes to send the contract out, but accounting is changing personnel. It's been 4 days. I am not sure if they are leading me on or what. I did talk to the manager and he wants the first course done in 7-8 weeks. That is probably reasonable if I start working on it now. Help!

I can look for a textbook and try ordering desk copies, but other than that I am thinking it is best not to work on courses until contract comes. Good idea? I could work on it but just not submit anything until the contract comes. Also, this is my first contract. Anything special I should be aware of on contracts?

Thanks for your advice!

[profh]

No contract = no work.  I would try contacting them again and explain that you do not feel comfortable beginning any type of work until you have received a contract.  It's a perfectly reasonable request.  I would be too paranoid that I would begin working on the project and later learn that there was a funding issue or some other mishap.  If they truly want you for the job, they'll understand that you need a contract in order to begin.

[skinnymargarita]

No contract = no work.  I would try contacting them again and explain that you do not feel comfortable beginning any type of work until you have received a contract.  It's a perfectly reasonable request.  I would be too paranoid that I would begin working on the project and later learn that there was a funding issue or some other mishap.  If they truly want you for the job, they'll understand that you need a contract in order to begin.

That sounds reasonable. The manager will be on vacation for 2 weeks, so that will crunch my deadline, but I agree with you. I don't want to be difficult, but I don't want to waste my time either!

Thanks!

[educator1]

I do this all the time in my consulting business (starting work prior to receiving a contract). If I waited for a contract all the time, I would frequently have to do the kind of rush job that would injure my reputation.

I would say that less than 5% of the time I have found my self in the position of doing some work that I didn't get paid for. There has been only one time where the work was so specialized that it did not help in some subsequent project.

It all depends on the level of trust that you have in the people that promised a contract. If you trust them, just make sure you don't get into a time jam. Bureaucracies can sometimes take an incredible amount of time to get the simplest piece of paper approved.

[skinnymargarita]

I do this all the time in my consulting business (starting work prior to receiving a contract). If I waited for a contract all the time, I would frequently have to do the kind of rush job that would injure my reputation.

I would say that less than 5% of the time I have found my self in the position of doing some work that I didn't get paid for. There has been only one time where the work was so specialized that it did not help in some subsequent project.

It all depends on the level of trust that you have in the people that promised a contract. If you trust them, just make sure you don't get into a time jam. Bureaucracies can sometimes take an incredible amount of time to get the simplest piece of paper approved.

That is exactly what I am concerned about. I guess they need to trust me as well that I will do the work in a timely manner as I said I would. I don't want to disappoint them especially because I also am designing a second course and hopefully teaching the courses later. I need to look at it from the bigger picture and be patient.

Thanks for sharing your experience. This is all new to me.