Contract types: permanent, temp agency, freelance

Festanstellung is the permanent contract: gold (dismissal protection after 6 months, full social insurance). Befristet is fixed-term (max 2 years without reason), then permanent or over. Zeitarbeit (temp work) means working via an agency at a client: flexible, but less pay and weaker protection — often the foot in the door though. Freelance means self-employed: your own taxes, your own clients, your own freedom.

• ●Permanent = protection: firing you is hard and costly for the employer
• ●Fixed-term → read: max 3 extensions, then automatic permanent
• ●Temp work pays ~10–20% less than permanent — do the math