Many young workers are looking for the stability and higher earnings that come with a full-time, permanent position.

While contract roles have their benefits, namely flexibilty and work-life balance, according to Diane Galarneau, who examined Statistics Canada labour force figures from 1997-2009, the last available data, the major benefit of a permanent job is the likelihood of increasing your earnings.

Why Go Permanent? Why Go Contract?

Canadians with permanent positions earned more than their counterparts in every industry, and in both the public and private sectors.

Contract employees have earned an average of 12 to 14 per cent less per hour than permanent employees, since information on temporary employment began being collected.

Luckily, contract workers already have a foot in the door and so are at a unique advantage to score a full-time role and hopefully get a heftier pay packet.

So what are some ways that you can maximize this opportunity and increase the chance your employer will hire you?

I asked Alan Kearns, managing partner at CareerJoy, a Canadian career coaching organization, about top five strategies young workers can use to help potentially turn their contract into a permanent position:

Speak Up

Schedule meetings with your managers to inform them of how much you like working there and ask what ways they can suggest that you improve in order to be considered for a full-time position. You’re showing that you’re interested and you’re willing to do anything reasonable, Kearns says. As a general rule, employers are interested in people who are interested in them.

Do More Than Be a Paper Pusher

Always try to go above and beyond in your role. Are you essentially making yourself extremely valuable in both what I’ve hired you to do, but also in extra value, on things that maybe I haven’t even thought of? Kearns says. Show your employer that you’re able to make their life easier. For example, if your manager asks you to file some papers and you notice the whole filing system is in disarray, take it upon yourself to clean and organize the whole cabinet. Or if your employer notices that they’re getting a lot of unsubscribes on the company newsletter, come back in the morning with a list of three solutions.

Don’t Be a Wallflower

Developing a reputation as a likeable and capable worker happens outside your basic job description. It happens from building relationships with people through events like after work socializing, birthday parties for coworkers and leading charity committees. You never know who may be in a position to hire, so get yourself out of your department occasionally and network across the whole company.

Put Yourself in Your Manager’s Shoes

Kearns says that a lot of people aren’t paying enough attention to what’s important to their boss, but that’s exactly what’s going to help you get hired. Make your boss’ problems, your problems. If you can help solve problems for your boss, you’re going to come across as indispensable.

Don’t Be Desperate

Career hunting is like dating, says Kearns. You want to come across as confident and keen but not desperate. It’s a balance. Like any relationship, let it have a natural flow and don’t put a lot of pressure on it. Keep in mind that if you’re a great worker, which is hard to find, those will always be in high demand.

You Never Know

Opportunities may present themselves at any time, and there’s no single way to get ahead in your job. It’s always a good thing to stand out as a motivated and dependable worker, though, so when an opportunity does appear, you’ll be ready.

Written by Danielle Kubes. This article originally appeared on Tangerine’s site: Forward Thinking.