I'm not one for "Doom & Gloom Stories". But have a read of this. Quite interesting.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piper_AlphaThis sort of extra curricular reading, when translated in the right manor during a job interview, can help you get that job. It displays interest, intent, knowledge.... etc.
I'm a contractor also, and recently my job/project interviews have happened within project meetings. Supplementary extra guy shows up to the meeting. I'm thinking, "what the hell are you doing in here, you're not contributing?". After the meeting, I'm called over for an extra sideline conversation... "That sort of doubled for an interview for the next project, and we have this project that we would like you to work on"...
Note: I'm a Pre-Feasibility & Feasibility Stage Estimator, so my projects only last for 1-2 months, maybe 3 months tops. (but the full "project" will be a 12-36 months job on site, with pre procurement work). If they go through to the next stage, I do another 1-2-3 months, etc. And my projects don't "over-run on cost". If over budget, the engineers go back and rework some things, or the project gets "killed". Or, the client gets up front warning on reality cost whether they like it or not. Sometime they don't like it, and don't believe it. But 24 months down the track, I make the call, "how did that project turn out?". Standard response from a non-believer... "it actually came out close to your estimate, but we had a second estimate done, and had a lower target budget, but we didn't meet it".