The way I see it, taking the 135k opportunity is a fairly low risk with high reward. The reason why I throw in "fairly" is because of the small percentage horror story scenarios that exist with just about every job. In this case, the unluckiest scenario could be you accept the offer, give your notice at current job, and then through unforeseen circumstances the opportunity gets cut a few months in or completely. Throughout my career, I have seen this happen to only 1 person and heard of this happening to 1 other person (due to an acquisition). Neither had much trouble finding another opportunity, but they already had some experience. I suppose if you're still pretty green, then this may be a tough situation but at the end of the day - if you got the resilience and drive I highly doubt it's something that will set you back in the long run. And like I said, this is an extreme scenario that is plausible but I haven't seen happen to an entry-level position.
My lesson after working as a chain pharmacist and then in pharma/biotech - don't trust your job security to an employer. Trust yourself, your specialized expertise, the network you build, and your experience to be your job security. This becomes especially true as you start to get older. Young grads will always have the edge of being fresh, hungry, often more willing to do more for less, and inevitably better with new technology and ways of working. OTOH, being able to run a 2-year clinical trial with thousands of subjects across 50 sites around the globe all while managing site investigators, trial coordinators, 8+ vendors, negotiating budgets, all the functional departments involved AND reach your endpoints is a highly marketable skill only years and years of experience can buy. When you get to the point of accumulating that skill set, it won't matter if you get laid off at 50 years old - because there'll be plenty of other companies competing with each other to recruit your services for top dollar. Clinical development is like a long apprenticeship, and those who have reached the guru levels are relatively hard to find commodities. There's a huge difference between no experience and 6 months of experience, 5 years vs 10 years experience, and even between 15 years and 25 years experience in this industry. I'm at 15 years and still can't fathom the level of knowledge and experience that my colleagues with 35+ years experience have - some of these people are well past retirement age and companies value their expertise so much they convince them to stay on with very high pay and very accommodating work-life balance.
I was lucky to enter the workforce when I did, when demand for retail pharmacists was pretty high. I took a significant pay cut to leave behind a situation many here would say I'd be ridiculous to drop for a 1 year contract in pharma with less pay, no paid PTO or holidays, no 401k and no assurance of a job after. It was the best move I made in my career. Not because pharmacy isn't a good profession (it is), and I'm not an idealist who thinks you have to love what you do. But I do think it's important to think about whether the work you do is something you're proud to be excellent in. Every job will have its annoying parts, but only some will inspire you to become excellent at - it's different for everybody but it's the best form of job security. In the first few years of my career, I was of the mindset that a permanent job with comfortable working conditions/benefits with a stable employer was the epitome. Guess what - even the most stable employer can get bought out or go broke 10 years from now, management can change, benefits can change, and while money is important salaries can fluctuate and there are definitely many things it can't make up for (especially after taxes). If I stayed in my first pharmacist job, I don't think I would have developed a significantly better skill set to set me apart from the "15 years ago" version of myself. Which means between now and retirement, I'd be really stressed were I to be laid off and competing with younger candidates. This is the reality of falling into the comfort zone of trusting your employer to provide job security. The first time I experienced a layoff due to a merger (entire department got the notice in a conference room), an older colleague told me that this might be my first layoff, but it probably won't be the last. Hearing that was not only relieving, but got me to shift mindset. I saw that a lot of my colleagues weren't worried at all since they knew they had a skill set that only years of experience could buy. So if you're pretty young and the opportunity is something that might inspire you to continuously grow in excellence for years to come, then I'd say it's fairly low risk and high reward when looking at the long career ahead of you. And like some here have said, even a permanent positions aren't really permanent. It means benefits, but it also means having to explain to your next interviewer why you're no longer there - where as a contractor can say just say the contract was complete and leave it at that.
