Not getting paid on the bench = body shop. There’s a lot of grey areas, as the terms “consultant”, “contractor”, etc. are thrown around interchangeably in different contexts. But the main difference IMHO is that consulting firm consultants typically self-identify as employees of their firm first (i.e. Accenture, McKinsey, Deloitte, etc). Their career path is within their firm. When they aren’t billing, they still get paid and are expected to contribute to the firm in other areas (for example, in my firm I do a lot of recruiting, business development and IT infrastructure support…interestingly that seems to occupy more of my time these days than actual client billing).
For a body shop or “staff augmentation” firm, typically only the sales people are members of the firm. In many ways, they are not functionally different from recruiting firms or temp agencies.
Not that one is necessarily “better” than the other. It’s more in the first model they are hiring “Accenture” while in the second they are hiring you through the contracting firm. The second, you have more flexibility (you just won’t get paid), while the first you are largely required to go where you are told and work on whatever project they tell you to work on.
Yeah, I wouldn’t go back to the table at this point.
It means “we don’t know”, but we anticipate it will be at least a year.
There are no guarantees with a contract job (in spite of the term “contract”). Recruiters always say “this job could extend longer” or “they might convert you to full time”. But always keep in mind that the main reason that companies hire contractors is that they need them for a specific project, not because they are creating a permanent position.
Or because they can’t keep a staff of regular employees because of revenue fluctuations or just because it is a shitty place to work. Contract work can be fine if you only want to work for a certain period to pile up some money or make money while you are filling in while developing a new skill set to transition to a new career, but on the whole you are better off taking a position with regular employment versus contract in nearly every case despite the salary difference. There can be a lot of hidden costs with being a contractor; at one place I worked briefly when just out of school they backbilled the contract shop for use of space and computer, which the shop gracelessly passed directly onto the contractor so instead of earning the promised $30/hr he was making $22/hr.
If you do work for a “body shop” read the fine print in the “contract” they offer you, and especially performance and separation provisions; often that contract isn’t worth the paper it is written on in ensuring that you are given any kind of notice or protection against immediate severance regardless of the stated duration. And as a contractor, unless you are some kind of star brought on for having a particular set of skills, you will be on the low rung when it comes to office space, facilities, et cetera, in perpetuity. There is a reason the term “whaleshit contractor” is in the business parlance.
This ended up being a correct supposition. Job #2 was cagey when I asked them what percentage of healthcare is covered by the company and by the employee. I do have the total monthly contribution amounts for the five plans they offer, though. Also, for Job #2, Vision and Dental (important for us) comes 100% from the employee’s pocket.
Job #1 pays 50% of Health, Vision, and Dental, and the total monthly contribution is about 30% less out of my pocket than it would be with Job #2. The details of these benefits between the two companies are comparable (same health insurance company, in fact).
…
I’ve been putting pen to paper a lot since yesterday afternoon. There is debt we’re carrying that’s going to roll off of our “books” in a few months. Some more debt that we can readily refinance to a lower monthly payment. Meanwhile, my wife has recently picked up some extra hours at her job (unrelated to me looking for work). I can work it out with Job #1 to where by the end of this year, the take-home pay is only a slightly less than it was at my previous position.
Job #1 also says that after a time, I can expect to take on more responsibilities and have my pay adjusted upwards. I don’t have a lot of faith in that, though – the firm must be small enough that the Powers That Be really feel it when someone gets a raise.
Not an ideal situation, but much better than it could be (i.e. no offers). Since this was an unforeseen layoff and I’m trying to latch on to some floating object or another … maybe treading water financially for a spell isn’t so bad of an outcome. I just can’t get a good feeling about the contracting route. 15-20 years ago, with less on the line and no mortgage – sure, would’ve been game for anything. Not so much these days.
I’ve known many companies, and have gotten several jobs myself, through Contract for Hire. Sometimes, those companies didn’t even know they were going to hire me in the end. Hell, my last job was an 18-month “we NEVER hire contractors” contract position where I talked them into hiring me and stayed another 3.5 years as an employee.
A lot of companies these days will take on entire groups of contractors with the intent to convert people to employees if they decide they like them during the contract period. I interviewed for one last summer where they had an entire team of 60 people who had been hired as contractors and were in the middle of converting about 2/3 of them to employees and hiring more contractors.
There aren’t as many permanent body shops anymore - consulting firms that will keep you on as an employee during off-times between gigs. I worked for one in the late 80’s, but haven’t seen that so much anymore.
After four attempts, I finally got a call through to the Job #2 recruiter. She was not happy that I turned down the position. I feel a little bad because I don’t think I understood the rules of the “hard sell” game she was playing to get me on board. I’ve only done in-person interviews with people taking due time to make decisions. Everything with Job #2 was bang-bang-bang.
That is absolutely not your problem. It should be understood by all parties that until an employment agreement or contract is signed, you are a free agent and will act in your own best interest.
Hell, my last job was an 18-month “we NEVER hire contractors” contract position where I talked them into hiring me and stayed another 3.5 years as an employee.