Wes Bucey
Prophet of Profit
Contracting/Temping – Is it in YOUR career future?
(a companion thread to Consulting – Is it in YOUR Career Future?)
In my experience over the last forty years, every time there is a downturn in the economy and full-time jobs seem to become scarce, a lot of folks think they can easily join the ranks of those “high paid consultants” they hear about and occasionally see as shadowy figures talking and dealing with top managers at their organization. What if you, personally, are not at the level of "consultant" (yet?)
Reason for this thread:
As the economic noose tightens more and more in the USA and the dreaded "R" word (recession) rears its ugly head and the ripple effect expands across the globe, more and more organizations are loathe to hire full-time employees. However, they still need "warm bodies" to perform day-to-day tasks within the organization. To fulfill that need, they take one or both of two courses:
(an excerpt from Consulting – Is it in YOUR Career Future?)
Well, I can’t inject them with skill, experience, and a psychological attitude to become an instant consultant, but I can create a thread folks can read and do a little self-assessment and gap analysis to see where they stand on the road to getting gainful employment in ANY field, not just the Quality profession.
Basics
First, we need just a few important definitions. Many folks confuse the terms “consultant” and ”contractor” and often use them interchangeably. Most folks I consider “consultants” probably will agree on the following definitions (If you do NOT agree, feel free to write a post detailing your reasoning.):
Consultant: An independent business person (or member of a firm of such business persons) whose primary value given is ADVICE or EDUCATION. This would include, but not be limited to, folks who advise about mergers and acquisitions and whether to add or delete product lines or enter new markets. It would also include on-site and off-site trainers of employees of an organization who come in to teach something not readily available from experts within the organization (Hazmat processes and procedures, English as a second language, etc.)
Contractor. In the sense we use here, a contractor may be completely independent or work for an agency, but he is essentially a temporary worker performing a job which would be handled by a full-time employee at an organization, but for a number of reasons , the organization prefers the temporary status of the person fulfilling the function. Such temporary contractors include folks working as technical writers, inspectors, assemblers, internal auditors, statisticians, accountants, bookkeepers, typists, clerks, even at supervisor levels, like crew chiefs, quality managers, design engineers, process engineers, etc.
The primary difference for the purpose of this discussion is the contractor is bringing technical skill to the table, but rarely is he giving advice in planning or strategy or spending time training folks to do a task or learn a skill so he can move on to the next organization.
A secondary difference, but often blurred, is that most consultants get paid a fee for accomplishment that rarely has a direct connection to the number of hours worked or the number of pieces inspected or the number of documents written. Blurring may occur when trainers get paid according to the number of students who successfully pass a class. A consultant who comes in to help an organization achieve registration to ISO 9001:2000 may get a flat fee for educating and training the staff to be ready for a third party audit, with a bonus paid when the organization actually gets the certificate of registration. Such a consultant helps select the proper registrar, helps organization personnel write manuals and procedures, trains organization personnel to conduct a gap analysis and become internal auditors for continuing evaluation of the operations against the organization plan.
If the guy just comes in and grinds out a manual and a pile of procedures by himself in a little room, then turns them over to the organization without training the organization folks to do it themselves, the guy is really only a contractor – a technical writer for hire!
Who are these contractors and temporary employees?
Most often, these are folk who, as employees of various sized organizations were able to fulfill their tasks, but they didn’t have to worry about the business side of paying for everything like travel, business cards, phones, computers, temporary housing away from home, health insurance, next week’s or next month’s or next year’s assignment and income. Then, almost always for reasons that had nothing to do with their skill level, they find themselves laid off from a full-time job. Money is tight and they need some income while they look for another full-time job. They are not ready (by virtue of skills, experience, or psychological attitude) to take on the role of "consultant" as outlined above. Many really want full-time employment with all the security (less and less as time goes by) and the benefits (sick pay, medical insurance, 401k, etc., etc.) and some are content to take a less stressful path of working only a few months a year and pursuing other things when they aren't working.
Let’s summarize
This is really a more difficult decision than most people may think. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence that many folks have built up such good personal networks of people familiar with their skills and experience that those people come rushing with offers for temporary employment once word gets out the individual is available.
Sadly, the evidence is anecdotal, and most folks finding themselves unemployed don't have that kind of network. The remaining (and sometimes ONLY) choice is to find an agency which handles workers with similar skills and depend on that agency to find employers needing folks with those skills and do all the negotiating to obtain assignments for the contractors in the agency pool of workers.
TIPS, TRICKS, AND TRAPS OF TEMP AGENCIES
I could waste time and space recounting some of the horrors of dealing with BAD agencies. Further, I could list the detailed reasons for each of the trips and tricks agencies put up as roadblocks to contractors getting a fair percentage of the total compensation paid by the employer who uses the contractor's services. I am providing a link to a website of an old acquaintance (Jim Ziegler) who does the rant much better than I.
CAVEAT!:
Jim Ziegler has an ax to grind in that he operates a service for contractors who choose to deal "directly" with employers. It's not a bad deal, but if you reach the point you can deal directly with employers without an agency interceding, you really don't need Jim Ziegler's middleman service.
That said, Jim's website is [SIZE=-1]The Contract Employee's Handbook[/SIZE] (http://www.cehandbook.com) - be sure to look over his Contract Employee's Bill of Rights.
From my own point of view, the most egregious part of dealing with any agency middleman is the contractor worker is often kept in the dark about the true value of the job he performs by not knowing the total fee paid to the agency by the employer, since some agencies siphon off 50% or more of the fee paid by the employer for performing these services:
The second most egregious factor is a "non-compete" clause between agency and contractor which requires contractor to pay a humongous fee to the agency if the contractor is offered and accepts a full-time job with the employer. Alternately, the contractor is barred from working directly for the employer (as employee or contractor) for periods up to one year after the last contract with that employee to that employer handled through the agency.
My advice: consider Deming's theory "the System of Profound Knowledge" (SoPK) in everything you do. Knowledge is power! Try to know as much about the entire relationship between agency, employer, and contractor as possible BEFORE entering into a binding contract.
This is all for now. Future posts will discuss finding an agency with which to work and positioning yourself to earn the highest possible contract fees or temporary hourly wages..
(a companion thread to Consulting – Is it in YOUR Career Future?)
Added in edit to bump this thread and add specific link to a chapter in Jim Ziegler's Contract Employee's Handbook
Resumes for Contract Workers
http://www.cehandbook.com/cehandbook/docs/cehandbook_chapter_05.pdf
(If you are contemplating Contract Work, at least READ THIS before you send out a resume. Note: The pages load slowly - be patient!)
I do not have permission to post a copy here in the Cove. The complete handbook can be found here:
http://www.cehandbook.com/
In my experience over the last forty years, every time there is a downturn in the economy and full-time jobs seem to become scarce, a lot of folks think they can easily join the ranks of those “high paid consultants” they hear about and occasionally see as shadowy figures talking and dealing with top managers at their organization. What if you, personally, are not at the level of "consultant" (yet?)
Reason for this thread:
As the economic noose tightens more and more in the USA and the dreaded "R" word (recession) rears its ugly head and the ripple effect expands across the globe, more and more organizations are loathe to hire full-time employees. However, they still need "warm bodies" to perform day-to-day tasks within the organization. To fulfill that need, they take one or both of two courses:
- direct hire of temporary or part-time workers
- contracting with an agency to provide workers for temporary or part-time employment.
- We'll talk about the pros and cons of both avenues and compare them against full-time employment.
- We'll talk about the tips and traps BOTH employers and employees need to be aware of.
- We'll talk about wage scales, hidden costs, benefits, risks, and many other things associated with "working without a net."
(an excerpt from Consulting – Is it in YOUR Career Future?)
So, everybody isn't ready to step up and be one of those high paid [sometimes] consultants. What else can they do when jobs are tight?Many of my colleagues and associates around the world actually ARE those high paid consultants who deal with the top managers at organizations. When we talk and correspond, one of the main topics that comes up almost every time are the folks who hold themselves out to be “consultants,” but the only thing “consultant” about them is the title they put on a business card. Often we say, “What a shame this guy is so clueless about how to be a REAL consultant.” And then we jump to another topic and mentally dismiss the person from further consideration. On a few occasions, we say, “Wow! That guy is a menace to the profession. He’s so bad, his stink rubs off on the rest of us!” But again, we do nothing, because our “professional ethics” prevent us from bad mouthing a competitor in public, even a stumblebum who gives the word “consultant” a bad taste in anyone’s mouth who crosses his path.
Well, I can’t inject them with skill, experience, and a psychological attitude to become an instant consultant, but I can create a thread folks can read and do a little self-assessment and gap analysis to see where they stand on the road to getting gainful employment in ANY field, not just the Quality profession.
Basics
First, we need just a few important definitions. Many folks confuse the terms “consultant” and ”contractor” and often use them interchangeably. Most folks I consider “consultants” probably will agree on the following definitions (If you do NOT agree, feel free to write a post detailing your reasoning.):
Consultant: An independent business person (or member of a firm of such business persons) whose primary value given is ADVICE or EDUCATION. This would include, but not be limited to, folks who advise about mergers and acquisitions and whether to add or delete product lines or enter new markets. It would also include on-site and off-site trainers of employees of an organization who come in to teach something not readily available from experts within the organization (Hazmat processes and procedures, English as a second language, etc.)
Contractor. In the sense we use here, a contractor may be completely independent or work for an agency, but he is essentially a temporary worker performing a job which would be handled by a full-time employee at an organization, but for a number of reasons , the organization prefers the temporary status of the person fulfilling the function. Such temporary contractors include folks working as technical writers, inspectors, assemblers, internal auditors, statisticians, accountants, bookkeepers, typists, clerks, even at supervisor levels, like crew chiefs, quality managers, design engineers, process engineers, etc.
The primary difference for the purpose of this discussion is the contractor is bringing technical skill to the table, but rarely is he giving advice in planning or strategy or spending time training folks to do a task or learn a skill so he can move on to the next organization.
A secondary difference, but often blurred, is that most consultants get paid a fee for accomplishment that rarely has a direct connection to the number of hours worked or the number of pieces inspected or the number of documents written. Blurring may occur when trainers get paid according to the number of students who successfully pass a class. A consultant who comes in to help an organization achieve registration to ISO 9001:2000 may get a flat fee for educating and training the staff to be ready for a third party audit, with a bonus paid when the organization actually gets the certificate of registration. Such a consultant helps select the proper registrar, helps organization personnel write manuals and procedures, trains organization personnel to conduct a gap analysis and become internal auditors for continuing evaluation of the operations against the organization plan.
If the guy just comes in and grinds out a manual and a pile of procedures by himself in a little room, then turns them over to the organization without training the organization folks to do it themselves, the guy is really only a contractor – a technical writer for hire!
Who are these contractors and temporary employees?
Most often, these are folk who, as employees of various sized organizations were able to fulfill their tasks, but they didn’t have to worry about the business side of paying for everything like travel, business cards, phones, computers, temporary housing away from home, health insurance, next week’s or next month’s or next year’s assignment and income. Then, almost always for reasons that had nothing to do with their skill level, they find themselves laid off from a full-time job. Money is tight and they need some income while they look for another full-time job. They are not ready (by virtue of skills, experience, or psychological attitude) to take on the role of "consultant" as outlined above. Many really want full-time employment with all the security (less and less as time goes by) and the benefits (sick pay, medical insurance, 401k, etc., etc.) and some are content to take a less stressful path of working only a few months a year and pursuing other things when they aren't working.
Let’s summarize
- A consultant gets paid for giving someone advice or showing him how to do something
- A contractor gets paid for doing something or performing tasks which in some organizations are done by full-time employees
- Just calling oneself a consultant does not make one a consultant – it requires running a BUSINESS of consulting.
- Technical skill in a subject is not sufficient to be a successful consultant – one has to be able to transfer knowledge and skill or convince others to perform tasks based on that technical skill.
- There are resources available to determine via “gap analysis” whether one has the “right stuff” to be an independent consultant.
- Many folks do not aspire to be consultants; they prefer working for someone else so they can focus on the technical aspect and skill required for the task.
This is really a more difficult decision than most people may think. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence that many folks have built up such good personal networks of people familiar with their skills and experience that those people come rushing with offers for temporary employment once word gets out the individual is available.
Sadly, the evidence is anecdotal, and most folks finding themselves unemployed don't have that kind of network. The remaining (and sometimes ONLY) choice is to find an agency which handles workers with similar skills and depend on that agency to find employers needing folks with those skills and do all the negotiating to obtain assignments for the contractors in the agency pool of workers.
TIPS, TRICKS, AND TRAPS OF TEMP AGENCIES
I could waste time and space recounting some of the horrors of dealing with BAD agencies. Further, I could list the detailed reasons for each of the trips and tricks agencies put up as roadblocks to contractors getting a fair percentage of the total compensation paid by the employer who uses the contractor's services. I am providing a link to a website of an old acquaintance (Jim Ziegler) who does the rant much better than I.
CAVEAT!:
Jim Ziegler has an ax to grind in that he operates a service for contractors who choose to deal "directly" with employers. It's not a bad deal, but if you reach the point you can deal directly with employers without an agency interceding, you really don't need Jim Ziegler's middleman service.
That said, Jim's website is [SIZE=-1]The Contract Employee's Handbook[/SIZE] (http://www.cehandbook.com) - be sure to look over his Contract Employee's Bill of Rights.
From my own point of view, the most egregious part of dealing with any agency middleman is the contractor worker is often kept in the dark about the true value of the job he performs by not knowing the total fee paid to the agency by the employer, since some agencies siphon off 50% or more of the fee paid by the employer for performing these services:
- Job matching.
- Contract negotiation.
- Invoicing, collections and payroll.
- Accounts receivable factoring.
- Employer of record.
The second most egregious factor is a "non-compete" clause between agency and contractor which requires contractor to pay a humongous fee to the agency if the contractor is offered and accepts a full-time job with the employer. Alternately, the contractor is barred from working directly for the employer (as employee or contractor) for periods up to one year after the last contract with that employee to that employer handled through the agency.
My advice: consider Deming's theory "the System of Profound Knowledge" (SoPK) in everything you do. Knowledge is power! Try to know as much about the entire relationship between agency, employer, and contractor as possible BEFORE entering into a binding contract.
This is all for now. Future posts will discuss finding an agency with which to work and positioning yourself to earn the highest possible contract fees or temporary hourly wages..
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