TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
I was a contractor for five years with my own S corp. I stopped contracting
two years ago specifically to work with a particular
boss (who just left the company!), and I am in California. All
these things color my answers:
1. Insurance was hard to get and expensive to pay for. I have a domestic
partner who smokes, and getting him on my Kaiser personal advantage was
impossible or prohibitively expensive, ditto Blue Shield. Your mileage may
vary. Kaiser is just inside my lower limit of acceptable coverage,
and it was going to be hundreds of dollars a month for the two of us.
2. If you get bennies, you are someone's employee, just not permanent.
Companies make the whole spectrum of arrangments, from no benefits, and
you invoice for your payment (meaning you get the pleasure of waiting 15 -
90 days to get "paid") to the full deal, you paying a small amount for
insurance the same as permanent employees, and paid regularly from payroll,
not sporadically from Accounts Payable.
Don't be shy about asking whether they are talking full time temp-to-perm
employee or contractor with an option to become employee,
as the $$ you charge is very different depending on those definitions.
If you pay your own benefits, you are a contractor and your hourly rate
should reflect that (don't charge an amount = to your employee annual salary
divided by 50, that shortchanges you).
3. I'm not sure if you qualify for Cobra (you get to carry on your insurance
for X number of months after termination) as a non-permanent employee, but
the recruiter should know (it's not negotiable, so it's
okay to ask).
I don't know anyone who invoices for their $$ and gets paid benefits.
Good luck!
Mysti
_________________________________________________________________
Join the world?s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail.
http://www.hotmail.com
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Free copy of ARTS PDF Tools when you register for the PDF
Conference by May 15. Leading-Edge Practices for Enterprise
& Government, June 3-5, Bethesda,MD. www.PDFConference.com
Check out RoboDemo for tutorials! It makes creating full-motion software
demonstrations and other onscreen support materials easy and intuitive.
Need RoboHelp? Save $100 on RoboHelp Office in May with our mail-in rebate.
Go to http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.