A recruiter (can you believe it?) passed this article on to me and I thought you all might be interested in these tips as well. Makes one think twice, when returning those phone calls from recruiters . . . . .

Are you Interviewing with a Body Shop? (author unknown)

If you're beginning to explore the idea of working for one of those consulting firms that advertise heavily in the classified pages, take the time to learn how computer contracting works before you sign anything! Many of these companies will tell you, "We're not a body shop!" and back this up by telling you that they pay their consultants a salary, rather than an hourly rate, and pay benefits. Many will also claim to give their contractors expensive training.

Well, guess what! One hallmark of a body shop is that it tries to get all the contractors it hires working on a W-2 salaried basis--and pockets the lion's share of the hourly rate billed clients. A good consulting firm should offer the consultant the opportunity to work for a high hourly rate--often twice what salaried body shop consultants earn. With that kind of money coming in, you can afford to buy your own benefits.

As a salaried body shop contractor, you'll have no say about which contracts you work on and may get stuck in long-term dead end projects which give you no opportunity to use your technical skills or to add to them. The training that was dangled in front of you often turns out to be fictional, cheap, or scheduled at times when you can't attend. And if the company cannot place you on a new assignment, the "job security" they touted at your interview will dissappear in the length of time it takes to type up a pink slip.

You almost always do best when working with consulting firms--body shops or not--when you make it clear you will work only on a project-to-project basis. When you do this, you only work on projects that interest you. And this way, for each assignment you negotiate an hourly rate that reflects the skills involved and the value that the assignment has for maintaining or improving your contracting skill set.

Truer words were never spoken....

There are a lot of negatives about going through a body shop, and this article does a good job of pointing them out,....BUT....

a) some sites MAKE the consultant become an W2 employee of the consulting shop to avoid "employee vs. consultant" issues. I know that many sites over-react in this regard, but that is the unfortunate reality until the Congress and/or the IRS comes up with a better set of guidelines which allow sites to hire contractors directly without fear of taxes, penalties, or long stretches in Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary (don't think they have a SAS users group there!)

b) some consultants don't want to market themselves, or go to the effort of negotiating contracts. It costs money to have your own business, and some consultants are happier having the contract shop market them and cut them a paycheck.

c) "buying benefits" can be very difficult, in the USA, if you have pre-existing medical conditions. Although the federal laws have changed a bit, it is still expensive and hard to find affordable insuranace/disability policies if you have chronic health problems As an "employee" of a body shop you can usually get a decent policy, and cheaper than what is costs to obtain one, if you can, as an individual..