Anyone here ever been employed via a staffing agency?

[electricJ]

Recently got my first post-college job offer and it is working under a contract in manufacturing, but I am actually employed through a technical contracting firm (Aerotek). I was wondering if anyone here has had a similar experience, and if so, did you have to pay 100% of your Social Security withholding? I'll receive my paycheck directly from the contracting firm as well as be eligible for medical/dental insurance policies.

 

[pyonir]

I worked with a staffing agency and it was the same as any normal job i've had.

 

[JohnAn2112]

Yeah, I agree that it's the same. The only thing that sucks is that if you ever have to change your info such as mailing address or W2, you have to contact the staffing agency and drive to their office instead of just walking down the hall to the HR office.

 

[cornbread]

Originally posted by: electricJ
Recently got my first post-college job offer and it is working under a contract in manufacturing, but I am actually employed through a technical contracting firm (Aerotek). I was wondering if anyone here has had a similar experience, and if so, did you have to pay 100% of your Social Security withholding? I'll receive my paycheck directly from the contracting firm as well as be eligible for medical/dental insurance policies.

It really depends on what company you go through as to whether you're a w2 (they take the taxes out for you) or a 1099 (no taxes taken out - straight pay).

Personally, I've worked with Aerotek on some contract work, and they do hire you as a w2 employee, so they will take your taxes out for you.

On a side note, congrats on the job offer, and I hope it goes well. You shouldn't have any worries with getting paid on time, every time by Aerotek/Teksystems/Allegis Group (They're the same company (With all 3 names on the local office door) locally) as you would with some staffing companies... Once you start doing contract work, you will have a hard time getting away from it (once you do one contract, that's what many companies will want to hire you to do), so I would advise trying to get into something permanent as soon as you can if you value getting decent benefits. Aerotek does offer health insurance after you have worked for so long, but it is crap compared to what you would get from a full-time, permanent job. That is the one down side to Aerotek, but that goes with all staffing firms.

Check with them about the employee discounts though...I know the Teksystems side offered some odd discounts on some stuff (Dell, FTD Flowers, Busch Gardens, etc). Ya never know when they may come in handy.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Most (not 100% of all) staffing agencies treat you as a employee. They withhold taxes and pay their share of the SS.

Some will provide benifits (at a high cost).

Unless you are a high priced hired gun, it is difficult to get treated as an independent for 1099 purposes. The Government cacked down on that many years back in order to reduce tax cheating.

 

[DT4K]

My first job after college was through Kelly Services. For tax purposes, I was a Kelly employee. I got my paychecks from them, all the normal taxes were withheld, and I received a W-2 from them.

In my case, I was with them for a little over a year but it was all spent working for the same company. So I can't comment too much on the suggestion that doing contract work tends to lock you into doing more contract work. I ended up being offered a permanent position with the company I had been contracting with and I've now been here for 3 years. But I would think that doing a number of different short contracts would actually be a good way to make connections in the industry. Hopefully if your work is good, your name will come up when permanent positions are available.

 

[cornbread]

Originally posted by: DT4K
My first job after college was through Kelly Services. For tax purposes, I was a Kelly employee. I got my paychecks from them, all the normal taxes were withheld, and I received a W-2 from them.

In my case, I was with them for a little over a year but it was all spent working for the same company. So I can't comment too much on the suggestion that doing contract work tends to lock you into doing more contract work. I ended up being offered a permanent position with the company I had been contracting with and I've now been here for 3 years. But I would think that doing a number of different short contracts would actually be a good way to make connections in the industry. Hopefully if your work is good, your name will come up when permanent positions are available.

Yeah, you are right about it making good connections.. I've just had a lot of trouble finding a permanent position - I keep getting offered contracts..

 

[Muse]

For about 10 years I worked exclusively temporary jobs, so I was the employee of temp agencies. Had no medical I was aware of. The benefits were nil, the pay barely enough to live on the cheap, partly because AFAIK there just wasn't enough demand for unskilled labor around here at the time, probably still isn't, don't know. The benefit was really getting a look at myriad working situations in my vicinity and meeting lots of different types people.

Later, after I'd mastered a programming language I got a few jobs by virtue of head hunters calling me, which was infinitely better than what I used to have to do, call a handful of temp agencies practically daily when I was unemployed and usually get told they didn't have anything for me.

I'm de facto retired now (don't need the bucks), but my last job was for an agency out of state that had me work mostly telecommute for a company around 50 miles away from me. The agency paid me and pretty well by the hour. Occasionally I had to drive to the location. Again, no medical or other benefits I was aware of. It was just part time. I don't believe I ever personally met any of the staff of the company that employed me on that job!

My first job after college was through Kelly Services. For tax purposes, I was a Kelly employee. I got my paychecks from them, all the normal taxes were withheld, and I received a W-2 from them.

I probably worked for Kelly. My most frequent temp agency gig was with Manpower. But there were others. I'd send in my forms with hours worked end of each week. Checks and W2s were always from the agencies.

My first programming job was for a tiny company that contracted workers for a large corporation. They had a little office in their facilities. After that job ended I started getting "regular" jobs where I was the employee of the company I was working for.