Chromatography Forum

I was reading an old issue of Money magazine while waiting for my wife at a doctor's appointment (aside - why are there only outdated issues of magazines at the doctor's office?), and there was an article about getting back into the workforce for those that had lost their jobs in the latest economic 'slowdown'. One of the options given was consulting. For those of you who are consultants, or who work contract/temporary assignments - how do you find your next job? Are there websites you use, or do you use your industry connections to find new work?

I used to do a little consulting on the side, but there are a lot of hassles involved. The pay isn't all that great, the gross looks good but by the time you pay all the federal, state, and local taxes, plus the self employment tax (used to be about 16.5%, probably higher now) the net is not all that great. All my jobs came through contacts where people wanted me for a specific project where they knew I had expertise, and the clients were willing to pay expenses as well as an hourly rate. The bookkeeping was a pain.

I never did any expert witness work, the projects I worked on didn't get to that point, but that is where the real money is. You get paid to sit around waiting to testify, and you may or may not be called on. If you are called on you can be put through the wringer.

Thank you Ron, that's interesting. I had an interview about 6 months ago for a temp-to-hire position, and I was a little leery of taking it (even though the pay was better than I am currently getting), because I didn't know if it was actually going to become permanent, and I have a permanent position currently. My dad and his wife are both commissioned sales people, so I get the quarterly tax payment burden for those that make commissions, which is similar to being self-employed. And it would be nice to sit around waiting to sit and talk about something I am considered an expert in (not that I'm considered an expert in anything, but if I were ostensibly hired as an expert, that would be nice).

In essence, most of the jobs you got were from contacts at the company you ended up working for, instead of through a website or headhunter. Good to know.