[Sigia-l] is it just me, or is it really hard to find IAs right now?

[Elisa Miller]

Am I the only one in a contractor situation where I am
more of a "leased" employee, rather than a contractor?
I've been in this position for about a year and a
half. I actually work for Aquent and get my health
benefits, 401K and holiday pay from Aquent, not the
company where I actually work.

They hire a LOT of contractors like this... and our
contracts are listed as "on-going" - do I FEEL like a
contractor? The only time I have had that feeling is
when I had minor knee surgery that turned into MAJOR
knee surgery and the idea of health/sick leave would
have been great.  We also get a check for a week's
salary for every 1500 hours we work - it is about
three weeks in two years.

Would I prefer a "permanent" position? Yes, but this
was the best I could get when I was looking. By and
large, the projects have been challenging and I feel
like I have had the chance to make a huge improvement
in the user experience here, by being allowed to
introduce a lot of new (to them) user experience
research methods (rather than their market research
approach of focus groups with occasional usability
testing).

As a "freelancer" I probably wouldn't have been able
to have the impact I have had here.  But who knows.

elisa

Elisa Miller
elisakm at yahoo.com
elisa at txmillers.com
214-902-8966 (home)

"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. "  Goethe