Re: Shotguns (was: I'm furious...)

["William Sherman" <bsherman77 -at- embarqmail -dot- com>]

I keep a form letter in Drafts that I pull the appropriate section.

Thanks for contacting me, I am currently working. Please contact me in __ 
months.

Thanks for the offer for a ______ job, but I am a technical writer. Please 
let me know if you have any technical writer openings in the future.

Thanks for contacting me about ____. Please send me the rates, start date, 
expected duration, location, and client's name for this job, so I do not 
double submit. If the rates are acceptable, I will contact you.



I don't automatically can them. They may just get a job for me in the 
future. I respond so they don't think they have a dead email address, but I 
keep all these on an address if it goes to spam too much, I'll dump it and 
make a new one. Most of the time, they are just shotgunning it like the 
robot spam phone calls that move on with the fourth ring, although the phone 
is going through the connection phase still. If I am working, I usually save 
them for a week and respond to a bunch at a time. Keeps me on their lists 
and doesn't interfere with my life much.


As to negotiating, it is ALWAYS with the recruiter if you are contracting. 
There is nothing with the client company.

Temp to hire is an attempt to get you working for a lower rate with the 
"promise" of working direct. For many, working direct is the carrot they are 
after, but really, it isn't any more secure. Too many places lay off direct 
employees on a whim. Benefits in many are down. It was great once with 3 
weeks starting PTO and full paid insurance, but today, $250 or more a week 
for family insurance is the norm and that is $1000 per month, not that far 
off getting it on your own. And two weeks is back to the norm on vacation.

And often, that temp to hire disappears at the end of that time.

Another is breaking out your salary as per diem. It is a great trick to pay 
a lower rate that equates to the same take home pay due to not paying taxes. 
But it also lowers what was paid into Social Security and recorded for 
unemployment. It may not mean much now but if you get hit with an extended 
time off, you could discover your unemployment benefits are really low. Or 
your SS is really low because your were working for $8 per hour instead of 
$30 ($8 regular + $22 per diem). In many places, if you get overtime, it is 
paid 1-1/2 times $8 since that is your rate, not the $30.

Contracts are just that - contracts. So read it, change it as you see fit, 
and then give it back to them. Nothing says you cannot change conditions. I 
never leave the part in that they can end me immediately without notice but 
I have to give them two weeks or more. At will means at will - both ways. If 
I'm ever questioned on it, I tell them that professionally, I would never 
just quit with giving a fair notice, since I would hope to be able to work 
with them again, but I will not be bound contractually if they will not.

I don't change money, as that should have been agreed on before they ever 
sent the contract to sign, but I check to be sure they are saying they pay 
what they said verbally they would. Frequently, you find OT not mentioned or 
mentioned as straight time. They usually cite that computer professionals 
"can't" be paid time and a half by law. That isn't true, they just are not 
required to be paid that if paid over a certain rate. But if it is in your 
contract, you can be. Heck, the contract could say you get paid triple time 
for all overtime if both sides agree. Or that you get paid straight time for 
the first 5 hours of OT, double time for over 5 to 20 hours, and triple time 
for any on Tuesday. It doesn't matter, if both agree, then that is what is 
paid. The wage laws don't prevent that.

Read your contract BEFORE signing. Just because they wrote it doesn't mean 
it is right or legal. I had one that had 4 paragraphs of conditions that 
were illegal in the US. I think they were really based in India regardless 
of the Virginia address and phone number. I think they were just a drop. 
That contract I deleted and initialed almost half the contract. They 
accepted it.



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Peter Neilson" <neilson -at- windstream -dot- net>
To: <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Sent: Saturday, January 10, 2015 8:33 AM
Subject: Shotguns (was: I'm furious...)