Professionalism--was Contract vs. Full time

[ejray -at- OKWAY -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU]

     Maria  said, among other things,

>The point of this little horror story is that the advantages go both ways.
>The company gains in not having to pay benefits or severance pay.  However,
>I invested a great deal of time in training.  She gained the advantage of
>flexible working hours that a permanent employee would never get. True, she
>didn't get severance pay when she left, but I didn't get 2 weeks notice
>either.

>Personally, I would shy away from hiring another contract writer.
>I guess I don't see the motivation a tech writer really
>has to learn a company's product, specifically a product
>as complex as ours.  I have to believe this was just a bad experience because
>I am sure that I would work diligently to complete a contract.

     I am not currently a contract writer, but have do have
     some experience with it in the past few years. I would
     say that having a CONTRACT, as someone else (name
     unfortunately deleted) suggested would help your
     situation greatly. Additionally, I think that what you
     are actually looking for is *professionalism*, which
     really has nothing to do with being either a contract
     writer or an exempt employee.

     Professionals do not behave as your writer did.
     However, I am sure we all know professional (read
     exempt) technical writers who do exactly what they have
     to do as quickly as they can without regard to quality;
     similarly most of us know contract writers with
     impeccable degrees of professionalism.

     I would be interested in hearing how any of you
     evaluate "professionalism" in interview or other hiring
     situations to ensure you get what you pay for.

     Eric
     ejray -at- okway -dot- okstate -dot- edu