Consulting Options: Salaried, W2 Hourly, 1099/C2C, or Direct Placement
The world of consulting offers professionals in our field many choices for structuring their employment. With most consulting organizations, you will have options such as salaried, W2 hourly, 1099 or C2C, or direct placement. There are a number of factors you will want to consider when choosing which way to go and what’s important to you, may not be as important to a colleague. So, it’s best to weigh all your options. We would be happy to discuss any or all of these options further with you, but this is a solid list to give you an overview.
Salaried
In this scenario, you are a full-time salaried employee of Beacon Technologies, and you work for various clients given the length of your contract with each of them.
Some of the employee benefits associated with this option are:
- Competitive salaries
- Salaried offers stability while getting on different projects and providing growth on your resume vs. working for one company
- Extensive benefit package
- You are in a consultant role, but you have the stability of having a salary
- Bench time is paid
- Tuition reimbursement
- You have some flexibility on location, but less on type of client with this route
W2 with Benefits (Hourly)
In this case, you are a W2 employee with Beacon Technologies, but you opt to be paid on an hourly basis.
Some of the employee benefits associated with this option are:
- You are paid for every hour you work – so if you put in a lot of extra time, it can offer more compensation
- In a full year, you will typically make more money than if you go the salaried route, but it does require great discipline about time (remember that you don’t get PTO, so you have to determine your holiday weeks and vacation out on your own)
- More flexibility
- No need for liability insurance or worrying about managing your own business
- All taxes are taken out for you, but you can still utilize other benefits like the 401k
- With Beacon Technologies, the benefits are very similar (this can’t be said for all consulting organizations though)
Josh, one of our consultants, says, “Being hourly allows me to focus on what I enjoy doing; without worrying about running a business. I get the flexibility to take as much time off as I want, and the ability to work more hours to balance out my time off.”
Mike, a veteran consultant at Beacon, reminds you, “I do enjoy getting paid for the time I put in, but the time off you want to take will require you to do some planning.”
1099 or C2C (Company to Company)
In this case, you are technically your own company, and you bill us like any other vendor does for services rendered.
Some of the employee benefits associated with this option are:
- Tax advantages
- Freedom and flexibility to do what you want
- You determine your rates
When you come to Beacon Technologies, some of the added benefits include:
- We can act as your sales arm, so you can leave that role to us if you want to focus your efforts elsewhere. Our goal is to earn the trust of our team, so we will try to find you the best opportunities possible.
- We invite you to all our company gatherings and you are a part of our team. This can be different from many other consulting organizations where you can feel like an island.
- Vendor set up as a 1099 is quick and Beacon can help you with that
Phil, one of our tenured consultants, adds, “For me, the ability to keep up some smaller side projects on my own has been helped by having my own company. I appreciate the sales work and have easily justified the outsourcing of that to Beacon, it has turned out very well for me. Keeping my own company also helps build my professional reputation as an individual, something that in the long run aids both the consultant and Beacon.”
Patrick, a long time Beacon consultant, says, “Beacon’s model of doing business isn’t matched in the marketplace. As a 1099 employee, no other company has been able to align my skills so perfectly with the projects, and they handle all the billing and invoicing for me. It’s a great partnership, they value their vendors, and it shows!”
Direct Placement/Contract to Hire
In this situation, a company may be asking Beacon Technologies to help us find its next permanent hire or find someone that would be willing to work for a set period of time, before determining if a long-term fit at the client is right for them.
Some of the employee benefits associated with these options are:
- Gives you the opportunity to grow with a company and removes the possibility of switching clients from time to time
- Beacon Technologies has strong relationships with hiring managers at a large variety of clients. This allows us more opportunities to find you a position that’s a match, and we can speed up the hiring process
- Beacon Technologies is often aware of positions that may not be posted elsewhere or outside of a company
- In the scenario where you go contract-to-hire, you can in essence “try before you buy” to get a feel for an organization prior to accepting a position
Check out all our open positions from our trusted client partners here.