Hi Craig, for contract recruiting I use Top Echelon Contracting. They do take a significant chunk (30%) but they carry all required insurance, handle the weekly payroll, and handle any audits since they hold all the paperwork. http://www.topecheloncontracting.com/default.aspx
I checked it out but there are a lot of restrictions - limit of how long the assignment must be and minimum salary....TE doesn't restrict. They let you do your business and just support you. I personally haven't used them yet because I don't do contract placement. I have been asked to help a couple of times to fill a short term placement and now I have flexibility if it comes up whether it is 2 weeks or 52 weeks.
30% with no restrictions compared to the cost of insurance you have to carry for a potential need is worth it in my mind.
The restrictions I saw were over $12/hr and over 1 month in length of contract. I will not work assignments anywhere near this minimum requirement as most of the pay is $50/hr + and at leasst 3 months.
Glad to hear you found something that could work for you in the future.
I've worked for years with Recruiter Support Services.
They only charge 5.9% of the bill rate, plus the actual burden. That means that when state unemployment and FICA end, you get that money... the company doesn't put it in their pocket. In many states, that makes the burden around10% after a few weeks when the state unemployment maximums are reached.
They focus on recruiters who place professional "white collar" consultants in fields like IT, Software, Engineering, Marketing, Human Resources, and similar fields.
You can be the employer of record, or use their optional employer of record service... so you don't have to make an expensive committment to insurance until you're big enough to make it worthwhile.
They also advance 100% of the money, including your recruiter profits, the consultant payroll, all the taxes and insurance costs.
Unlike Top Echelon, you retain the ownership of your clients and sign the client agreements... they simply act as your "accounting service". I personally wouldn't want anyone else to own the contracts with my clients.
That's a really great point about client ownership Michael. Although TE says the client is still owned by the recruiter. They handle the candidate paperwork, not client contracts.
However, I haven't used TE for any contract since my business is direct hire.
Today, Claudia reminds us that if you don't have a plan of your own you'll end a part of someone else's. Read Work that plan! and add your own advice for a newbie recruiter.