(Editor’s Note: This is the next in a series of guest blog posts about contract staffing, courtesy of Top Echelon Contracting, the recruiter’s back-office solution.  Similar posts will appear in future issues of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.)

For various reasons, some workers prefer to be paid on 1099 instead of a W-2.  But it’s not the worker’s decision.  The IRS guidelines determine whether a worker is classified as a 1099 independent contractor or a W-2 employee.

Still, recruiters and their clients often get pushback when trying to convince their candidates that they need to be paid as a W-2 employee rather than a 1099 independent contractor.  So how do you convince them that they need to be paid on W-2?

For starters, you may want to point out the risks.  Independent Contractor misclassification audits have increased on both the federal and state levels over the past few years.  There has been a lot of focus on how this affects companies, but workers can also be subject to audits.  If it’s found they’ve been misclassified, they could be required to file amended tax returns, which could result in additional taxes and penalties.

Plus, there are many advantages to being classified as a W-2 employee.  By being a W-2 employee, workers will:

• Receive a weekly paycheck with the option of direct deposit
• Have access to medical insurance, vision, dental, and life insurance
• Have access to a 401(k) plan
• Be eligible for unemployment insurance
• Be covered under the employer’s Workers’ Compensation plan
• Not have to negotiate and/or write a client contract
• Not have to generate invoices to the client
• Not have to handle collection issues with the client
• Not have to float expenses while waiting on payment from the client
• Not have to do their own quarterly tax filings
• Have half of the Social Security Tax paid by the employer
• Have half of the Medicare Tax paid by the employer

By pointing out the risks of being classified as an independent contractor and the advantages of being paid on a W-2, you can convince even the most reluctant candidate that being properly classified is in their best interest.

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888.627.3678
DFledderjohann@TopEchelonContracting.com
Connect with Debbie on LinkedIn.
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(Editor’s Note: This is the next in a series of guest blog posts about contract staffing, courtesy of Top Echelon Contracting, the recruiter’s back-office solution.  Similar posts will appear in future issues of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.)

You probably already know how hot technology hiring is right now.  Well, according to The Wall Street Journal, some of the hottest tech companies are also clamoring for interns, in additional to full-time hires.

Tech companies, ranging from start-ups to household names, are expanding their internship programs, including the following:

• Dropbox—Plans to hire 30 engineering interns
• Google—Hired 1,000 engineering interns this past summer
• Klout
• Twitter
• Facebook—Plans to hire 625 interns for this summer

Why the sudden surge in interns?  Internships allow these companies to get a jump on young talent—some internship programs even target high school students.

More importantly, internships allow them to “try-before-they-buy” and save money in the process.  Interns can usually be paid much less than traditional full-time employees, and they know from the get-go that the positions are temporary.

The tricky thing about internships is that companies sometimes think they don’t have to follow the typical employment laws with interns.  Some even try to implement unpaid internships, which are a no-no in most cases.

A better way to go would be to hire interns as contractors employed through a contract staffing back-office.  That way, companies can benefit from the “low cost, low commitment” tryout internships offer without all the hassles that come with employing those interns.

— — —

888.627.3678
DFledderjohann@TopEchelonContracting.com
Connect with Debbie on LinkedIn.
Follow Debbie on Twitter.

(Editor’s Note: This is the next in a series of guest blog posts about contract staffing, courtesy of Top Echelon Contracting, the recruiter’s back-office solution.  Similar posts will appear in future issues of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.)

It’s a new year, and the usual predictions abound about what will be hot in 2012.  Based on what we’ve been reading and hearing, here are the recruiting trends we think recruiters should keep an eye on:

1. Social Media Recruiting Wars—The race is on to see which social network, if any, will unseat LinkedIn as the recruiter’s social network of choice.  When it was released last year, a lot of people had their money on Google+ due to it’s ability to separate contacts into “Circles,” allowing users to be selective about which contacts saw which updates.  But there is now talk that good old Facebook could emerge as a useful recruiting tool, especially with professional networking apps like BranchOut and BeKnown that help users find jobs through their Facebook friends.  As BranchOut GM of Enterprise told Fistful of Talent, 18.4 million Americans say they found their current job through Facebook, so it definitely seems like the potential is there.

2. Mobile Recruiting—MSNBC recently reported that 25 percent of people use their smartphones rather than their computers for most of their Web surfing, so you can bet a lot of job hunting is taking place on mobile devices.  This will most certainly only increase in 2012, so you might want to look at how your Web site looks from various smartphones and how mobile-friendly your application process is.  One possible way to make job ads more user-friendly is by using QR codes, which are those small, square, maze-like images that you might see in magazines or on billboards.  When someone scans one of these codes with their smartphone in one of your job ads, it could take them to additional information online.  For more ideas on how to use these codes, check out the www.ere.net article “QR Codes: The Next Big Thing in Recruiting Technology?”

3. Continued crackdown on independent contractors—This is not a new trend, but we expect it to be a big one, nevertheless.  Near the end of 2011, the IRS offered a forgiveness program for employers who voluntarily reclassified 1099 independent contractors as W-2 employees while at the same time vowing to be even more diligent about investigating worker misclassification.  Meanwhile, Congress reintroduced The Employee Misclassification Prevention Act.  It’s clear that this is an issue that’s not going away.  So if you have clients who are doing it wrong, you may want to urge them to make proper worker classification one of their New Year’s resolutions and offer to help them by converting their independent contractors to W-2 employees employed by a contract staffing back-office, such as Top Echelon Contracting.

4. Continued growth of contract staffing—The growth contract staffing experienced last year is no surprise.  Companies typically hire more contractors following a recession to test the hiring waters before they start hiring direct again.  But what we’re hearing is that there is more of a permanent shift where companies are maintaining a core of direct employees and supplementing it with a larger, more flexible outer ring of contractors.  We explored this trend in more detail in our Fourth Quarter 2011 Contracting Corner newsletter and expect to see this trend continue in 2012 and beyond.

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888.627.3678
DFledderjohann@TopEchelonContracting.com
Connect with Debbie on LinkedIn.
Follow Debbie on Twitter.

As Preferred Member recruiters in Top Echelon Network, we assume that you like us.  Of course, liking somebody or something these days has taken on a whole new meaning, what with the advent of the highly popular social media site Facebook.

Now you can both like them AND “like” them.

“Liking” in the Facebook sense entails clicking on a thumbs-up icon.  If you use Facebook for personal purposes or your have a Facebook recruiting strategy, you’ve probably done this hundreds (maybe even thousands) of times.  According to Facebook, there are currently 800 million people using the site worldwide . . . so there’s a pretty good chance that you’re using it, too.

If you are, I’d like to invite you to “like” not only Top Echelon Network, but if you use two of our other services—Big Biller recruiting software and Hiring Hook websites—I invite you to “like” those, as well.

Click here to “like” Top Echelon Network on Facebook.

Click here to “like” Big Biller on Facebook.

Click here to “like” Hiring Hook on Facebook.

If you’re a recruiting firm owner, I’m sure that you’d like to have other people “like” your firm, too.  That’s why we would be more than willing to “like” your firm on Facebook.  After all, you’re Preferred Member recruiters in Top Echelon Network.  What’s not to like?

Or, perhaps more specifically, what’s not to “like”?

Just comment at the end of this blog post and include a link to your recruiting firm’s Facebook page, or send an email to marketing@topechelon.com, and we’ll take care of the rest.  And remember, if you have ideas for what we can do to entice you to like us more (not “like” us more), just let us know. As always, we value your feedback.

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330.455.1433, x125
MDeutsch@TopEchelon.com
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn.
Follow Matt on Twitter.

(Editor’s Note: This is the next in a series of guest blog posts about contract staffing, courtesy of Top Echelon Contracting, the recruiter’s back-office solution.  Similar posts will appear in future issues of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.)

Technology is changing the way we do almost everything, and it seems that job interviews are no exception.

With the advent of Skype and other Internet video tools, video interviewing is supplementing, and in some cases replacing, the traditional in-person job interview process.

But is it right for you and your clients?

You might want to consider the following pros and cons before deciding whether or not video interviewing is the right way to go:

There are a variety of options for video interviewing, ranging from Skype’s free service to fee-based services that offer advanced features (e.g., allowing a large number of people on the video call).  Typically, video interviewing options can be broken down into two types:

1. Live—These are the kind that are performed on Skype where both the interviewer and candidate are present and interact with each other on the video.
2. Recorded—Interview questions are sent to the candidate, and they record their answers online via their Web cams for the employer to review later. There is no interviewer present.  These are often used in place of phone interviews to pre-screen multiple candidates.

Video interviews may be worth a look, especially if you’re placing contractors.  Contract positions often need to be filled quickly, and the candidates are often remote, making video interviews an attractive option.

— — —

888.627.3678
DFledderjohann@TopEchelonContracting.com
Connect with Debbie on LinkedIn.
Follow Debbie on Twitter.

“Top Echelon TV” is back after its summer break.  No more leisurely walks along the beach and drinks with umbrellas sticking out of them . . . it’s time to get down to business!  (Editor’s note: he would never, ever drink anything with an umbrella in it, miniature or otherwise.  In case you were wondering.)

And “TV” returns with a hot topic for recruiters right now: background checks.  Checking a candidate’s background can mean the difference between making sure that you present quality candidates to your clients and quite possibly tainting your reputation and losing business.  (Click here for a “crazy recruiting story”) that illustrates this point perfectly.)

For this episode, we invited Jen Grimes of Top Echelon Contracting, the recruiter’s back-office solution, to join us.  Top Echelon Contracting has been conducting background checks on all of their contract candidates since 2004, and Grimes is responsible for coordinating all of the background issues for Top Echelon Contracting.

If you have any additional questions regarding background checks, you can contact TEC at 888.627.3678, or visit the Top Echelon contract staffing solutions website.

When we want answers from recruiters . . . we ask them questions, naturally.  In this episode of “Top Echelon TV,” Top Echelon Network President Mark Demaree and Membership Development Coordinator Drea Codispoti discuss the results of a recent recruiter survey.  In that survey, we asked recruiting firm owners their thoughts about business structure and why they chose the structure (S corp, LLC, etc.) that they did.

What say you?  As a recruiting firm owner, which business structure do you prefer?  Why did you make that choice?  What questions, if any, do you have about choosing the right business structure?