This one time, at band camp, Glen Turner wrote:

> Some governments require that you hold a significant amount
> (from memory, enough insurance for a $20m claim) and this
> was a major expense for someone I know who runs a small
> management consultancy.

I think everyone in NSW has this requirement.

> My experience is that the contractors who do the same work
> as I do are significantly better off than I am. I'm not
> sure if that's because companies expect to pay contractors
> more or if the financial arrangements are superior.

Contractors get paid much better because they don't get paid sick leave, 
holidays etc.  They also have less job security: they can normally be 
sacked with a day's notice.  The flexibility the employer gets is 
something they pay for.  When times are tough, you will have noticed 
that it's the contractors who go first.

That said, I've worked in places where they've had crazy jobs being done 
by contractors.  Things like project managers, which just seems like 
lunacy to me!  Then again, the best project manager I ever worked for 
was a contractor!

> Where they seem to be slightly worse off than me is in the
> superannuation. The industry super schemes seem to be a lot,
> lot better. So it might be worthwhile checking if you can
> contract but still contribute to a industry scheme.

I've noticed that a lot of the "industry" super schemes seem to be open 
to anyone anyway, so I'm not sure this is such an issue.  You're posting 
from a .edu.au account though, and I believe they have an industry-only 
super fund that is quite good.  Equally, government jobs tend to have 
good schemes.  And if you great super, run for election!

> I originally chose to be an employee as I had a young family
> and wanted a more secure job. With WorkChoices I doubt that
> my job security is any greater than that of a contractor.

You will at least get more notice in a permanent job.  What's more, 
companies do actually care about morale and sacking permies is a good 
way to kill it.  Smart companies know that when this happens, all the 
best people start looking for other jobs and they're left with the ones 
who aren't particularly employable.

> What I would look out for is recruiting firms. I had one that
> placed me once, into a job I wasn't particularly suited to.
> They took 15% from the employer for that.  Some time after I
> was chatting with them and they said "oh, if we'd known you
> were a networking person we could have got you a lot more" --
> ie, they hadn't even read my CV for their 15% and they were
> really working for the employer, not for me.

Yeah they're know-nothing leeches.  At least some companies in Australia 
advertise direct.  In the UK it's much rarer and you end up having to 
deal through recruit-scum.

Company HR departments are just as bad: they'll have a list of skills 
and if your CV doesn't explicitely say you have it, you don't get to the 
person who's actually looking to hire.  I'm a professional technical 
writer and have been asked to put tools like Word and Visio on my CV.  
My response to this is to ask if I also need to put "pen", "paper" and 
"dictionary research" on my CV.

Financial industry recruiters are the worst.  Unless you've worked in 
exactly the job they're recruiting, they won't put you forward.  There's 
a (very interesting) stock market job being advertised right now, but 
unless you've worked for a stock market (and my, aren't there a lot of 
those around for you to have worked with) you won't be considered.  At 
least finance jobs pay well, so I guess they can afford to be picky.

I've already had one recruiter here who asked if I had the right to work 
in Australia.  Something answered on, oh, line 3 of my resume.  She had 
my resume already.
http://www.rumble.net/resume/

-- 
Rev Simon Rumble <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
www.rumble.net

The Tourist Engineer
Just because you're on holiday, doesn't mean you're not a geek.
http://engineer.openguides.org/

 "Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly
  so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will
  remember it and, above all, accurately so they will be
  guided by its light."

- Joseph Pulitzer, the man who presided over the
  tabloidisation of newspapers in North America.
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