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Independent contractors fare well in uncertain markets

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By BOB WEINSTEIN, Special Sections correspondent

Published: January 13, 2008

Smart and seasoned independent contractors (or consultants) do well in any economy largely because they enjoy hustling. It's that entrepreneurial spirit that drives them.

In an uncertain market, especially, independent contractors tend to do exceedingly well because companies are reluctant to beef up their payrolls and make permanent full-time hiring commitments.
If the skeptical pundits are right that the economy is heading into a recession or becoming markedly uncertain, the growing army of independent contractors is looking at good times. We're talking about top dollar for their services and more work than they can handle.

According to Web site PayScale.com, project managers and program managers are at the top of the independent contractor demand heap. The Web site has created a business model that provides potential employees with statistics that help them negotiate the best deal. PayScale's statisticians liken it to the Kelley Blue Book for all jobs — not only IT jobs but jobs for health care workers, skilled artisans, air traffic controllers and marketing executives, to name a few.

Annual salaries or hourly pay for jobs is determined by several variables, including skills, industry, education and size and location of the company. PayScale's model works this way: Job-seekers or employees fill out a form listing their professional information, including what they were paid on their last job. PayScale sends back a report detailing how they match up with others with similar profiles.

PayScale says it has close to 4,000 tech consultants in its database, all of whom are in English-speaking countries. On the demand ladder, technical consultants with a working knowledge of Oracle, Unix and Java follow project managers and program managers. Consultants with only SQL Server or Microsoft Office earn considerably less.

Predictably, experience translates into fatter paychecks. IT consultants with 20 years' experience are getting median salaries of just under $100,000. But even beginners are faring well, says PayScale. Techies with almost a year of experience under their belt are commanding salaries of $52,000. It's no surprise that the big cities pay best. Los Angeles and New York are offering salaries in the $77,000 to $79,000 range. But salaries aren't bad in Chicago, Boston, Atlanta or Houston either.

PayScale is not the last word on salary information, however. You'd be wise not to take their numbers as gospel and check out other salary Web sites that offer comparative salary information and do regular salary surveys as well. Salary.com, to name just one, has been providing personalized salary information for several years. Similar to PayScale, you plug in the appropriate information about yourself and get a salary reading for virtually any city in the United States.

Most of the salary information is free, although many of the sites charge fees for specialized reports. Even the sites that charge hefty fees for salary reports and surveys offer executive summaries that focus on important highlights. The information might not answer your specific salary questions, but at least you'll get valuable trend information.

Here are some additional sources of salary information that you ought to look into:

SalaryExpert (www.salaryexpert.com) provides salary data, calculators and executive summaries.

JobStar (www.jobstar.org): general survey information and news, cost-of-living surveys, career information covering 54 fields and job-getting tips.

National Association of Colleges and Employers (www.naceweb.org), offers a wealth of information for college grads. Its seasonal salary surveys provide an excellent snapshot of the national hiring market and what fields pay the best salaries. It also gives a reading of the supply/demand ratio for most fields.

For virtually every popular field out there — health care, technology, engineering — there are a host of specialized niche sites offering up-to-the-minute information.

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