It depends on the reach of your personal network. When network engineer Barry Katzman decided to become a consultant in 1994, cash envy had a lot to do with it. He asked a friend to put him in touch with a contract recruiter. For consultants, the primary advantage of contract agencies is that they find work for you. Some believe that agencies also offer a quality advantage.
Many employers prefer to have a recruiter prequalify candidate contractors.
Calif. For this reason, and to avoid legal exposure, many Fortune 500 companies prefer to hire contractors through agencies, according to Brian Newkirk, vice president of recruiting for Comsys Information Technology Services in Houston. For one thing, in many arcane niches of network engineering, recruiters just won't appreciate what you have to offer. Many recruiters will just scan your acronyms into their databases and hope for the best. But network consultants say the biggest reason to avoid agencies is the bottom line. Katzman's experience bears this out.