Landing contract IT work through staffing agencies

When the client terminated Reymer's contract just before Thanksgiving in 2007, he says, the recruiting firm, which he declined to name, did "very little" to place him in a new job.

Reymer is currently working on a three-month contract-to-hire opportunity with a company outside of Arizona, doing network/systems administration research and development from home.

The staffing firm may oversell you to a client

Just as Reymer was put on a contract for which he says he was overqualified, some IT staffing firms place IT professionals on contracts for which they're not qualified, just to get someone on a job -- so that the staffing agency can start billing the client.

"You may be put in a position with a company that you're not really comfortable with," says John Bojonny, business continuity planning officer at AIG Advisor Group. (Bojonny obtained contract work through IT staffing firm Comsys in the late 1980s.) "It's not commonplace, but it has happened where the contracting firm wants to make money, so they'll stretch your abilities and tell the client you can do the work they need."

That could turn out to be a no-win situation for the IT pro who gets caught in the middle. On one hand, if the IT professional calls the staffing firm to ask to be taken off the contract, the firm will not want to tell the client that it has to find a replacement because it oversold the contractor's abilities. So the agency might place the rap on the IT worker, says Bojonny, which doesn't endear the IT worker to the client.

"This doesn't happen often, but the staffing firm will protect their reputation and say the heck with you. They may tell the client you wanted to leave the contract," says Bojonny.

On the other hand, if the IT professional decides to stay on the job even though it's a struggle, the client may realize the contractor doesn't have the right skills and may ask the staffing firm for a replacement anyway. The end result is that the contractor may be out of work yet again.

The staffing firm may spread you thin

Bojonny says if an IT staffing firm bids you out to different clients while you're working on an engagement, the firm may take you off your existing project to put you on a higher paying one for a different client. The staffing firm has to invent a reason why they need to take you off your existing client's project. And, as in the previous situation, they may put the blame on the contractor. For example, they might tell the client that you wanted to work on a different engagement, instead of admitting they're switching your position to make more money.