Job Offer- Should I take it

earweed

Yesterday I got an offer for a position as a field engineer. It's contract work, the company basically get's contacted by the customer and contacts me. I then contact customer to set up appointment and drive out to the site.
I have to have a registered business name, Fed Tax ID, and Business liability insurance. This is all done for and paid by me.
I'm assigned an area and I don't get paid milage if call is within my area. Flat fee paid per call, no matter how long it takes. I get a check once a month for all the prevous months calls ( meaning my first check will be after 1 -1/2 months workin)
The work will be kind of Geek squad like, dealing with installs and repairs on Computers and TV's.

My history - I'm attending WGU stuying IT and looking for an entry level IT job. Haven't had any luck so far. Most of my documentable exp is non IT, I did a short stint a while back repairing TV's and doing PC repair back in the Windows 3.x days.
Does this job look like it may benefit me..on my resume for better jobs or should I run away screaming like a little girl?

Bl8ckr0uter

I think you should take if you need the money. IF not, you may get more trouble than its worth.

chmorin

Agreed. If you currently have a job not related to IT and this job pays at least the same as what you have now, I would consider it.

However, contract work is tricky.

aethereos

Ask yourself what's the worst that could happen? Are you ready to deal with angry customers? Are you ready for frustration? Can you keep yourself motivated to keep going when it's a hectic day out in the field?

5 years ago I did something similar to get myself through college, only difference was the nighttime WiFi and router installs. I had to drive 200+ miles each way, and it was tiring after a while. But I learned more from this experience than sitting behind a desk for 2 years.

You also run into interesting characters that you wouldn't meet otherwise. I didn't think it was a great experience back then, but now I'm glad I did it.

It sounds like you're still a young guy (gal), so get out there and try something; make sure you read and understand your rights and obligations with the company.

mikej412

As long as the company generates enough business to cover your expenses and put some reasonable money in your pocket, then it's probably worth it for the experience.

If you have to commit to a "long term" contract and there's no guarantee about the number of calls (or you get paid $20 for calls that take 10 hours each) then you should run.

Assuming your not locked in for more than a month at a time, I'd say do it if you don't have anything better.

fly351

I would take it for the experience. Could lead to something better. But I would try to find out what will be your "average" weekly work load, you might end up 40+ hours, or 5...

earweed

I'm mostly worried about an hours drive (not paid for mileage) and 2 or 3 hours at one site.
Right now I need ANY type of IT experience on my resume. The side work I've been doing refurbishing PC's and reselling them isn't lucrative or really a big + on a resume.
Basically I don't want to graduate from WGU with a big fat lame nothing on the IT experience front.

MentholMoose

earweed wrote: »

Yesterday I got an offer for a position as a field engineer. It's contract work, the company basically get's contacted by the customer and contacts me. I then contact customer to set up appointment and drive out to the site.
I have to have a registered business name, Fed Tax ID, and Business liability insurance. This is all done for and paid by me.

From your description, it sounds shady. If you are paying any money whatsoever to this company to set anything up at all, run. Also, the whole part about setting up your own business sends up a red flag for me. I've done contract work and it's never required anything remotely like what you describe. My income was simply reported on a 1099 form and for tax purposes I was considered self-employed.

If they start asking for a lot of details about your "business", be very careful about what you give them. A common scam involves scammers convincing people to set up their own business. Once the scammers get the business info, they set up a merchant account and a bank account tied to the business and proceed to make fraudulent charges to stolen credit card accounts.

pinkydapimp

earweed wrote: »

I'm mostly worried about an hours drive (not paid for mileage) and 2 or 3 hours at one site.
Right now I need ANY type of IT experience on my resume. The side work I've been doing refurbishing PC's and reselling them isn't lucrative or really a big + on a resume.
Basically I don't want to graduate from WGU with a big fat lame nothing on the IT experience front.

i dont see why you wouldn't try this out. Its experience. Plus, working in the field give you the opportunities to build contacts that might turn into full time positions. If you have no other opportunities, id give it a go.

earweed

Googled the company that offered me this job. There is a forum started by techs who felt they were ripped off by the company. The main gripes (after spending several hours navigating forum) seem to be that they are slow to make payments and were late, in 2008, with mailing out 1099's.
The forum looks basically desolate for the last year except for spam and ****.
I already checked the Florida BBB (where the company is based) and they don't have a great rating due to complaints in the past, but no unresolved recent complaints.
I was kind of thrown off by their full page NDA which has to be signed before my next interview with them.
I guess I'll just give it a try and see what happens.

earweed

MentholMoose wrote: »

From your description, it sounds shady. If you are paying any money whatsoever to this company to set anything up at all, run. Also, the whole part about setting up your own business sends up a red flag for me. I've done contract work and it's never required anything remotely like what you describe. My income was simply reported on a 1099 form and for tax purposes I was considered self-employed.

If they start asking for a lot of details about your "business", be very careful about what you give them. A common scam involves scammers convincing people to set up their own business. Once the scammers get the business info, they set up a merchant account and a bank account tied to the business and proceed to make fraudulent charges to stolen credit card accounts.

I don't think I can disclose the companies name here but they are an established company. Except for the gripes on the forum I found, they seem reputable. There were no recent complaints on the forum so I assume they either cleaned up their act or the techs who were complaining left.
The company outsources all kinds of other jobs, like helpdesk (which is one of the jobs I had applied for with them) and field engineers. Apparently due to all the problems they had in the past they are requiring their field engineers to be private businesses.
Besides the business liability insurance I don't see any costs in getting set up.

aethereos

earweed wrote: »

I don't think I can disclose the companies name here but they are an established company. Except for the gripes on the forum I found, they seem reputable. There were no recent complaints on the forum so I assume they either cleaned up their act or the techs who were complaining left.
The company outsources all kinds of other jobs, like helpdesk (which is one of the jobs I had applied for with them) and field engineers. Apparently due to all the problems they had in the past they are requiring their field engineers to be private businesses.
Besides the business liability insurance I don't see any costs in getting set up.

I'd say do your homework but also trust your gut feeling. If you were a contractor, like others have said, the 1099E is all you need. I know this because I hire new contractors on a monthly basis at my current job. We demand that they provide identifying information such as SS # (if an individual) or corporate ID. Anything less than that is legal liability I would not bet my chances on.

However for an entry level job I think asking for/to establish a corporate ID is extreme.