{"id":132,"date":"2006-06-26T12:12:33","date_gmt":"2006-06-26T17:12:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/?p=132"},"modified":"2006-06-26T12:13:09","modified_gmt":"2006-06-26T17:13:09","slug":"free-agent-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/06\/free-agent-update\/","title":{"rendered":"Free Agent Update"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Monster.com &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/ct.monster.com\/articles\/state_of_free_agency\/?WT.mc_n=rss2005_DMM\" target=\"_blank\">The State of Free Agent Nation in 2006<\/a> &#8211; is an article that discusses using &#8220;solo professionals&#8221; (contractors) as opposed to full-time employees. I don&#8217;t know if I would use the term free agent since that usually connotates someone who signs with a company. Mercenary may be a better euphimism for a short-term, contract worker.<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, good points from the author:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>It&#8217;s always taken courage to attempt professional independence, and the practical barriers continue to evolve. The lack of company-paid benefits is an increasing burden for free agents. &#8220;Rising health insurance costs inhibit people from going out on their own,&#8221; says Pink.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Another barrier could be that Americans have a relatively low savings rate,&#8221; Pink says. &#8220;People don&#8217;t have the financial cushion; they can&#8217;t afford three to six months with a low income&#8221; as they build a client base.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Health insurance costs probably do inhibit the older workers (with families) from becoming free agents, but I suspect it is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.twincities.com\/mld\/twincities\/business\/14889467.htm?source=rss&#038;channel=twincities_business\" target=\"_blank\">yet to have a broad impact on the young, single contractors<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Monster.com &#8211; The State of Free Agent Nation in 2006 &#8211; is an article that discusses using &#8220;solo professionals&#8221; (contractors) as opposed to full-time employees. I don&#8217;t know if I would use the term free agent since that usually connotates someone who signs with a company. Mercenary may be a better euphimism for a short-term, contract worker. Nonetheless, good points from the author: It&#8217;s always taken courage to attempt professional independence, and the practical barriers continue to evolve. The lack of company-paid benefits is an increasing burden for free agents. &#8220;Rising health insurance costs inhibit people from going out on their own,&#8221; says Pink. &#8220;Another barrier could be that Americans&hellip; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/06\/free-agent-update\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"","bgseo_robots_follow":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-trends"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Oho-28","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":146,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/06\/hiring-in-a-forms-intensive-industry\/","url_meta":{"origin":132,"position":0},"title":"Hiring in a Forms-Intensive Industry","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"June 29, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"We do not recommend hiring solely on communication style, but if you are in a industry that deals with SOX, HIPPA or some other draconian paperwork, you would be wise to hire a High C style with a strong Attention to Detail aptitude. These areas can all be accurately and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":945,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/05\/truncating-gone-bad\/","url_meta":{"origin":132,"position":1},"title":"Truncating Gone Bad","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"May 23, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"From my monster.com job search agent this morning: Relocation Administrative Ass \/\u00a0XYZ Company\u00a0\/ Minneapolis, MN I have a few candidates for that position.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Employment Ads&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Employment Ads","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/employment-ads\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":159,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/07\/anecdote-comic-relief\/","url_meta":{"origin":132,"position":2},"title":"Anecdote &#8211; Comic Relief","author":"Lee Fratzke","date":"July 7, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"It is Friday once again and time for another anecdote. In case you haven't noticed, the phone screen is the source for most of these humorous encounters. I was recently conducting a phone screen for a high tech company with a complex sale. I asked the candidate what products and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Anecdotes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Anecdotes","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/anecdotes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":148,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/06\/if-only-iq-success\/","url_meta":{"origin":132,"position":3},"title":"If Only IQ = Success","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"June 30, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"More from the What Not To Do file - this email resume came over the transom this morning and it isn't pretty: I'm a very motivated guy. i have an IQ of 130. Unbelievably, I cannot get a job... In all honesty, I have a resume agent that pushes any\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":502,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/12\/get-your-gun-here\/","url_meta":{"origin":132,"position":4},"title":"Get Your Gun Here","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"December 13, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"This may be a stretch, but I enjoyed the story too much to ignore it. Since we have had much to say about rewards and motivations today, check out this headline - Buy a House, Get a Glock: Real Estate Agent Offers Guns as Incentive. Now that is a unique\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Communication&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Communication","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/communication\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":755,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/03\/ceo-boot-camp\/","url_meta":{"origin":132,"position":5},"title":"CEO Boot Camp","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"March 16, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Seriously. From abcnews.com's Basic Training For Business Types: The most domineering boss has a way of melting in the presence of the drill instructor's flush cheeks. And the royal waistline loses some of its cache when draped in mesh gym shorts \"Yeah, we break down their egos real quick,\" said\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sales Management&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sales Management","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-management\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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