One of the market-proven ways to find employment is to submit your resume to a job placement and recruitment agency. Even if they can’t offer you a position right away they’ll keep your resume on file and get in touch with you when an appropriate offer is available.< p>

All such agencies have a clear interest to represent you and find a job for you because they get a cut from the salary paid to you by the client company.

Let me clear that up a bit.

From a legal point of view, you do not work for the ABC technical-writing company but for the XYZ Job Placement Agency.

Although you physically show up for work at the ABC office, your paycheck is signed by XYZ since you contract your services not to ABC but to XYZ.

In return, XYZ keeps a percentage of the hourly wage paid by ABC before you are paid yours.

So let’s say you’ve decided to try one of those agencies. What are the things you should be paying attention to?

Peter Kent, the author of “Making Money in Technical Writing” (a great book for freelance technical writers) provides a good “wish list” of the benefits that you should consider and/or negotiate before accepting a job offer:

LOCATION. One job might be paying $45 an hour and the other $35. If the first job is 1.5 hours away and the second is right next door, you might consider the lower-paying position if the higher-paying offer will cost you 15 hours of commuting and $80 of gas a week.

OVERTIME. Is there any overtime work and payment available? Usually overtime is paid at 1.5 times at the regular hourly wage and it could make a noticeable difference in your take-home pay.

MEDICAL COVERAGE. Does the agency pay for your health insurance? My agency paid not only my regular health, dental and vision coverage but those of my family members as well. Yes, I did end up paying a good chunk for it since it never comes cheap but at least such coverage was available.

LONG-TERM DISABILITY. What happens if you have a stroke at work or fall down and become wheel-chair ridden for the next 20 years? The terms and conditions of such policies change from one provider to another but it’s always a good thing to have that included in your contract, if possible.

VACATIONS and SICK LEAVE. Make sure the number of vacation, personal, and sick leave days are spelled out clearly in your contract. Sometimes you pay for all such days. But some agencies do pay for them as a benefit. It just depends. Make sure you negotiate well before signing on to the dotted line.

MILEAGE ALLOWANCE. If you are going to commute to your assignment, will the agency pay some of your driving expenses? This may be an important way to cut down your overhead as a contractor/consultant in this day and age of skyrocketing fuel prices.

401(k) PLAN. This is a great retirement benefit in the United States if you can get it. But usually you need to work for a number of years with an agency before you become eligible for it.

Having listed all that, there’s something to be said about going totally solo and getting in touch with a company directly as well. That would eliminate the agency altogether but that’s the topic of another column.

I believe at the end it all comes down to your personality and how good and comfortable you feel in pushing yourself.

For those with some experience in their respective fields but little enthusiasm for networking and marketing, employment and recruitment agencies provide a credible alternative that you might think about.

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Ugur Akinci is a copy and technical writer with 20 years of experience and the author of 101 Ways to Power-Up Your Writing.

You are welcomed to subscribe to his free Copy Writing Tips and Technical Writing Tips newsletters.

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