I would be an employee. I'm "associate employee" because I am going to get married to R and don't need benefits now. So, they hire me on. For now, since the contracting company has a right to hire after 6 months.
In other words, they seem to want to talk having people in their "stable" and contracting them out on a regular basis. The firm that got me the gig I wrote about last week is like that, I guess, too.
.................
Married? I'm sending an EPA guide to hexavalent chromium contamination and perhaps a Telsa coil kit as a wedding present for your partner the mad scientist!
...
Okay, so they're hiring you on as a full time employee of the consulting firm and sending you out on (hopefully) long-term assignments.
Actually, that's very good - especially if the consulting firm has a capable sales staff, lots of repeat clients, good schmoozing networks and all the rest of it.
The firm I work for has these in abundance (of course, market fluctuations can destroy that layer cake in a moment) so these days I rarely find myself "on the bench" for more than a couple of weeks. If, on the other hand, the sales force is weak or lazy (lazy happens when commissions from past wins roll in without effort and the sales team can nuzzle up for a long and profitable nap), things can get uncomfortable once whatever assignment you're on ends and the sands of the 'you better get billable' hourglass rapidly deplete.
Re: getting hired by the contracting firm...
With few exceptions, the companies I've worked with have tried to hire me on. There are 3 reasons (listed in order of importance):
1.) I'm really very expensive as a consultant and would be much less so as an employee (or so it seems)
2.) I kick ass (technically speaking)
3.) People tend to like my sunny, Barack Obama-esque disposition and sharp suits (and oh yes darlin, some of the white folk in my life have started up with the Obama comparisons)
The scenario: at some point, the client/manager saddles up next to me at the local tranfat eatery and says something along the lines of '...listen, we really dig the work you're doing here: you made our time machine assembly line process management move like spit down a baby's chin. Why don't you come on board?'
Then the money haggling begins and it always turns out that I'm looking at a 10 to 20 thousand dollar hit to my yearly winnings. So it's thanks but no.
More honest client/managers will just say, flat-out: '...bloody hell, I'm losing my budget because of bastards like you! Even so, I need your contributions...join us or be cast out!'
And again, the 10 to 20 thousand flying from my pockets dissuades me from leaving consulting.
Plus, I've been so many lovely places, seen so many huge enterprises and done such an astounding variety of interesting things (from the techie equiv of mopping the floors to the techie equiv to being an Olympian) that unless there's some compelling reason to change tactics, I see being a consultant for some time to come.
And you may feel the same if this works out as we hope.
.d.