Word on the street
Comparing today's contracting market with that of February 1, 2001, just 90 days ago as of this writing, I've found I'm receiving more calls from independent firms to sub-contract their consultants. This means they're short on projects. Also, contract job postings are down, and the direct hire market is down about 20%. These indicators, along with talk I hear about dropping rates, make me believe this isn't the ideal climate for most independents.

Hailing from one of the country's tight markets, the Mid-Atlantic region, Steve Constantine, a five-year veteran Notes Administrator, says bill rates have dropped as much as 20%, jobs are scarce, and contract assignments are being filled fast.

To get a broader overview of contacting in general, I spoke with Debbie Fledderjohann, Executive Director of Top Echelon Contracting (at http://www.topecheloncontracting.com), a service firm that offers contract and Employer of Record services across the country. Please be aware that if you click that link, you'll get trapped on the Top Echelon page and be unable to hit the back button and return to DominoPower. She tells us that business is strong and that they're working with more contractors than ever at a wider variety of levels. She said some regions are indeed lagging and noted the hottest regions for contractors are California, Texas, Florida, Illinois, and New York.

Gauging the consulting market
Being (or becoming) a self-employed consultant is like playing the financial markets; instead of investing money, you're valuing your time. Just like the financial markets have the Dow Jones and S&P indexes, you can create your own indexes by tapping into the following information channels.

Look for bill rate changes of the consultants you know. If experienced consultants are getting new assignments at or above their "normal" hourly rate, we can assume an improving market. But if your peers just took $10 per hour less on their most recent contract assignments, you could be seeing a falling market.