Hamish McRae, writing for The Independent discussed how he believes there will be an increasing shift towards self-employment over the next few years. With the jobs market continuing to be hit hard by the recession, it has been suggested that enrolling on an electrical training course and becoming self-employed could be the way forward. Mr McRae suggested that new vacancies will require increasingly high levels of skill and women are also likely to continue performing better than men in the jobs market.
So if you are skilled but your permanent job looks unsafe, becoming self employed or contracting out your services could be a wise move. If you are unskilled, take the opportunity now to develop skills, by for example, enrolling on an electrical training course. There are some big differences between being an employee and working for yourself.
When You Are Self-Employed…
1. You determine what work you do and when you do it.
2. You advertise to and accept work from more than one client.
3. You may operate your business under a specific business name.
4. You do not get employee benefits from your clients (i.e. a pension plan, insurance, holiday pay, etc.).
5. You are responsible for paying your own income taxes.
6. Your clients typically do not provide training or extensive instruction on how to do your job.
7. You normally supply and maintain all of the equipment necessary to do the job.
8. You alone control the opportunity for profit or loss from your work.
9. You have a contract that outlines the terms of your working relationships.
10. Your contracts tend to be for a specific project or time period.
11. You invoice your clients for work completed.
Independent Contractor Services can offer advice to anyone considering becoming self employed or a contractor. They can take you through what’s involved in running your own business, as a sole trader or limited company, or working through their umbrella service. Call 0800 195 3750 for full details of the benefits.
