Contractor Checklist

IS&T Human Resources (IST-HR) Team

Contractor Information

Using a Contractor

When filling a staffing need, contractors (from a staffing agency or independent contractors) may be a viable approach.

Contractors are especially helpful

• when the project has a fixed duration, and the skills may not be wanted after the project is completed
• when the skill is hard to find
• when 'time is of the essence' (a contract company may have access to the right skills faster than a typical IS&T search)
• if 'temp-to-perm' is an option (this is a way of assessing a person in the real world before making a final hiring decision
• as 'back-fill' for someone on a leave of absence (where we can't hire a replacement)

When an IS&T position is posted, IST-HR will typically inform some contract companies, in the event they have any 'temp-to-perm' candidates. These candidates may be considered in addition to any other candidates resulting from a posting.

Resources and Contact Information

The IS&T Human Resources (IST-HR) Team has files on a number of contracting companies. There are a variety of business practices, pricing structures, and quality levels. Feel free to contact ist-hr for more information about companies that are on file, or other contractor related issues. IST-HR can also accept any calls from contract companies, so Team Leaders or others in IS&T are not bothered by such calls.

MIT's Procurement Office gets involved with many contracting situations and they can also help advise if a situation is more properly 'independent contractor' or 'MIT employee'. See Policy 4.15 and Policy 2.12 for more information.