Help with working for therapy agency

amother

Thu, Aug 15 2013, 8:26 pm

I am looking into being an independent contracter this year as I worked a salaried job last year and found the hours sooooooooo long and hated not having flexibility.
I am working as an OT- I need help- what is the proper way to go about looking for a job? do you call the agency first and commit? do you give in your paperwork first before you get a caseload? how do I know how many kids they will give me? Can I assume I am automatically hired? also is it really bad that it is mid august and I havent really began applying?
Please help. also if anyone is an indep. contracter, can you tell me what you think the pros/cons are and any other tips?

amother

Thu, Aug 15 2013, 9:05 pm

I think you might be a bit confused.
If you're an independent contracter, you wouldn't be working for an agency. You'd be working straight for the board of ed. I'm not exactly sure what steps you have to go through to do that. (Most agencies have you working on a W-2, but if you're an ind. contractor you'd be on a 1099)

You sound like you want to work with an agency. The best thing to do is call first. They'll probably say to send in a resume and call you down for an interview. You aren't committing to anything because they might not even have anything to tell you now. But the way I've always done it was that I gave all my paperwork before they even had anything to offer. That way when something comes up you'd be able to take cases right away.
But you're still not commiting. When cases come in, they'll call you and ask if you want to take them and you can say no. IT takes time to process the paperwork so it's good to have it in each agency you want to apply.
You might never get any cases with certain agencies, so it's good to apply to as many as possible.

As for if it's too late, I don't think so. You should try asap.
Good luck!

amother

Thu, Aug 15 2013, 10:18 pm

Op- Thanks for your replies. I guess I mixed it up- I want to work for agency not DOE. What is the difference between a 1099 and W2 and an I9 and which is the best? Also how will I know now how many hours the agnecy can guarantee me? Should I apply for 2-3 agencies just in case each one can only give me a few hours of cases?

For those who work for agencies- what do you think are pros/cons?

amother

Thu, Aug 15 2013, 10:36 pm

amother wrote:

One major con I can think of is benefits... no benefits when working for an agency, (you can pay out of your own pocket for insurance if you work a certain amount of hours, but you'd have to PAY on your own!) whereas when you were a salaried worker, most salaried job include benefits.
The most major pro is that you if you have the time, you can pack in many more hours, thereby making much a bigger salary.
In my area, most jobs are for agencies, and getting paid by the caseload. I would love for hubby to find a salaried job (he is a SLP). As of yet, we have not been successful in finding a salaried job. If anyone has any tips to offer as to where and how to get one, pls post.

debsters1101

Fri, Aug 16 2013, 12:27 am

I have worked for agencies. Sign up with as many as you can because its probable that one agency won't be able to give you a full caseload, but if you sit down with a map and a blank schedule you can work for 2 or 3 agencies to fill yourself up.
A MAJOR con of 1099/agencies is that if a kid doesn't show up or it's yt or legal holiday, USUALLY you don't get paid for that session. If you're the main breadwinner, it's very rocky to not know how much money you're going to be pulling in that month! That's why I stopped. Also the benefits as someone else said. The difference between w2 and 1099 is that w2 they take the taxes and social security out for you and 1099 you have to do it yourself. So 1099 usually pays more per hour but you have to keep in mind that you're going to have to pay taxes.
One piece of advice when looking for agencies to work for- do good research and ask around about the honesty and integrity of the places in your area. Unfortunately there is a lot of fraud going on in many of these agencies like double billing, billing when there wasn't really a session, etc and trust me you do not want to be tangled up in that. Your license is on the line. It might be more annoying and slightly less money to stay on the straight and narrow path but you worked hard to be where you are today. Don't let greedy slimy agencies ruin your integrity!
Phew. /soap box. Lol :-)