Gurus, Hired Guns, and Warm Bodies

Preface ix

Chapter 1: Unlikely Rebels 1

Itinerant Experts 1

The Unraveling of Permanent Employment 9

The Legal Context of Contingent Work 12

Estimating the Size of the Contingent Workforce 16

Making Sense of Contingent Work 18

The Study 26

Organization of the Book 30

Part I: Setting the Stage

Chapter 2: Clients 37

Why Do Clients Hire Contractors? 38

How Do Clients Hire Contractors? 49

Conclusion 51

Chapter 3: Contractors 53

Why Do Contractors Become Contractors? 55

What Kinds of Contractors Are There? 64

The Roles Contractors Play for Clients 67

Conclusion 72

Chapter 4: Agencies 73

Sales Culture and Technical Culture 74

What Types of Staffing Agencies Are There? 84

Conclusion 91

Part II: Life in the Market

Chapter 5: The Information Game: Finding Deals 98

What Contractors Do 99

What Clients Do 108

What Staffing Agencies Do 114

Conclusion 133

Chapter 6: Making the Deal 136

Hiring Manager Evaluations 138

Negotiating the Terms of Employment 144

Closing Deals 161

Conclusion 166

Part III: Life on the Job

Chapter 7: Contractors as Commodities 177

Maintaining a Task Orientation 177

Delegating Management Responsibilities 180

Creating Outsiders 183

Conclusion 187

Chapter 8: Contractors as Experts 188

Integration: Creating Team Members 188

Dependence 193

Conclusion 198

Chapter 9: Navigating between Respect and Resentment 199

Tales of Respect 199

Tales of Resentment 204

Forming an Identity 214

Part IV: Living the Cycle

Chapter 10: Temporal Capital 223

The Temporal Patterns of Contracting 225

The Rhetoric and Reality of Flexibility 241

Chapter 11: Building and Maintaining Human Capital 244

The Danger of Obsolescence 244

The Risks of Learning 248

Strategies for Remaining Current 251

Conclusion 263

Chapter 12: Building and Maintaining Social Capital 264

Reach 266

Reputation and Occupational Circles 269

Reciprocity and Referral Cliques 273

Networking: Building and Maintaining Networks 276

Chapter 13: Itinerant Professionals in a Knowledge Economy 285

Itinerant Experts: The Contracting Life 286

The Ambiguities of Self-Reliance 289

Itinerant Experts and the Social Order 292

The Occupational Dimension 302

Supporting Itinerant Professionalism 311

Epilogue 317

References 321

Appendix: Cast of Characters 333

Index 337