Day 46 Log

I woke up this morning and started my normal search for new positions. I got a call from a new recruiter. He was looking for fill a position that they needed filled right away. We discussed the position saying we would discuss pricing after we saw if they had any interest in moving forward after seeing my resume, so I gave him the go ahead to submit me. We did discuss my salary and and he told me that the position was a 1099 position, and I told him the rate he saw on my dice.com profile was for W2 employment, and that I'd need to give some thought to what I wanted for 1099 employment. An hour later I got an email from him saying he submitted me for the position and he had submitted me at a rate of only $2/hr over what my W2 rate was. I did some quick work and determined that $2/hr is only $4000/yr, and I think it is safe to say that the government will want more than $4000 in taxes. I did some searching on the Internet, and I found that most people agree with what a friend had told me, that I should look at charging 15-20% above what want on a W2 basis if your looking at a 1099 status. So I did the math and 20% came out to be about $10 an hour, so the offer of $2/hr falls about $8/hr short..or $16,000/yr. Even if I look at only taking a 15% increase, the offer still falls $11,000 short of my expected yearly salary. I made him a counter offer and am waiting to see if we can work something out, but his offer was only a 4% increase over my W2 rate. I'm willing to take a small pay cut, but 15% seems a bit steep, when ALL of the other positions I'm looking at are coming in at my desired rate on a W2 basis.
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Got a response from the recruiter, we negotiated to $7 over the W2 rate, so a bit up for him and a bit down for me. Now I just need to convince the company this is for, that I'm the right guy for the job. It's nice to have a few companies looking at me, it would be even better to have two companies making me offers...but I'll take it one step at a time.
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Got an email from a friend of mine earlier this week, with a position open in his company. I filled out the online app, and was waiting. He offered to give my resume to the hiring manager, so I sent him my resume. I know networking is the best way to find a new position, so I'm excited to see what happens with that.