Features
Employee or consultant?
To hire someone as an employee or a consultant will depend on three important factors.
First is control. An employee is someone you supervise from the get go, from the processing of the work all the way up to the delivery of the output. A consultant is someone you control only with respect to the output. An employee reports in your office on a regular basis, say for at least 8 hours, and is subject to your company policy including rules on attendance and punctuality. A consultant is not required to report at your office on a regular basis. He may have his own office and may service other clients. So deciding whether to hire an employee or to engage the services of a consultant depends on how much control you want to exercise.
Second is professional expertise. A consultant is generally perceived to be an expert in a particular area. He is usually a professional with vast experience in his field of expertise, like a lawyer, an accountant, an engineer, etc. While this may also be true with respect to an employee, an employee is usually someone who needs further guidance, training and close supervision.
Third is your hiring goal. What type of service do you want to get by hiring? What particular need do you want to address? If you need someone on a regular basis for at least 8 hours a day under your close supervision, then hire an employee. But if you need someone for his known expertise, without necessarily having to be supervised, then engage a consultant.