Pros
The HR department seems to greatly care about their current employees, and goes above-and-beyond in fulfilling requests and addressing concerns. I will provide specific examples: 1. When I had a newborn, I needed to sign her up on my health care plan. Diane not only held my hand through the whole entire process when it was clearly not her responsibility, but sent me reminder emails before the expiration window elapsed. Had she not done this, my newborn may have been uninsured. This was clearly supposed to be my responsibility, not Diane's, but she was gracious enough to keep an eye out on my situation. She could have told me things like "read the manual" or "read the handbook next time", but did not resort to any patronizing or condescending remarks. She focused on giving me the information I needed. 2. When I was new there, I wanted to inquire about the life insurance. Diane answered every single email, and gave me specific phone numbers to call. She did much of the research for me. 3. Every single time I had a question about any company policy or benefit, Diane never left a single email unanswered. If you reach out to HR, they will certainly give you all the information you need.
Cons
Smartek21 is a consulting company. That means that they send you off to client companies to do actual the actual work and provide expertise and/or labor. Client companies often use contractors as experimental employees, and if the client company does not see you as useful, they will fire you with little to no warning. There is not much that Smartek21 can do in such cases. They do have a bench in the Washington area (and probably will in Palo Alto), but if you're in the Bay Area, you are at the mercy of the client company. I do not see this as the fault of Smartek though. Being a consultant usually means it's easier to get a job at a client company, but also easier for the client company to dispose of you.
