Microsoft

Highly focused work. Very good hourly rate. Reasonably rare meetings. Fully remote work. Opportunity to pair work with talented colleagues. Opportunity to have a real positive impact on big business.

Limited-time contract. It is very hard to stay long as a consultant. A change in management can easily spell doom for your contract.

Consider keeping well-performing consultants for longer. They may make up for the work of multiple underpaid employees while asking only for twice the salary. They may bring special skills which are hard to get on the regular employee market.

Keep your mind open for crossing geographical boundaries, especially while hiring remote consultants from safe, democratic countries. Many consultants are willing to share the gain on geo-arbitrage and lack of commuting, so both of you can get a really good deal.