Hi all, I'm so glad I found this forum and it's wealth of information and knowledgeable contributors.
My situation is as follows: I am a recently returned ex-pat who was an IT contractor before I left the UK but worked as a permie when I was overseas.
Since my return a few weeks ago, I have been applying for every contract role online that I felt I was suited to but alas, no bites from my applications. I followed up with calls to a couple of the agencies and was told that as I had been out of the country for several years, I was being overlooked in favour of more current contractors despite my years of experience and qualifications.
One agency did, however, suggest a very low daily rate contract which is almost like an entry position/intern for 3 months which would give me the relevant skillset and specialised experience to come out of it and seek much better contracts on a decent market rate. So, I had a face to face interview with the client and was offered the role immediately.
Now, the next step of finding an umbrella company was interesting. I had a bad experience with a UK umbrella company in 2007 who went bankrupt taking a large chunk of my money with them. The recruitment agency has a PSL with only 2 companies and is pushing me to one of them. I said I wanted to do my own research and conduct due diligence on my preferred umbrella company. That's when it started turning sour...... their PS contacted me several times (harassment) and when I told the agency who my preferred company was, they said they would not work with them for a variety of reasons. I asked one of the directors of my umbrella company to speak to the agency and answer the specific questions, which they did and it was not a pleasant conversation apparently. I don't believe the recruitment company is justified in their attitude to me or the umbrella company.
To cut a long story short, I am inclined to tell the recruiter to stuff the contract (in the hope that I can find something else and not have to associate myself with them again). Has anybody been in a similar situation where a recruiter is forcing the contractor to use their PS only?
My situation is as follows: I am a recently returned ex-pat who was an IT contractor before I left the UK but worked as a permie when I was overseas.
Since my return a few weeks ago, I have been applying for every contract role online that I felt I was suited to but alas, no bites from my applications. I followed up with calls to a couple of the agencies and was told that as I had been out of the country for several years, I was being overlooked in favour of more current contractors despite my years of experience and qualifications.
One agency did, however, suggest a very low daily rate contract which is almost like an entry position/intern for 3 months which would give me the relevant skillset and specialised experience to come out of it and seek much better contracts on a decent market rate. So, I had a face to face interview with the client and was offered the role immediately.
Now, the next step of finding an umbrella company was interesting. I had a bad experience with a UK umbrella company in 2007 who went bankrupt taking a large chunk of my money with them. The recruitment agency has a PSL with only 2 companies and is pushing me to one of them. I said I wanted to do my own research and conduct due diligence on my preferred umbrella company. That's when it started turning sour...... their PS contacted me several times (harassment) and when I told the agency who my preferred company was, they said they would not work with them for a variety of reasons. I asked one of the directors of my umbrella company to speak to the agency and answer the specific questions, which they did and it was not a pleasant conversation apparently. I don't believe the recruitment company is justified in their attitude to me or the umbrella company.
To cut a long story short, I am inclined to tell the recruiter to stuff the contract (in the hope that I can find something else and not have to associate myself with them again). Has anybody been in a similar situation where a recruiter is forcing the contractor to use their PS only?
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