New to Contract - mucked about by agent

**rl4engc** · 29 February 2016, 17:50

Stand your ground, ultimately the client wants you, they've instructed the agent to sign you and they're trying to cream as much off what client pays to line their own pockets. Just tell them you'll only do it for the agreed day rate as you 'have plenty of other irons in the fire'.

I once applied for a gig at £300/day, got the role, they came back and said "We'll offer you £275/day, and the remainder when you successfully complete the contract". I said "No, £300/day like agreed, I never walk away from a gig.." half an hour later they phoned back going "Yes, £300/day is fine..".

**FatLazyContractor** · 29 February 2016, 17:56

As the previous poster said, stand your ground. Tell the agent to stuff it.

HTH

**LondonManc** · 29 February 2016, 18:09

Originally posted by newbieloui View Post

Hi,

I am coming to the end of a FTC and decided to try my hand at contracting as I regularly get contacted about roles suiting my ability/skill set. I went for an interview for a position 3 month contract 350/day. Got a call today to say I had go the role and they would like to offer me 6 month FTC on £32k. - Not what I applied for, anyway I went back to the agent saying I want to do contracting market rate is 300/350 and that is what I interviewed for. Now there just seems to be a lot of back and forth around rates contract FTC etc.

Not sure what to do or what I should do. I ideally want the contract for 3 months so I can try my hand see how I like contracting and make sure its for me.

any advice or thoughts?

Thoughts first - your agent is a plum, welcome to CUK

Advice - tell your agent that you want a day-rate contract through an umbrella company (someone like Lisa on here could help you with that if you're just seeing whether contracting suits, but bear in mind that an ltd co post-April would be better to help you with a big T&S bill).

**MrMarkyMark** · 29 February 2016, 18:20

Originally posted by newbieloui View Post

I can try my hand see how I like contracting and make sure its for me.

any advice or thoughts?

There are many first timers that wish to "try their hand".
All, canny, employer's engager's like to "try their hand" with a first timer, too.

its a, real, conundrum

.

HTH.

**northernladuk** · 29 February 2016, 18:21

Am not so sure about this blaming the agent. The agent has the power to chop your rate by creaming a bit of for himself. I don't think they are on a position to dictate whether you got contractor or FTC. Ultimately you will be employed by the client so I would say they are also complicit in this arrangement. It means two very different methods of engagement for them so they have to know what is going on. I don't think this one is purely down to the agent.

To the OP.. Couple of words of warning as I'm not sure about this 'Try contracting out' approach. As a contractor your job is being a contractor, the bit you do at the client is the easy bit. Any idiot can do it. This type of problem you are encountering now is being a contractor, when you get walked with zero notice or pay is being a contractor, running your business is being a contractor. Just taking a 3 month gig with a client has very little to do with contracting. Just make sure you do a bit more research on the ups and downs and the responsibilities. 3 months later you won't have much more of a clue about being a contractor than you have now.

Don't kid yourself about agents throwing gigs at you. They are just spamming everyone with a keyword search. You've got the gig though which is good, problem is the second gig is the hardest. It's now time dependant which it probably wasn't before and you won't be earning a penny while looking for it. Make sure you've got a warchest and can last a good couple of months out if the worst should happen.

Have a look at jobserve and do some research about how many gigs are on their, the rate and locations. Keep an eye on that for a few weeks/months and see how comfortable you are with it. From what people are saying the market is pretty dead at the moment.....

**northernladuk** · 29 February 2016, 18:32

Oh yeah, and be careful which part of the forum you post in......

**NotAllThere** · 29 February 2016, 20:39

Originally posted by northernladuk View Post

Oh yeah, and be careful which part of the forum you post in......

Moved to safer ground.

**TheFaQQer** · 1 March 2016, 09:48

Originally posted by northernladuk View Post

Am not so sure about this blaming the agent. The agent has the power to chop your rate by creaming a bit of for himself. I don't think they are on a position to dictate whether you got contractor or FTC. Ultimately you will be employed by the client so I would say they are also complicit in this arrangement. It means two very different methods of engagement for them so they have to know what is going on. I don't think this one is purely down to the agent.

Unless the FTC is with the agent themselves.

**northernladuk** · 1 March 2016, 10:20

Originally posted by TheFaQQer View Post

Unless the FTC is with the agent themselves.

Hmm, there is that, in which case the OP should be dropping it like a red hot brick...

New to Contract - mucked about by agent