State of the Market

[elsergiovolador]

"so what if a good contract shows up in 2 months time and you are doing this perm job?"

Does it mean an agent gets paid % if sourced employee works for x amount of time and in this case if less than 2 months, then agent gets nothing?
The company should be happy they got top class service for a half price and should use their two months wisely.

[eek]

Fair enough and that was my thinking, but if the technical test is taking care of the technical side of things, what the hell can the pimp ask me which is relevant? He already knows I'm freelance now and would prefer freelance roles and only really going for this one as it has a few areas which I've not done much work in before. I'm expecting the usual question "so what if a good contract shows up in 2 months time and you are doing this perm job?", but apart from this not sure it makes much sense.

That depends - most contractors in my industry are crap at the soft stuff, so a second opinion on that would be what I was looking for...

[eek]

Fair enough and that was my thinking, but if the technical test is taking care of the technical side of things, what the hell can the pimp ask me which is relevant? He already knows I'm freelance now and would prefer freelance roles and only really going for this one as it has a few areas which I've not done much work in before. I'm expecting the usual question "so what if a good contract shows up in 2 months time and you are doing this perm job?", but apart from this not sure it makes much sense.

Once again - if a recruitment consultant gives me a candidate who leaves early why would I use them again - a former contractor leaving early would not just screw up the finding fee it would also potentially screw up the long term relationship between recruitment firm and client.

[dx4100]

One call all week and it was just a fishing attempt - depressing times

[jayn200]

They don't know about tech but they are people persons and they'll be good to judge whether people seem comfortable talking about a tech subject. So they won't understand what you're talking about just how you deliver the message, they might even have a standard follow-up question but again they won't follow what you're saying just seeing if you seem to be winging it or not.

The approach then is always think of it as a parlour game with children.

Most of these people burn through these jobs really quickly, it's like any sales job, staff turnover is extremely high (3 times the national average). They do it for 6 months or a year or 2 and then they move onto the next unskilled job they can find.

You have to understand what they are really looking for. Half the people you talk to will be brand new at their job and have no idea what they're doing. They can't assess your ability to do the job, don't try to explain it to them. Your job is to sell to them that the client will find you a good match for the role and will like you, that's all. Don't leave them to make that decision for you. You need to tell them. Don't get technical at all if you can avoid it, don't try to explain what you do in any level of detail. Simple things like "I match really strongly with the tech skills required for this role for your client, I have been working with the same tech stack your client is currently using for last 10 years", "This role is a great match for me, I just recently delivered the same project for X, if you can get me an interview with the client I am confident they will want me for this role"

Thats really the types of things you should be saying to them, they can't assess any abilities you have but even inexperienced people can get a sense for your confidence, it's an intuitive trait. They might ask you about specific projects and abilities and of course you have to answer their questions but I would avoid going into too much detail because it can only hurt you. They don't speak the same language as you.

[dsc]

Once again - if a recruitment consultant gives me a candidate who leaves early why would I use them again - a former contractor leaving early would not just screw up the finding fee it would also potentially screw up the long term relationship between recruitment firm and client.

Yes and as I assume this is the main reason recruiters don't like mixing perm with contractors. I'm getting the feeling that there's no matches for this particular position (niche package being used) and this is mainly why the pimp is so overly excited about myself. Also I think he might be simply ignoring the fact that I'm freelance because it's such a tough market that a prospect of a 20% commission is better than no prospect.

[dsc]

Does it mean an agent gets paid % if sourced employee works for x amount of time and in this case if less than 2 months, then agent gets nothing?
The company should be happy they got top class service for a half price and should use their two months wisely.

Yup I think they get a x% cut of yearly salary if you survive the first 3-6months (probation period).

[eek]

Most of these people burn through these jobs really quickly, it's like any sales job, staff turnover is extremely high (3 times the national average). They do it for 6 months or a year or 2 and then they move onto the next unskilled job they can find.

You have to understand what they are really looking for. Half the people you talk to will be brand new at their job and have no idea what they're doing. They can't assess your ability to do the job, don't try to explain it to them. Your job is to sell to them that the client will find you a good match for the role and will like you, that's all. Don't leave them to make that decision for you. You need to tell them. Don't get technical at all if you can avoid it, don't try to explain what you do in any level of detail. Simple things like "I match really strongly with the tech skills required for this role for your client, I have been working with the same tech stack your client is currently using for last 10 years", "This role is a great match for me, I just recently delivered the same project for X, if you can get me an interview with the client I am confident they will want me for this role"

Thats really the types of things you should be saying to them, they can't assess any abilities you have but even inexperienced people can get a sense for your confidence, it's an intuitive trait. They might ask you about specific projects and abilities and of course you have to answer their questions but I would avoid going into too much detail because it can only hurt you. They don't speak the same language as you.

Your industry is very different from mine, in mine I probably know all the specialist recruitment consultants personally as there isn't that many of them and those that matter have been around for years with contact books to match.

[vwdan]

Thought I'd got a pretty decent lead - solid solid rate, job description could have been written for my CV and only a couple of competitors. But, had the interview yesterday and it was the strangest experience.

Won't comment further yet, but not feeling hopeful.

If I don't get it, it'll also be the first time in 10+ years that I didn't get a job offer out of an interview (or, in one case, an offer of a second interview which I declined)

Whelp, won't pretend to be disappointed at my first no as a contractor. Apparently it's possible to fail a highly technical interview by answering too well - scared I'd pick fault and get bored of the role, apparently....

Now, I'm not saying it's related to the permietractor asking the technical questions also being the same permietractor who designed and built the stuff they need help with, but I can understand why he'd feel insecure.... onwards!

[dsc]

Whelp, won't pretend to be disappointed at my first no as a contractor. Apparently it's possible to fail a highly technical interview by answering too well - scared I'd pick fault and get bored of the role, apparently....

Now, I'm not saying it's related to the permietractor asking the technical questions also being the same permietractor who designed and built the stuff they need help with, but I can understand why he'd feel insecure.... onwards!

Ah the "we need someone who won't rock the boat too much and tell us how tulipe stuff is" kind of role.