Hi,
and many apologies if this has been covered elsewhere, but these fora are huge and time is running out.
Me: fifty-something, solid career in software/UNIX/networking with an amount of hands-on technical/team management, but newish to contracting. Have been on the non-perm side for about three years.
Situation: Two weeks ago I was approached by a recruiter for a deep (but suitable) technical contract; I said "go ahead". The recruiter said they were signing an exclusive contract with the company, just a matter of a few days. As of now, no movement, in spite of promises; recruiter is responsive, but nothing happens. I have in the meantime been approached by three other recruiters for the exact same contract, and the company has been identified both implicitly and explicitly. The particular contract role isn't advertised on the company's website, but numerous other roles (both permanent and contract) are (but I trust the role in question is genuine).
Question 1: What can/should I do wrt the original role? Is the original recruiter just full of it? For a run-of-the-mill recruitment company to establish an exclusive contract with the company in question sounds unlikely, it would be the tail wagging the dog, but I have little experience with that side of business. I'm inclined to withdraw my permission to the recruitment company, and proceed in other ways, including approaching the employer directly, but I feel there is something unethical about that, not least considering that the role isn't advertised and I only know about it because the recruiter told me about it; but then, so did three other recruiters, and in their attempts to light my fire, they (all four) identified the company in various ways, explicitly and implicitly.
Question 2: Would there be any issue with me approaching the company entirely independently wrt their other roles? These are all advertised on the company's website, and have never been discussed with any recruitment company. I can't imagine this would be a problem, but my experience so far with the recruitment industry doesn't inspire confidence; it seems to be pretty cut-throat and with a distinctive dog-eat-dog attitude, especially if you can get people to sign on it.
Many thanks for any help/suggestions.
Best,
/Rob/
and many apologies if this has been covered elsewhere, but these fora are huge and time is running out.
Me: fifty-something, solid career in software/UNIX/networking with an amount of hands-on technical/team management, but newish to contracting. Have been on the non-perm side for about three years.
Situation: Two weeks ago I was approached by a recruiter for a deep (but suitable) technical contract; I said "go ahead". The recruiter said they were signing an exclusive contract with the company, just a matter of a few days. As of now, no movement, in spite of promises; recruiter is responsive, but nothing happens. I have in the meantime been approached by three other recruiters for the exact same contract, and the company has been identified both implicitly and explicitly. The particular contract role isn't advertised on the company's website, but numerous other roles (both permanent and contract) are (but I trust the role in question is genuine).
Question 1: What can/should I do wrt the original role? Is the original recruiter just full of it? For a run-of-the-mill recruitment company to establish an exclusive contract with the company in question sounds unlikely, it would be the tail wagging the dog, but I have little experience with that side of business. I'm inclined to withdraw my permission to the recruitment company, and proceed in other ways, including approaching the employer directly, but I feel there is something unethical about that, not least considering that the role isn't advertised and I only know about it because the recruiter told me about it; but then, so did three other recruiters, and in their attempts to light my fire, they (all four) identified the company in various ways, explicitly and implicitly.
Question 2: Would there be any issue with me approaching the company entirely independently wrt their other roles? These are all advertised on the company's website, and have never been discussed with any recruitment company. I can't imagine this would be a problem, but my experience so far with the recruitment industry doesn't inspire confidence; it seems to be pretty cut-throat and with a distinctive dog-eat-dog attitude, especially if you can get people to sign on it.
Many thanks for any help/suggestions.
Best,
/Rob/
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