Something new for contractors...

[jmo21]

Very true, however this is likely to involve personal critique of an individuals way of performing their job, hence more iffy...

Maybe, but there is also https://www.ratedpeople.com/

but as I said, it is really us the contractor that are the thing being consumed by the buyer in this relationship.

I'm sure people have floated that idea on here as well to try and eliminate agents as middle men.

[LondonManc]

OP is flogging a dead horse here. How many times does he have to ask to focus on the positives, not get a response and have to ask again? Always worries me when people are so focussed on trying to see positives when there are so many negatives they completely.. Sounds more like brainwashing to me. Dunno why, just makes me very wary and is getting a bit boring.

And on that basis, I'm out.

[FrontEnder]

Comparisons to sites like trip advisor are so far off the mark. The relationship between agency and contractor is fundamentally different several ways to that of individual consumer and business.

There might be a viable business model in there somewhere, but I doubt it for the reasons already mentioned. If there is, you need to forget about trip advisor etc.

[MrMarkyMark]

Maybe, but there is also https://www.ratedpeople.com/

but as I said, it is really us the contractor that are the thing being consumed by the buyer in this relationship.

I'm sure people have floated that idea on here as well to try and eliminate agents as middle men.

Yeh, know about the tradesman one....slightly easier to resolve bad reviews with that sort of work though...

[FrontEnder]

Maybe, but there is also https://www.ratedpeople.com/

The tradesman has to sign up to rated people and it's also a way of marketing their services. There will probably be terms and conditions that shifts any libel on to the reviewer and not ratedpeople.

I doubt an agency would willingly sign up to this sort of thing. As they sell their service to the end client, not the contractor why would they?

[Agent]

I fear that the general opinion is that the best agencies are those that work for very little margin and are seen and not heard.

In my experience, here's some of the things that I've had feedback on as being 'good'

- Being flexible on payment terms (including making exceptions to help out with cash flow when needed)
- Taking the contractor/s for a beer to say hi and to build an element of trust
- Always being available (within reason)
- Calling back / responsing to email quickly (but always responding)
- Maintaining a single point of contact rather than every man and his dog contacting the contractor
- Resolving issues quickly and professionally
- Never paying late (sometimes paying early)
- Communication when it comes to payment issues - if we're missing an invoice or a timesheet let you know rather than wait it out while you're expecting payment

OP - The idea is a solid one, there's a reason that checkatrade and trip advisor are successful, people like to be recommended a supplier / business.

Rating / reviewing your experience of an agency is no different to rating your experience of a plumbing company. It's annonomous and gives the agency / plumber the chance to respond.

The challenge is getting interaction from said agencies so that it's a platform for communication and feedback rather than a 'I hate agencies' list.

I'm sure there's online articles about how these companies are successful, trip advisor is valued at over $3B now - How $3 Billion TripAdvisor's Business Works - Business Insider

I wish you luck with your venture and ignore any negative comments you hear. Pretty sure James Altucher regrets his view that Google was "the worst venture capital decision in history" - 10 Unusual Things I Didn't Know About Google (also: the worst VC decision in history) - Altucher Confidential

[stek]

You guys have been great and I've been having some great discussions but mostly about the idea and why it wont work. Please don't forget my original question, what have recruiters done that have wowed you? Something simple that makes a huge difference? an example of great service or a feature that makes you want to use the same company again!

Doesn't work like that for me, agent is just a cog in the machine, if it's broken, fook it off, if it isn't, ignore it and let it keep on cogging....

[Agent]

Doesn't work like that for me, agent is just a cog in the machine, if it's broken, fook it off, if it isn't, ignore it and let it keep on cogging....

And that's why you're paying for something and receiving nothing back. If you're gonna get a gig through an agency you're paying for it. If you see them as nothing more than a cog then you're not too bright... If you can't see the advantage of an agency then more fool you.

[youngguy]

And that's why you're paying for something and receiving nothing back. If you're gonna get a gig through an agency you're paying for it. If you see them as nothing more than a cog then you're not too bright... If you can't see the advantage of an agency then more fool you.

What is the advantage, except being a payment mechanism?

[eek]

What is the advantage, except being a payment mechanism?

They are salesmen. They seek out work and find it for us... They then take a commission from our fee to pay their costs....

We could employ salesmen ourselves but that would be a bit expensive its cheaper for it to be outsourced and scaled up a bit....