Agent trying to reduce agreed day rate.

[northernladuk]

A talented and a decent Agent would not came back after the negotiation to ask to decrease the negotiated rate. If we act like this is normal, in a few years will have to be prepare for the negotiation n times...

Well the fact of the matter is that most do. They key here is when is the negotiation?. Before you get put forward for interview or after you've got the gig? You could argue the rate you agree to be put forward is not the final negotiation. Other factors come in to play before you get to signature that the agent can use to befuddle you.

There is of course the odd times where the client will offer less because the candidate isn't what we wanted. We've done it here and they said no. They probably think it was the agent playing this trick but in this case it genuinely wasn't.

Bearing in mind how the agents get paid you could also say a talented agent will always come back after negotiation with a lower price and win. Is a talented agent someone that makes the most money or someone that serves the contractor better??

[missinggreenfields]

Well the fact of the matter is that most do.

Citation needed - you must deal with some crappy agents if that's the way they work. The majority of the ones that I deal with are on a percentage basis so it's always in their best interests to get the highest rate for me - the only ones that have tried to negotiate lower (and never before the CV went in) have been the in-house recruiters at places like Steria, where they are trying to reduce cost to the project.

[pauldee]

Well the fact of the matter is that most do.

Never happened to me.

[Bee]

Well the fact of the matter is that most do. They key here is when is the negotiation?. Before you get put forward for interview or after you've got the gig? You could argue the rate you agree to be put forward is not the final negotiation. Other factors come in to play before you get to signature that the agent can use to befuddle you.

There is of course the odd times where the client will offer less because the candidate isn't what we wanted. We've done it here and they said no. They probably think it was the agent playing this trick but in this case it genuinely wasn't.

Bearing in mind how the agents get paid you could also say a talented agent will always come back after negotiation with a lower price and win. Is a talented agent someone that makes the most money or someone that serves the contractor better??

Conclusion:

Negotiated rate = Rate + X + Y + Z

X= Amount to deduce in the 1st negotiation.
Y= Amount to deduce in the 2nd negotiation.
Z= Amount to deduce in an eventualy 3rd negotiation.
...
...
n

[Bee]

Never happened to me.

Never happened to me too, but I'm a newbie in contracting so I'm not counting.

[northernladuk]

Citation needed - you must deal with some crappy agents if that's the way they work. The majority of the ones that I deal with are on a percentage basis so it's always in their best interests to get the highest rate for me - the only ones that have tried to negotiate lower (and never before the CV went in) have been the in-house recruiters at places like Steria, where they are trying to reduce cost to the project.

Try a search.. 100s of threads talking about it on here. I've had two that I can remember. One particularly amusing one was the agent coming back and said another candidate said he'd do it for £10 a day less would I go £20... 20 quid Gotta try harder than that.

They are out there. You will come across them. It's the newbies that will get stung the hardest.

To be fair you are all right. Most may not lower after negotiation. They will have dropped the price first and then you have to negotiated. I was including this in 'most' so yes. Could be a fair shout.

[MrMarkyMark]

This is even more likely to happen if there are multiple tiers of agents involved.

Never happened to me too, but I'm a newbie in contracting so I'm not counting.

Its not just you are a newbie, how many times have you dealt with Swiss or American agents, they are a lot different to deal with than British ones?

Have you even had any UK contracts, going through a UK based agency?

The Swiss tend to be far more thorough and professional in the main, for example, than their British counterparts.

[LondonManc]

Yes. I have an annoying habit of reading from the top down and replying to posts as I see them rather than reading the entire thread and then going back and replying to the ones that I want to reply to. That's why I missed that the poster had already replied by the time I responded.

Then you're excused

[LondonManc]

Conclusion:

Negotiated rate = Rate + X + Y + Z

X= Amount to deduce in the 1st negotiation.
Y= Amount to deduce in the 2nd negotiation.
Z= Amount to deduce in an eventualy 3rd negotiation.
...
...
n

Interesting guess/speculation.

Tends not to happen that way in percentage-based agencies.

PS is terrible for it (agency gets a budget). What's the cheapest that you'll do it for? is an opening gambit that I have seen so often.

[missinggreenfields]

Try a search.. 100s of threads talking about it on here. I've had two that I can remember. One particularly amusing one was the agent coming back and said another candidate said he'd do it for £10 a day less would I go £20... 20 quid Gotta try harder than that.

They are out there. You will come across them. It's the newbies that will get stung the hardest.

To be fair you are all right. Most may not lower after negotiation. They will have dropped the price first and then you have to negotiated. I was including this in 'most' so yes. Could be a fair shout.

For every thread that says "the agent tried to lower the rate", I believe that there are many more situations where people don't start a thread to say "the agent didn't try to lower my rate". I'm sure that there are some agents out there who do this - otherwise there wouldn't be threads about it.

I don't believe that most agents operate in this way, though.