Why do recruiters want your CV even when you've said you're not available?

[northernladuk]

I guess so, still feels like I'm paying them their cut, not the client 😝

Try and think that you get a cut of their money. You are bottom of the chain remember.

[LondonManc]

Try and think that you get a cut of their money. You are bottom of the chain remember.

Best thinking of them as the introducer and contract administrator and pretend that they're doing more than they are for their cut.

[billybiro]

Best thinking of them as the introducer and contract administrator and pretend that they're doing more than they are for their cut.

Best thinking of them as the blood-sucking, bottom-feeding parasites that they are. An entirely useless bunch, who by bluff, bluster and downright dubious business practices have managed to "create" a market where one simply didn't exist before.

Think about paint. If you're a painter, you need paint, so you simply go and buy it. But imagine if some "recruitment agent" of paint came along, convinced the entire paint manufacturing industry to sell paint ONLY to them, so they could then sell it on to you at a mark up, all the while convincing you that you need them, as they are now the arbiters of paint.

If they manage to ingratiate their way into the paint selling business to this degree, as they have done with the IT contracting business, they'd be right. But imagine if the paint manufacturers decided to sell paint directly to painters - something they could very easily do. The paint "recruitment agents" would be out of business in a heartbeat. Moreover, the paint "recruiters" wouldn't even have a market if it weren't for the paint manufacturers and painters.

Don't ever let one of these lowlifes tell you that you are beholden to them!

[LondonManc]

Best thinking of them as the blood-sucking, bottom-feeding parasites that they are. An entirely useless bunch, who by bluff, bluster and downright dubious business practices have managed to "create" a market where one simply didn't exist before.

Think about paint. If you're a painter, you need paint, so you simply go and buy it. But imagine if some "recruitment agent" of paint came along, convinced the entire paint manufacturing industry to sell paint ONLY to them, so they could then sell it on to you at a mark up, all the while convincing you that you need them, as they are now the arbiters of paint.

If they manage to ingratiate their way into the paint selling business to this degree, as they have done with the IT contracting business, they'd be right. But imagine if the paint manufacturers decided to sell paint directly to painters - something they could very easily do. The paint "recruitment agents" would be out of business in a heartbeat. Moreover, the paint "recruiters" wouldn't even have a market if it weren't for the paint manufacturers and painters.

Don't ever let one of these lowlifes tell you that you are beholden to them!

Billy's been burned in the past, no question about it.

The part that they do well is invoice factoring - they're on monthly/90 day terms with the client but I can still only have one week at risk.

You're model in terms of paint isn't right because of the difference in product to service industries.

[billybiro]

Billy's been burned in the past, no question about it.

The part that they do well is invoice factoring - they're on monthly/90 day terms with the client but I can still only have one week at risk.

You're model in terms of paint isn't right because of the difference in product to service industries.

Believe it or not, I've not actually been burned by them but i certainly know many people who have.

I accept that, whilst they exist, they're a necessary evil, but I also know that they don't need to exist. It's all really very frustrating. They're like that annoying family member who you totally despise but you have to tolerate them at family weddings/christenings/funerals etc for the sake of everyone else.

As for the model being not quite right. Well, it's close enough and works equally well if we improve it to replace the paint manufacturers with painters, and the painters with consumers who need something painted. There's your service industry model.

[northernladuk]

I bet you know many many more people that have had good experiences with agents though......

[billybiro]

I bet you know many many more people that have had good experiences with agents though......

Hmm. In what way?

In that they got a gig? Yes, but in a world where agents don't exist, they could still get that gig. Even in this world where agents do exist, many people get gigs without them.
In that they genuinely thought, "I'm so glad I had an agent act as a middleman there in that entire transaction rather than having to deal with the client directly."? Not so much.

Put it this way. If a role came on the market and the client was equally willing to engage with you directly as they are to engage with you via an agency, would you want the agent there in the middle of the chain, rate and all else being equal?

LondonManc's point about the invoice factoring is about the only good thing that can come of the relationship, but even then that can work the other way too since the agency is probably much smaller than the end client and will have far less liquidity than the client, thus increasing the risk of potentially not being paid if things go south.

Finally, think about this. In most contracts, there's 3 entities. Client, agent and contractor. No business could happen without the client, so they're an immovable object. But of the two remaining, agent and contractor, which one can be taken out of the loop and have business potentially continue as opposed to which one simply cannot ever be taken out of the loop and have business continue?

[northernladuk]

Very nice... now back to reality....

[billybiro]

Very nice... now back to reality....

Quite. You wade in to defend the honour of the agents and when someone presents a rhetorical, but pertinent and enlightening question, you ignore it. How incredibly weaselly of you.

Is your Plan B to be a politician? Or an agent, perhaps?

[SussexSeagull]

Well that sounds very business like.

It is if you are in The Wire.