Excrement agencies and agents

[craig1]

So the agents that you fired off a quick 'no thanks' email aren't going out of their way to help you out, that's weird...

Why not try the ones that you actually gave business to, rather than the ones that you rejected?

It sounds like you would have benefited from building a few more relationships with agents while you still had some leverage, alas something to think about for next time.

What part of my posts did you mis-read before dribbling that onto your keyboard?

I'm asking for courtesy. If I had no roles for people then they'd get a polite note saying so. If people were near me and I had time then I'd go for a coffee with them, I understood that I was getting the benefit of their contractor market knowledge in return for my knowledge of my sector knowledge, fair swap. Even those who regularly spammed me with contractor CVs for irrelevant roles got polite responses.

The agencies who made an effort to reciprocate with a relationship with me have benefited just as much as I have over the years, if not far more.

The one time I required a bit of help, the one-way agents made it clear to me that they didn't want to talk, the good agents have helped immensely to the point that I start my nice new contract on Monday, a massive two weeks from leaving my old job. Those one-way relationship agents are now into no-way relationships, their choice, alas something for them to think about next time they decide that politeness should only be one way. All while those agencies who went out of their way to help are now even more reinforced into me using them in future for my staffing and contractor requirements.

Contracting is personal, business is personal.

[quackhandle]

What part of my posts did you mis-read before dribbling that onto your keyboard?

qh

[radish2008]

agents find people for jobs. not jobs for people.

[mattfx]

Whilst I do subscribe to "business is business" when it comes to things like getting paid, knowing your worth, etc... Everything in today's market is shifting toward being personal and personable. Having yourself as a "brand" on social media and being appealing to people by being yourself. Anyone who has read the first chapter of a marketing book published in the last couple of years (which, if you're such a good "businessman" you should've done, right?) would know that.

[MrMarkyMark]

Whilst I do subscribe to "business is business" when it comes to things like getting paid, knowing your worth, etc... Everything in today's market is shifting toward being personal and personable. Having yourself as a "brand" on social media and being appealing to people by being yourself. Anyone who has read the first chapter of a marketing book published in the last couple of years (which, if you're such a good "businessman" you should've done, right?) would know that.

Depends on your POV.
I tend to be anonymous online but reachable via a tech forum I have written for, for many years.
Linked in was never for me and I have a facebook that hasn't been used for 6 years, or so, in fact some people thought I was dead

As for being yourself, past clients usually bring me in to get things moving, kick a bit of ass etc. they already know what they are going to get.

Doesn't always make you popular with all, but I don't really GAS about that

[mattfx]

Depends on your POV.
I tend to be anonymous online but reachable via a tech forum I have written for, for many years.
Linked in was never for me and I have a facebook that hasn't been used for 6 years, or so, in fact some people thought I was dead

As for being yourself, past clients usually bring me in to get things moving, kick a bit of ass etc. they already know what they are going to get.

Doesn't always make you popular with all, but I don't really GAS about that

Well then the whole "get tulip done" mantra is your brand so to speak - clearly your clients buy in to that attitude. No-one said you have to be well liked by others

I never got the whole LinkedIn thing until I started using it in anger recently - I've found it very, very useful.

[MrMarkyMark]

Well then the whole "get tulip done" mantra is your brand so to speak - clearly your clients buy in to that attitude. No-one said you have to be well liked by others

I never got the whole LinkedIn thing until I started using it in anger recently - I've found it very, very useful.

No you slightly misread that, I like to have a laugh and be friendly etc.

However, I have no problem with speaking about issues objectively and sometimes very critically.
Sometimes this rubs others up the wrong way, but never permanently.

The overall result is what's important, you can do the cuddly bit after an issue is actually sorted.

I also never work late / long hours unless absolutely necessary.
Start early, finish early is another mantra of mine, you can't do that without getting tulip done.

[mattfx]

No you slightly misread that, I like to have a laugh and be friendly etc.

However, I have no problem with speaking about issues objectively and sometimes very critically.
Sometimes this rubs others up the wrong way, but never permanently.

The overall result is what's important, you can do the cuddly bit after an issue is actually sorted.

I also never work late / long hours unless absolutely necessary.
Start early, finish early is another mantra of mine, you can't do that without getting tulip done.

Sounds like we like to conduct ourselves in similar ways! Late and long hours is usually the result of poor planning or failure to re mediate something in time, which I appreciate isn't always our fault, you can lead horses to water etc.

I had to fairly bluntly explain to an "experienced" engineer what a Distributed File System was today, after he asked what IP address he should use to map someone drive... I never have qualms with silly questions, but only a few minutes beforehand he had been bragging about a resilient file server migration he did whilst he was at BA a couple of years ago.. Hmm.

[northernladuk]

I also never work late / long hours unless absolutely necessary.
Start early, finish early is another mantra of mine, you can't do that without getting tulip done.

I got a load of tulip done. It's a fact. Only the other day I saw my client manager showing his boss my work and saying it's a load of tulip. Booooom...