Rate negotiation, recruiter trying it on?

[Fraidycat]

They aren't dropping £50 a day they are trying to add £50 a day to their margin

Client pays £600. Agency was offering £500 for a 6 month contract
Now they are offering £450 for a 12 month contract.

Or it could be the client got to see many good CVs that went it at rates lower than they were expecting (from desperate contractors)

And the client has now lowered the max rate they are prepared to offer based on that?

[eek]

Or it could be the client got to see many good CVs that went it at rates lower than they were expecting (from desperate contractors)

And the client has now lowered the max rate they are prepared to offer based on that?

Could be but were I a betting man

90% chance it's the agency trying to make extra profit
10% it's the end client saving a few quid (little in it for most companies except where the end client is small and the owner is making the decision).

[northernladuk]

Could be but were I a betting man

90% chance it's the agency trying to make extra profit
10% it's the end client saving a few quid (little in it for most companies except where the end client is small and the owner is making the decision).

I'd be pushing more towards 97%/3%

[Old Greg]

Could be but were I a betting man

90% chance it's the agency trying to make extra profit
10% it's the end client saving a few quid (little in it for most companies except where the end client is small and the owner is making the decision).

You might be right about the 90-10 split, but sometimes budget holders in big orgs are under pressure at certain times to get better deals from suppliers. So it can just be bad timing.

[eek]

I'd be pushing more towards 97%/3%

I was going to go 99/1% but was feeling generous.

[Fraidycat]

You can always ask the client what the inclusive rate is the Agent is putting you in at.

You know at the very end of the interview when they ask do you have any questions.

Good chance the interviewer doesn't know, only the hiring manager does, but worth asking anyway just on the off chance he does.

i once caught my all inclusive rate on the CV cover sheet during the interview.

[BlasterBates]

You will never know if it's really the client or the agent pushing the rate down, but mainly it's the client. There's no point in the agent negotiating a rate and then renegotiating 2 days later before the interview, he may as well begin at the lower rate. PM's are very often pushed by the purchasing dept to cut the rate. That is the probable cause.

In the current market the agent will have a lot of CV's on his desk, I very much doubt he has to use fancy marketing tricks to pull in a contractor.

[NotAllThere]

You will never know if it's really the client or the agent pushing the rate down, but mainly it's the client..

In my experience, it's nearly always the agent.

[BlasterBates]

In my experience, it's nearly always the agent.

All the rate cuts I got came directly from the client, but in any case it's irrelevant as you will never know on the initial contract. You should know the market, your rate and what you expect.

If you are inundated with calls you turn it down, if it's the first real lead in 6 months you agree, and if somewhere inbetween try to split the difference

[northernladuk]

You can always ask the client what the inclusive rate is the Agent is putting you in at.

Not always. I believe some contracts state you are not allowed to discuss rate with clients. I've never had one but people have mentioned them on here. You could ask before you sign the contract I guess but I don't discuss agent business with the client during the interview process. Can rub clients up the wrong way so isn't worth it IMO.

You know at the very end of the interview when they ask do you have any questions.

Good chance the interviewer doesn't know, only the hiring manager does, but worth asking anyway just on the off chance he does.

No chance on gods earth would I ever mention rates and the agent in an interview.

i once caught my all inclusive rate on the CV cover sheet during the interview.

We've had at least two people mention exactly the same in the past LOL. What a balls up that is
I was at client that accidently sent a charge sheet out for different roles for project resources but another tab had the actual rates for every contractor. It did prove the agent wasn't lying when they say said they were on a fixed margin but did show there wasn't a fixed price per role ie across all PM's. Proper screw up for sure.
I've also heard and seem myself where clients leave the finacials for contractors on a printer but with the advent of printanywhere type things that's all in the past now.