Had Enough of Agencies??

[King Cnvt]

Other things Agent do (that clients like) that websites don't

1. Tell contractors lies on the clients behalf.
2. Fire contractors when the client has no balls.
3. Supply IR35 unfriendly contracts that clients love.
4. Jerk contractors about.
5. Supply cheap Indians on Intracompany Transfer Visas.

[Old Greg]

I have considered setting up a co-operative of likeminded contractors to try and remove the agency step in the chain, the only problem is that you end up turning into an agency yourself..

..on my last contract the agent was getting 6% so to be honest I don't begrudge them that sort of cut myself.

I think a suppliers' cooperative is feasible as happens in the agricultural sector in some countries. You would still need people with the pimp skills to operate it.

[jdedev]

I might be missing something here but they appear to not charge clients anything... at all!! I know my clients deal with a lot of sh!t off agents, and if it were the choice between having a fancy lunch or sourcing direct at zero cost, I know what the answer would be...

Personally I think £300 for a year's contacting is pretty damn good, and that's only if you need it to contact clients apparently - you can be in the database for free. They also claim to give discounts to contractors for referring other contractors, so you could actually contact clients for free if you have 10 colleagues sign up that you've referred.

Just think that this will eliminate the agency cut that we pay now. Granted we never actually see rate that the client payes, but if the agent wasn't in the loop then surely that's a win-win for us and our clients....??

I think this looks worth a punt - wouldn't it be nice if someone were to give the market a shake up?? IMHO it's long, long over due....

[Euro-commuter]

Definitely worth a look I'd say - if there's a chance that we could avoid the endless issues that we experience with agencies then it sounds good to me!!

So much so that you joined the board just to tell us that?? Well done!!

[Euro-commuter]

And not only do clients have to p*ss about sifting through CVs littered with words they don't understand, but contractors have to pay £300pa for the "privilege" of getting in touch with said clients.

Stupid idea.

If clients want to go direct to contractors, they can do so already. It's called "advertising on Jobserve".

Quite so.

In practice it will be like Jobserve, or like having your CV on the web and highly visible: if you get any contacts, they will be from agencies, never from clients directly.

I have those already, and they didn't cost me anything.

[chicane]

Just think that this will eliminate the agency cut that we pay now.

Optimistic at best, naive at worst. You don't pay the agency cut - the client does. If they have to bear the hassle of sourcing and evaluating potential suppliers (i.e. you), the money to do that has to come from somewhere.

If you don't agree with that, let me put things another way. Imagine you have Contractor A and Contractor B, both with similar skillset and experience, and both accustomed to working for £300/day through agencies. If Contractor A decides to up his rate expectations to £350/day "because he no longer pays the agency cut", which of the two contractors do you think the client will choose for the gig?

[jdedev]

...the client will typically pay 20% fees to the agent, resulting in a day rate of £360 for contractor B. So it's hard to say how much the client would invest in self sourcing to avoid heavy agency fees of 20%+

Anyway, I don't think it's as clean cut as that, I think it comes down to the question are agencies working well for clients and contractors? I'm sure some do, but the vast majority of people I speak to, both contractors and clients, have had bad experiences and are fed up of being charged what ever the agent thinks they can get...

The problem with sites like jobserve where you can upload a free CV, is generally CVs are out of date and so clients don't search there... If I get called it's from an agent - so I might as well have gone to an agent in the first place.

Not sure if cynanto is going to address this issue though, it's not clear to me how agents can't just use the site to get more people in their own databases... hmmm

There must be a better way to find a gig...

[swboy]

The orange snowboarder is cool

[chicane]

The orange snowboarder is cool

I'm amazed at the knowledge, mental dexterity and depth of thought brought to this forum by newcomers.

[swboy]

I'm amazed at the knowledge, mental dexterity and depth of thought brought to this forum by newcomers.

But seriously, it seems to me that there is no cost to just be there, only if you could get work. And then the cost is less than my girlfriend pays for gym membership. So there is no real downside.

It's good to see something that could help us have alternatives in the job market.

If I sign up then employers can find me wherever I am, not just if I am are registered with their pet agency.