Playing Agencies
Simply building a relationship with one agency will not get you the best contract on offer in a location that you like Invariably it will end with yourself and the agent being bored with each other. To use agencies to your best advantage you need to understand them. They are simple beasts, they go where the money is and they are lazy. Pander to these characteristics and you are on to a winnner.
First of all you must network with your colleagues (without being slimy about it- that is our job). You need to know who is hiring what, where and how much. Rather than send your CV out to every "honest John" make the agencies earn the right to put you forward. This is best achieved by getting colleagues and bosses to reccommend you and by finding out directly as much about the market as you can.
If you are recommended by another contractor, or even better a line manager, then agencies dont even need to bother to read your CV.. remember they are lazy.
If you have an opportunity to meet an agent then pick the tough ones, i.e the successful ones rather than the ones who are "nice". Make them think that you know a bit about the market, or that you have influence (not by overdoing it) whilst always holding something back from them.
I strongly suggest that you ignore the "I dont trust agencies" whingers because they are revealing more about themselves than they are about anything else. They have a chip on their shoulder and the last thing you want is to be influenced by these losers.
Information is king, and how ruthlessly you exploit this information is up to you.Like you agencies are business people. I suggest you conduct your relationships in a suitably businesslike fashion.
And one more thing.. learn to cope with rejection, most members of this site have failed to do so which is why they are here.
Simply building a relationship with one agency will not get you the best contract on offer in a location that you like Invariably it will end with yourself and the agent being bored with each other. To use agencies to your best advantage you need to understand them. They are simple beasts, they go where the money is and they are lazy. Pander to these characteristics and you are on to a winnner.
First of all you must network with your colleagues (without being slimy about it- that is our job). You need to know who is hiring what, where and how much. Rather than send your CV out to every "honest John" make the agencies earn the right to put you forward. This is best achieved by getting colleagues and bosses to reccommend you and by finding out directly as much about the market as you can.
If you are recommended by another contractor, or even better a line manager, then agencies dont even need to bother to read your CV.. remember they are lazy.
If you have an opportunity to meet an agent then pick the tough ones, i.e the successful ones rather than the ones who are "nice". Make them think that you know a bit about the market, or that you have influence (not by overdoing it) whilst always holding something back from them.
I strongly suggest that you ignore the "I dont trust agencies" whingers because they are revealing more about themselves than they are about anything else. They have a chip on their shoulder and the last thing you want is to be influenced by these losers.
Information is king, and how ruthlessly you exploit this information is up to you.Like you agencies are business people. I suggest you conduct your relationships in a suitably businesslike fashion.
And one more thing.. learn to cope with rejection, most members of this site have failed to do so which is why they are here.
) but I've never caught him out in a lie. And what he said is actually pretty well on the money from his side of the fence. It's all business, we're all here to make money. If you can't spot the bad guys (and it's really not that difficult and there's plenty of examples to work from), it's you who are in the wrong trade, not the agents.
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