I just need to get two references ...

[psychocandy]

As I've said before had one guy who promised on his mothers life he wouldnt use the reference info for sales leads.

So I gave him name of guy at client who I was good mates with and told him what I was doing and he agreed to play along and pretend he was my manager at client.

Sure enough literally 10 mins later, agent phoned my mate. Asked him briefly about me and then said "so you need any contractors then".

Agent even phoned me back and I told him what had been done and he denied it!

[gigahoe]

You're very unwise if you permit agents on your LinkedIn to see contacts from client companies.
They will never leave the poor beggars alone and they're bound to mention that they've spoken to you which won't help your relationship with the ex clients at all.

You're right. LinkedIn is in the public, so they can already see that if they wanted, but I did specify that they don't contact anyone that is still at that client. They may ignore, but they could have done that anyway.

From my experience I imagine people will just ignore the LI messages anyway, and if I get the interview properly then I can supply proper references when they actually need them.

[TykeMerc]

You're right. LinkedIn is in the public, so they can already see that if they wanted, but I did specify that they don't contact anyone that is still at that client. They may ignore, but they could have done that anyway.

From my experience I imagine people will just ignore the LI messages anyway, and if I get the interview properly then I can supply proper references when they actually need them.

From LinkedIn they have a name, position and location, it takes no time at all to get a phone number and email details, you're being rather naive if you think that they would send a couple of messages on LI and drop it.

It's your responsibility to protect your LinkedIn contacts from the agents, it boggles me sometimes how people treat this so called "social media" and forget that it reveals far more than you would ever volunteer.

[gigahoe]

From LinkedIn they have a name, position and location, it takes no time at all to get a phone number and email details, you're being rather naive if you think that they would send a couple of messages on LI and drop it.

It's your responsibility to protect your LinkedIn contacts from the agents, it boggles me sometimes how people treat this so called "social media" and forget that it reveals far more than you would ever volunteer.

I've not volunteered any information which was not already freely available for anyone to view. All I've done is given my permission for them to do something they could have done without my knowledge anyway. You're right that this kind of network and profile leaves you open for nuisance calls (which I certainly get the odd few) but this is the price you pay for not having to do all of the leg work or constantly filling in recruitment forms etc.

[uk contractor]

Finally passed my security vetting today took almost a month & the amount of detail required was beyond ridiculous at least I am coming off the bench & getting a hefty banking salary for my troubles though

[Elliegirl]

Today:

Agency: 'Ok Elliegirl, that all sounds great. Now in order to submit you we'll need details of two referees.'
Me: 'Sorry, I never give up that information before securing an offer. My referees have been harrassed before and don't appreciate it.'
Agency: 'We have to have the information before we submit you. We can't go ahead without it.'
Me: 'Well, it's a dealbreaker then, because I'm not giving this information, sorry.'
Agency: 'Err...let me speak to my manager. Click...brrr.....'

5 minutes later:
'Hi Elliegirl, we think we'll be able to manage without the referees on this occasion. We'll submit your details to the client.'
Half an hour late:
'Hi Elliegirl, the client would like to see you for an interview.'

[Gumbo Robot]

Today:

Agency: 'Ok Elliegirl, that all sounds great. Now in order to submit you we'll need details of two referees.'
Me: 'Sorry, I never give up that information before securing an offer. My referees have been harrassed before and don't appreciate it.'
Agency: 'We have to have the information before we submit you. We can't go ahead without it.'
Me: 'Well, it's a dealbreaker then, because I'm not giving this information, sorry.'
Agency: 'Err...let me speak to my manager. Click...brrr.....'

5 minutes later:
'Hi Elliegirl, we think we'll be able to manage without the referees on this occasion. We'll submit your details to the client.'
Half an hour late:
'Hi Elliegirl, the client would like to see you for an interview.'

Good luck

[pauldee]

Today:

Agency: 'Ok Elliegirl, that all sounds great. Now in order to submit you we'll need details of two referees.'
Me: 'Sorry, I never give up that information before securing an offer. My referees have been harrassed before and don't appreciate it.'
Agency: 'We have to have the information before we submit you. We can't go ahead without it.'
Me: 'Well, it's a dealbreaker then, because I'm not giving this information, sorry.'
Agency: 'Err...let me speak to my manager. Click...brrr.....'

5 minutes later:
'Hi Elliegirl, we think we'll be able to manage without the referees on this occasion. We'll submit your details to the client.'
Half an hour late:
'Hi Elliegirl, the client would like to see you for an interview.'

Awesome. If we all respond like that they'll soon stop trying it on.

Seriously though, if you leave a contract and your former client starts getting cold calls from agents, it's pretty obvious what's happened and it doesn't look good for you.

[TykeMerc]

Awesome. If we all respond like that they'll soon stop trying it on.

Seriously though, if you leave a contract and your former client starts getting cold calls from agents, it's pretty obvious what's happened and it doesn't look good for you.

Quite apart from the fact you could never reach even a small percentage of contractors to arrange that, the reason they use the tactic so widely is so many people fall for it and they have no shame taking mug contractors for a ride.

I've been contracting via agencies for some 20 years now and the agency staff are all cut from the same cloth.

[Roger Mellie]

Today:

Agency: 'Ok Elliegirl, that all sounds great. Now in order to submit you we'll need details of two referees.'
Me: 'Sorry, I never give up that information before securing an offer. My referees have been harrassed before and don't appreciate it.'
Agency: 'We have to have the information before we submit you. We can't go ahead without it.'
Me: 'Well, it's a dealbreaker then, because I'm not giving this information, sorry.'
Agency: 'Err...let me speak to my manager. Click...brrr.....'

5 minutes later:
'Hi Elliegirl, we think we'll be able to manage without the referees on this occasion. We'll submit your details to the client.'
Half an hour late:
'Hi Elliegirl, the client would like to see you for an interview.'

Glad it worked out for you.

During my bench time, quite a lot of pimps called me and requested two references before they could put me forward. When I refused, quite a few of them simply slammed the phone down on me.

The worst of the bunch was Austin Fraser. Nothing but lies from a pimp there "just need two references to confirm your technical abilities". Then they spammed their clients with a partial copy of my CV, one of which went to a mate of mine who is an IT Manager. Cheeky gits.