Agency asking for proof to validate "career break"

[Another Dodgy Agent]

Tell them to go f*** themselves.

Your time, your business. They're just a conduit for money.

I am quoting you but this is really aimed at the majority of posters on this thread...has it ever occurred to you that the reason the agent is asking is because the end client is asking...?

Nah, didn't think that would occur to you folks.

Agents, so evil aren't they...Doh!

[TheBigYinJames]

I am quoting you but this is really aimed at the majority of posters on this thread...has it ever occurred to you that the reason the agent is asking is because the end client is asking...?

Nah, didn't think that would occur to you folks.

Agents, so evil aren't they...Doh!

No, just too stupid and/or greedy to tell the client "that's not really any of your business, is it?" and just slavishly repeat it to the contractor without an ounce of apology or irony. Remember, as an agent you are working for the client, so to us contractors, we don't care if it's them or you asking - you are an agent for them, so you ask the question, it's you who is asking the question.

[Another Dodgy Agent]

No, just too stupid and/or greedy to tell the client "that's not really any of your business, is it?" and just slavishly repeat it to the contractor without an ounce of apology or irony. Remember, as an agent you are working for the client, so to us contractors, we don't care if it's them or you asking - you are an agent for them, so you ask the question, it's you who is asking the question.

Oh absolutely I am stupid for wanting to know what a candidate has been up to for the last x months. Apology????? What am I apologising for??? Remember as a contractor you are working on site for OUR client, you are contracting on that site so any checks should be sufficient to discuss...oh I know we will just let you wander on site with no checks, yeah that would be the bright thing to do.

You matey must be warm, hairy and friendly!

[tim123]

I am quoting you but this is really aimed at the majority of posters on this thread...has it ever occurred to you that the reason the agent is asking is because the end client is asking...?

Nah, didn't think that would occur to you folks.

Agents, so evil aren't they...Doh!

Because clients don't ask for "documentary proof" before interview.

They have better things to do with their time than enter into a formal vetting process for someone that they haven't (yet) decided to hire.

tim

[tim123]

Oh absolutely I am stupid for wanting to know what a candidate has been up to for the last x months.

No, of course not.

But asking for immigration stamps, in a world where 99.9% of visitors to countries don't receive them, is plain ridiculous.

tim

[SueEllen]

Oh absolutely I am stupid for wanting to know what a candidate has been up to for the last x months.

Everyone I know with close dead relatives including myself lies.

If someone has someone close to them die if you want to know if they are telling the truth ask them one sympathetic sounding question and listen making sympathetic noises. You will then find you have trouble shutting them up due to the fact people in this country don't like listening to people who have suffered loss.

[TheBigYinJames]

Oh absolutely I am stupid for wanting to know what a candidate has been up to for the last x months.

If you do want to know, that's fair enough. Stupidly repeating a stupid question from your client without engaging brain in the middle and then getting arsey when the contractor gives you a quite valid "tulip off" is not on. If you are merely relaying the question, then why are you getting upset at the answer?

Apology????? What am I apologising for???

The stupidity of the client if it's him asking, or your own, if you know it's stupid but ask it anyway without saying you're merely relaying the question not asking it yourself.

Remember as a contractor you are working on site for OUR client, you are contracting on that site so any checks should be sufficient to discuss...oh I know we will just let you wander on site with no checks, yeah that would be the bright thing to do.

I do take issue with this. I can't stand agents who think they are "running a team" on their client site. Your status as an agent is one of introduction. If me wandering about the client site without checks is OK by the client, then it's nothing to do with the agent. Agents do tulip all checks in general, even though they may sell such confidence to the end client. The only checks worth doing are security and criminal checks, and they are always done by the end client, no agent involved.

You matey must be warm, hairy and friendly!

And don't you ever forget it.

[Gonzo]

I do take issue with this. I can't stand agents who think they are "running a team" on their client site. Your status as an agent is one of introduction.

I think that some agents actually do take a lot of care over who they introduce to the client because they are thinking in the long term and they want to be the only agent approached in the future by their contact at the client.

We have all dealt with the "throw enough mud and see if any of it sticks" type agents, but it is not true that they are all like that and the ones that aren't are good to have on side.

Ewwww. Sticking up for Pimps I will just go and check to see if hell has frozen over.

[TheBigYinJames]

I think that some agents actually do take a lot of care over who they introduce to the client because they are thinking in the long term and they want to be the only agent approached in the future by their contact at the client.

I'm not saying some don't, most of them understand their role in the proceedings and once the contract is set up, keep the tulip out of the day-to-day running of the work. The client is the agent's client only for the purposes of introduction - once I've worked there for 6 months or a year, the relationship is one of contractor-client, the agent is only there out of historical contractual arrangement. Most of them understand that, thankfully, and keep their heads down and their cheques cashed while they get on with introductions elsewhere.

Back to this thread, if the client asks an agent to verify a gap in someone's CV, it's the agent's professional duty to inform the contractor that is a requirement from the end client, and not some whim of the agency. We should all be allowed to judge agencies on the amount (or lack of) needless hoops they put in between you and the client, and trying to blur this by making the claim that if the agency asks it must always be the client who is asking is dishonest. The "I'll need 2 references before the interview" is a prime example of where agents will lie through their teeth in the name of what their client wants.

So excuse me if I fail to take what agents say without a large grain of salt. You should always make it clear and be honest which requirements are from the client and which aren't. We find out anyway, once we're more pally with the client than you'll ever be.

ADA is an agent, so has experience of the detailed working practises of exactly ONE agent. I have worked in this game for 15 years, and have known hundreds of agents and the way they work. Sorry if this fact irks ADA, but this inherently makes my observations about how agents behave more relevant than his.

[BrilloPad]

I am quoting you but this is really aimed at the majority of posters on this thread...has it ever occurred to you that the reason the agent is asking is because the end client is asking...?

Nah, didn't think that would occur to you folks.

Agents, so evil aren't they...Doh!

This post reminds me I must go to www.agentuk.com to post some total nonsense.