Inspired Recruitment - experiences

[pmeswani]

Do you think that every contractor has a presence on the job boards?

I don't know. But there again, answering the question without any proof would be stupid. However, I would expect contractors to keep their eyes on these job boards for the simple purpose of making themselves marketable.

Do you think that they all know how to get themselves found through the search facilities?

Who are you referring to here, employers or contractors? To be honest, I could ask the same question about agencies. I have been approached by agencies for roles that I am nowhere qualified to do. No doubt you will try and discredit this point and claim to be perfect in every way.

Do you think those facilities always work?

And what does that say about the keyword choices used by agencies?

Don't get me wrong, the CV boards have their place - it's just not really an area that an established, decent agent would use to source people - alot of the time it's the benched, unreliable and uninspiring contractors on there, and to be honest, they're not the contractors you want to work with if you're charging for a premium service - it's the ones who actually make the difference.

The above might just be my market place - I'm sure that you can find a number of good, non-busy developers, architects, technical specialists right now - just not the type of change and delivery specialists I work with.

TAV

Well, you are entitled to your opinion, and it is just that. Some contractors are benched in the current climate due to lack of demand, and not because they are useless. However, I'll be glad not to use your services, especially as you are spending a lot of time thinking of arguments to discredit us and your clients.

[poopscoop]

I don't know. But there again, answering the question without any proof would be stupid. However, I would expect contractors to keep their eyes on these job boards for the simple purpose of making themselves marketable.



Who are you referring to here, employers or contractors? To be honest, I could ask the same question about agencies. I have been approached by agencies for roles that I am nowhere qualified to do. No doubt you will try and discredit this point and claim to be perfect in every way.



And what does that say about the keyword choices used by agencies?



Well, you are entitled to your opinion, and it is just that. Some contractors are benched in the current climate due to lack of demand, and not because they are useless. However, I'll be glad not to use your services, especially as you are spending a lot of time thinking of arguments to discredit us and your clients.

Is that you Prashant from LMU?

[realityhack]

I'm not sure who's winding up who, but this happens like clockwork around here.

I have a good friend who operates in a v similar way to TAV, and holds the same views. He (really does) put in this kind of effort to place the right candidate, and accordingly enjoys good ongoing relationships with contractors and clients alike.

So, TAV's POV is entirely plausible, and credible, to me.

[DodgyAgent]

Times are clearly tough for some - I don't even pick up the phone for less than a 22% MARGIN - not markup. I do however do a whole lot more than "just place a body" to justify that.

A success story for you all. Was recommended to meet a contractor about a month ago - when I met with her, I was blown away by her story, and her clear ability. Having spent two hours chatting about what was what, I had a fairly good understanding of what she does, how she does it, her strengths, weaknesses, likes, dislikes and even the name of her dog!

This then moved to a full blown campaign of identifying target companies, speaking to key stakeholders to establish interest and collating an approach by email for those I struggled to contact. As a result of this, found her two opportunities - one of which she has been offered - the other she will be offered.

Now whilst I know that my 22% margin is comparatively high - the investment in this person, as well as at the client end to MAKE SURE she's the right person, referencing, background checking, strength of my network etc is what CLIENTS pay the margin for (you guys really should stop thinking that agencies are taking your money - they're actually being paid by the client).

Your thoughts on whether others are doing this for you would be appreciated, as I believe that when this is successful, it's the ONLY way recruitment should be done!!

Cheers
TAV

Are you related to Nans Kristian Andersen by any chance?

[The Agents View]

Are you related to Nans Kristian Andersen by any chance?

Do you mean Hans Christian Anderson?

If so - no - I just want to oust the dodgy agents of this world from the recruitment industry - If every contractor then expects this level of service from their agency, then ultimately you'll go bust, and I'll still be here

Not that I hate dodgy agents or anything - just the ones who take the business that I want, and then don't deliver on it properly.

[DodgyAgent]

Do you mean Hans Christian Anderson?

If so - no - I just want to oust the dodgy agents of this world from the recruitment industry - If every contractor then expects this level of service from their agency, then ultimately you'll go bust, and I'll still be here

Not that I hate dodgy agents or anything - just the ones who take the business that I want, and then don't deliver on it properly.

You are full of shi**, any agent worth his salt would not be spending hours on this board trying to convince everyone how good he is.

[The Agents View]

You are full of shi**, any agent worth his salt would not be spending hours on this board trying to convince everyone how good he is.

Posts: 4,940

[skwdenyer]

I was a permanent consultant a lot of years ago. I'm not currently in that market. Since then I've run several "real" businesses.

To those contractors who begrudge agents' fees, instead try to work out how much it would cost to have an in-house sales capability for your skills. Or, indeed, how much it would cost to outsource your sales capability to a third-party sales operation.

Or, perhaps put another way, if you'd like to do it yourself, how many non-productive days would you have to spend each year to line up contracts and keep in touch with enough contacts to allow that to happen?

The key thing, I believe, is transparency. You should have a relationship with your agent whereby you both agree what the total selling price to the client should be. I believe agents should charge contractors, not clients, but the law does not allow this - which is partly why the industry is so poor. If TAV can secure better, and better-paying, contracts at 22% mark-up, then that is fine. But you, the contractor, ought to be able to say "I think the total sale price is too high, I may lose this contract, let's reduce the fee".

I don't believe that agents are, per se, a sign of an inefficient marketplace, any more than it is a sign of weakness for Red Bull to be sold through retailers rather than online. There are a great many inefficiencies in the system - not least contractors hawking their CVs to any agent with a pulse, causing agents to waste time (which must be paid-for out of margin) talking about roles which the contractor is already talking to somebody else about.

Overall, I much prefer TAV's approach; so long as he/she can deliver the goods, then this approach is much closer to the "normal" business model of "here's the product [me]: sell it".

What does surprise me, however, is that, with so much competition in the agent market, and so few contractors finding or establishing "new ways" to find work, that there is so much bad feeling around.

So, rather than sniping at TAV, how about something constructive? Without vitriol or spite, can you (dear reader) list those things they dislike about agents? And also those things you do like? Let's see if we can find some common ground and maybe, just maybe, the current economic climate might provide an opportunity for something to be done about it.

[BlightyBoy]

I've worked with Inspired, and have to say that I have had a good experience with them in the past.

11% margin is very good, and what your agent told you about "borrowing" the money for payrolling the contractors is correct. A good percentage of that 11% will be going straight to the bank as interest on overdraft.

I once had a role with Inspired where they were able to acheive below 11% margin by getting the client to agree to a higher rate on a second contractor, and reclaim the difference on that, so very accomodating (if you know who to talk to).

My only criticism would be that they don't take the subbies out for beer often enough!

[skwdenyer]

11% margin is very good, and what your agent told you about "borrowing" the money for payrolling the contractors is correct. A good percentage of that 11% will be going straight to the bank as interest on overdraft.

My only criticism would be that they don't take the subbies out for beer often enough!

For those who don't get the joke, the clue to the second might be in the first Back "in the day", some of the contractors' parties were legendary, for people like Best People and so on. But then again, at 20-25%, they could afford to be. It is surprising, but often those charging the smaller margins make the most profit, simply because they don't spend so much on beer