Why do employers use recruitment agencies?

[TheOmegaMan]

Agents are the prostitutes of the employment industry. Sure they satisfy a demand, but they are fakers, there is no lasting relationship. They just lie and moan and wriggle and wrangle, but at the end of the day, they just screw people for money.

[DodgyAgent]

Agents are the prostitutes of the employment industry. Sure they satisfy a demand, but they are fakers, there is no lasting relationship. They just lie and moan and wriggle and wrangle, but at the end of the day, they just screw people for money.

No. That's the whores they employ you are talking about

[DodgyAgent]

You appear to enjoy telling us that. But if UK IT contracting were to completely crash, where would that leave agencies? How reliant are you guys on the income from contractors?

We can go and flog second hand cars whereas some of you may struggle to find a job that requires no communication skills

[thunderlizard]

a job that requires no communication skills

Oi! I'd like to see you take somebody's "umm, these figures are good but can we have, I dunno, some kind of graph or something?" and communicate that into terms that a box of transistors can unambiguously understand.
Bulltulipting skills maybe

[Brussels Slumdog]

Outsourcing of agencies

You appear to enjoy telling us that. But if UK IT contracting were to completely crash, where would that leave agencies? How reliant are you guys on the income from contractors?

Indeed. Whether I use an outsourced agent or a European based agent is irrelevant. My umbrella company provides me with a facturing service so I have always been paid within 30 days. All the client requires from you is the administration function of searching a database for applicants.

There will still be a need for agents speaking foreign languages roles in Europe but English speaking roles can be done offshore for lower margins.
There is still a lot of IT work in Europe that cannot be done off shore.

[DodgyAgent]

Oi! I'd like to see you take somebody's "umm, these figures are good but can we have, I dunno, some kind of graph or something?" and communicate that into terms that a box of transistors can unambiguously understand.
Bulltulipting skills maybe

A few choice buzzwords is all we need!

[DodgyAgent]

Indeed. Whether I use an outsourced agent or a European based agent is irrelevant. My umbrella company provides me with a facturing service so I have always been paid within 30 days. All the client requires from you is the administration function of searching a database for applicants.

There will still be a need for agents speaking foreign languages roles in Europe but English speaking roles can be done offshore for lower margins.
There is still a lot of IT work in Europe that cannot be done off shore.

I am sorry, but I dont live in your "virtual world" of the internet. Offshoring is for back office jobs that require little emotional interrraction between people. Just as people are frustrated with having to deal with offshore call centres for banking they will not want to negotiate rates and availabilty dates with people who have little or no understanding of the dynamics of procuring a contractor or conversly landing a contract.

I know of a number of clients who use India to manage their hiring processes but it requires a bit of nous (contractor agent and client alike) to pick the candidates and negotiate the contract.

have you ever met anyone by the way?

[pzz76077]

Agents can be a bit like insurance policies, and you never know how valuable they are until you need them. Ask this guy if you dont believe me: http://forums.contractoruk.com/busin...d=1#post989629

IMV, using an agent as a credit buffer would be the ONLY service that I would ever use one for again.

How much a week would you be prepared to pay your agent to make sure you got paid regularly and didn't loose 3-6 months pay?? What would that loss mean to your life??

If you were an agent what would be the cost of the risk that you would need to incorporate into the commission you took from a contract for placing a contractor in a co that had a known poor payment history, knowing that you may not get paid for months on end but would still have to shell out for the contractor that spent half his time winging about the contract he just signed??

PZZ

[Brussels Slumdog]

I am sorry, but I dont live in your "virtual world" of the internet. Offshoring is for back office jobs that require little emotional interrraction between people. Just as people are frustrated with having to deal with offshore call centres for banking they will not want to negotiate rates and availabilty dates with people who have little or no understanding of the dynamics of procuring a contractor or conversly landing a contract.

I know of a number of clients who use India to manage their hiring processes but it requires a bit of nous (contractor agent and client alike) to pick the candidates and negotiate the contract.

have you ever met anyone by the way?

A European outsourcing department yes. Offshore outsoucing not yet.
Yes I am frustrated with having to deal with offshore call centres for banking but I have to live with it so contractors will have to live with Offshore outsoucing

[DodgyAgent]

A European outsourcing department yes. Offshore outsoucing not yet.
Yes I am frustrated with having to deal with offshore call centres for banking but I have to live with it so contractors will have to live with Offshore outsoucing

It works both ways. When markets are stronger for contractors, are line managers going to simply settle for sending job specs to India and then rely upon faceless people who know and understand little about the UK contractor market to secure the people with the skills they need? Often the contractor market exists because certain skills are very hard to secure and therefore quite a bit of persuading and understanding needs to happen in order to secure the contractor with the right skills.