Why don't the agents reply? I mean come on ... !

[Wanderer]

if thats the case then an agent will never ask me to reduce my rate ..correct? And he will always try to get the guy with £300/day be successful over £150/day. True?

The reality is that the agent will supply the person that the client tells him to supply.

Then they will pay the worker what the agent pays them, minus their commission. Sometimes the client will tell the agent how much to pay the worker, other times they leave it up to the agent and the agent pays the worker whatever they think they can get away with. If they can reduce your rate to increase theirs then they will.

Another big clue is when they ask "and how have you been finding the market?..."

"I've just started looking, you are the first agency that has come up with an interesting job". Agency thinks, "Mmm, fresh meat!"

[The Agents View]

They take a percentage.

They only take a fixed amount if it's a permanent position. However even that can be a percentage of the salary.

Technically, we split the money - typically 85% -15%.

The second part is not true - it depends on the client - certain arrangements are in place which mean we can only take a fixed split - others are more fluid - Of course our job is to make as much money out of each placement as possible, but it's also to make sure that works for all parties - ultimately, fleecing your clients is bad for long term business relationships - which in this market are absolutely critical......

Permanent placements are generally a fixed percentage - but those types of placements are always negotiable, up to about 22% (any more and you're into search and select terriotory).

[SimonMac]

Glad I found this thread, just started down the contracting route (close to 10 years experience in the permmie world) and am already picking up certain things from agents that now make sense after reading this. I've been approached by a few people for specific roles, which had full job descriptions etc so I tend to think if someone is contacting me with solid info its more than likely to be genuine.

All I can say is good luck to the OP.

[neebz]

Good Luck SimonMac.

I've so far undersood the following things in my 1 month experience:

1. 70% of the jobs are fake.
2. If agents asks for references straight away, there is a mighty chance it is a fake.
3. Try adding your resume in agents websites directly. I have seen that they first contact you and then later put it on a jobsite.
4. Detail your experience in your resume along with job role. Agents make decision based on the position candidate held previously in companies.
5. Explain in years how many years you have in each skill. I placed the experince + skill on top of the resume and pushed everything (including education and projects) down.
6. State clearly on the top of resume when you are available. And whether you are willing to relocate (if the position is based pretty far from your place).
7. Just in case, if you are willing to work for any position for less than what they are offering on the ad, then do pursue them by calling. Sometimes agent think the candidate with such low rate is fake (happened to me :P).