Yawn.... this bench is bl00dy uncomfortable

[VectraMan]

I wish I was. I had a year where I just worked 5 - 10 days a month, it was heaven. Now Im working all the time, getting lots of money in but quality of life is poor.

I was doing 2 days a week for 5 months last year, and I still earned about the same as a permie. That was a good arrangement.

Just done 4 weeks back at previous client, having left for 6, but back on the bench again from Monday. Things seem a lot more positive now though; I have what I think are two strong possiblities that are waiting on agents and that's without putting any effort into looking.

[MrMark]

Blatant fishing is still going on, it seems. Got a call from "Tom at Ried", stating he had 2 or 3 opportunities - raised my radar straight away... however decided to play the straight bat. His first gambit was to "check" my current status - do I have any interviews/firm prospects in the offing, that may mean I drop out of being a candidate? Told him nothing going off whatsoever (even if I had 10 interviews lined up, best to give this answer I think). At which point the line went dead (I suspect he was being trained up by another agent). But, a couple of minutes later he called again, and claimed he knocked the lead out of his phone - still stating he had some roles to fill, but wanted to know what rate I wanted. Once I stated that of course, it depends on skills and location, once again he started to mumble before again the line went dead.
I think in future that I'll listen to agents who get straight to the point "we have a data cleansing role on xx database in location P at £££ per day - are you interested?". Otherwise they're just wasting everyone's time?

[VectraMan]

I had one like that yesterday. "I'm suprised we haven't dealt with you before as we have lots of clients in your area" (obviously a lie), and insisting I confirm that I had nothing else going on that might stop me accepting something. I've had calls like that before, and I can never quite decide if they're fishing for leads, or if they're going on the hard sell harrassing their contacts who have no intention of hiring anyone, on my behalf. I'm sure there's no real job they're recruiting for.

I did have one call for an actual job that sounded very promising, although the agent was a bit too interested in my previous client.

[The Agents View]

I had one like that yesterday. "I'm suprised we haven't dealt with you before as we have lots of clients in your area" (obviously a lie), and insisting I confirm that I had nothing else going on that might stop me accepting something. I've had calls like that before, and I can never quite decide if they're fishing for leads, or if they're going on the hard sell harrassing their contacts who have no intention of hiring anyone, on my behalf. I'm sure there's no real job they're recruiting for.

I did have one call for an actual job that sounded very promising, although the agent was a bit too interested in my previous client.

It's not unreasonable for an agent to ask whether you have other things in the pipeline which may stop them placing you - ultimately that would be inconvenient to them, the client and anyone else being considered.

Agents are always going to ask who the role is with - because knowledge is power in this job, however, you don't have to / shouldn't tell them - Just do what we do - put it in a way which is not obvious - "I have an interview for a SA role in London with an engineering company" - Simples.

Personally I need to know what could get in the way - and if you tell me the client because of the way I ask the question, It's just a bonus really....

[Zippy]

I just say I'm pursuing opportunities but there is nothing firm as yet. Is your client looking to move quickly?

[TykeMerc]

I just say I'm pursuing opportunities but there is nothing firm as yet. Is your client looking to move quickly?

Much the same here, if the agent has something real rather than one of the comical vapourware "roles" they invent on a fishing trip then they will get to the point fairly quickly.

[PropertyCrashUK]

I had a boy ring me up last week saying he had just been reading my CV and wanted to know what my last contract was and what I did.

I told him he should learn to read before he tried reading CVs and put the phone down.

I don't have time for those muppets.

[Boo]

Agents are always going to ask who the role is with - because knowledge is power in this job, however, you don't have to / shouldn't tell them - Just do what we do - put it in a way which is not obvious - "I have an interview for a SA role in London with an engineering company"

More self-serving Tulipe from the resident leech. The correct answer to the question is : "No".

Boo

[lilelvis2000]

I'm not really on the bench..but I've hardly had any work in the past year. I think total revenue will be luckly to get into double digits.

And the work I do get now is small jobs of about a week or less and very spread out. Nothing really long term. Clients are just averse to spend money these days. Even my banking clients are asking for discounts!

I'm beginning to get quite depressed everytime I see the bank balance dwindling. I think I should stop opening them.

[Wanderer]

Just do what we do - put it in a way which is not obvious - "I have an interview for a SA role in London with an engineering company" - Simples.

It always starts 20 questions when you say something like that.

As boo says, the correct answer is "No". Move along to the next question.