Ridiculous Agency

**cojak** · 1 April 2012, 18:42

Since you've been a contractor some time you'll have guessed that there probably wasn't a client or a job.

There probably was a fishing expedition for your references, however.

**BolshieBastard** · 1 April 2012, 19:11

With many of the larger agencies merging, I've noticed there are lots of small, previously unheard of agencies now touting for business in the contracting market.

It seems a lot of these small agencies have little or nothing in the way of client databases so are attempting to milk contractors for this information.

I'd just refuse them and keep looking for roles elsewhere.

**nomadd** · 2 April 2012, 07:29

Originally posted by gregbuchanan10 View Post

Hi Guys,

I would like to just put this out there. I was contacted last week by an agency called Max20. Having been a contractor for quite some time I have come across my fair share of "rules" agencies work by. This, however, really took the biscuit. They refused to put me forward for a role because I wouldn't supply them with my passport and 2 references. This is before supplying the client with my CV. Some agencies I know try this but never enforce it as it isn't a legal requirement until a role is offered. I made the recruiter aware that I would submit this to several contracting boards as the attitude and language I got from them was atrocious. After all do you want your private details just floating around? Just a heads up and I hope people are as reluctant as I am to support these guys snooping around prior to putting you forward. Thanks. G

It's happening everywhere these days, not just in agency staff. You just have to learn to be continually vigilant and firmly say "no thanks" and move on.

For example, this weekend I was looking to buy something. Contacted a company on the web - via their broken "contact form" as they had no email. The form insisted on full name, home phone, mobile phone, and full address. I didn't fill all this in, as all I wanted was a price for what they were selling - which mysteriously wasn't on their site. Got a shirty email back saying they couldn't supply any info as I hadn't given them all of my full personal details. So you move on.

**pickod** · 2 April 2012, 08:15

Long time lurker here , prompted to finally correspond !!!!

I was contacted by this agency last week in relation to NHS roles. All seemed fine and above board until the asked me to fill in 2 documents.One the above mentioned 2 references + loads of un-necessary stuff in order for them to process my application ,but more worrying another to do with my health details including lots of words along the lines of 'staff' , 'employee' , 'employer'.

I phoned them straight away asking what this was all about and they said it was standard practice required in order to place people in the NHS ????

I told them that I was not staff , an employee nor would they be my employer so I had no need to fill them in , nor was it a legal requirement to provide health details for a job unless the role specifically required certain physical/mental necessities.

I eventually got a snotty voicemale saying no contractors had ever had a problem with these forms before so I should just fill them in !!

I did of course , 'politely' refuse.

**tractor** · 2 April 2012, 10:05

...

Many of the big, merged agents are now in-house, outsourced process providers. They simply do the donkey work HR used to do. Small and often tin-pot agents are becoming the resourcer layer for the giants so we are increasingly seeing 2nd and 3rd (or worse) tier arrangements. Given that each layer has its' own policies and rules and are largely risk averse box tickers, the model we have been used to for a couple of decades has become ridiculous.

My hope is that the recession that we are arguably still in will decimate the agent landscape and give business a fresh start at some point in the (near) future. It seems atm that there are more agents than roles or even contractors.

**Sausage Surprise** · 2 April 2012, 10:29

I did a gig with Max20 in 2007 for about 6 months and they were fine. In their defence I recently did an NHS gig for another agency and got the form filling crap mentioned on here that I didn't get previously. Maybe it's something that's just happened .

**mos** · 2 April 2012, 18:09

Originally posted by tractor View Post

Many of the big, merged agents are now in-house, outsourced process providers. They simply do the donkey work HR used to do.

My hope is that the recession that we are arguably still in will decimate the agent landscape and give business a fresh start at some point in the (near) future.

I personally prefer to deal with the mid sized agencies. Large internationals are very unpleasant and inflexible. They force candidates to consent to transfer of reference checks to India - this is the trend to watch.

But on the plus side payments are more timely.

**SueEllen** · 2 April 2012, 19:27

Originally posted by pickod View Post

Long time lurker here , prompted to finally correspond !!!!

I was contacted by this agency last week in relation to NHS roles. All seemed fine and above board until the asked me to fill in 2 documents.One the above mentioned 2 references + loads of un-necessary stuff in order for them to process my application ,but more worrying another to do with my health details including lots of words along the lines of 'staff' , 'employee' , 'employer'.

I phoned them straight away asking what this was all about and they said it was standard practice required in order to place people in the NHS ????

I told them that I was not staff , an employee nor would they be my employer so I had no need to fill them in , nor was it a legal requirement to provide health details for a job unless the role specifically required certain physical/mental necessities.

I eventually got a snotty voicemale saying no contractors had ever had a problem with these forms before so I should just fill them in !!

I did of course , 'politely' refuse.

You should report them either to the Department of Business or the Information Commissioner as why are they collecting personal details on people's health they have no legal requirement for?

**Darksider** · 2 April 2012, 21:19

For some reason, NHS staff seem to be getting a lot of attention lately. This is probably due to more sector merges and redundancies. Myself and a lot of the guys I'm working with at the moment (all ex-NHS) have gotten tonnes of calls the last 2 weeks fishing for information. I myself got one today from Venn trying to find out info.

Ridiculous Agency