Contract negotiation

[yetanotherbob]

As soon as the agent realises i'm going to negotiate and not take stupid terms lying down, the trail goes cold.

At least two agents have asked me to agree to their t&c *before* any interview.
They change tone if I mention I'd need the draft contract at least 5 days before start date so I can review it properly.

Their tactic is to try and get you to agree to things quickly.

[SimonMac]

You can agree verbally to anything, when they finally offer you the contract to sign negotiate it, nothing is agreed until its signed.

[eek]

As soon as the agent realises i'm going to negotiate and not take stupid terms lying down, the trail goes cold.

At least two agents have asked me to agree to their t&c *before* any interview.
They change tone if I mention I'd need the draft contract at least 5 days before start date so I can review it properly.

Their tactic is to try and get you to agree to things quickly.

No they want someone in the door quickly. As soon as you start looking awkward they move on to the next person on the list.

There is a time and a place to be awkward and that is when you are the candidate the client wants. Up to that point you are 100% replaceable in the agents eyes.

[Scoobos]

I'd echo what eek says.

Generally, I dont even get all my contracts reviewed anymore; much to the annoyance of some on this forum.

If the contract does look dodgy though (far from the PCG standard example in my case) then wait until you have the agent on the hook.

If the agent gets dodgy I just contact the client direct and apologise for the delay and explain that we're having admin problems - everyone has waited for me when needed.

I think I've had 3 contracts reviewed out of my last 8.

[Wanderer]

As soon as the agent realises i'm going to negotiate and not take stupid terms lying down, the trail goes cold.
At least two agents have asked me to agree to their t&c *before* any interview.

I think that one of the requirements of the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations is that they agree terms with you up front. Of course they will only comply with that law if they think it is in their best interests to do so and in this case it may help them in their negotiating position by force their T&Cs on you early in the process.

I can see that if they are offering you T&Cs and you won't accept them before an interview then they will be tempted to just throw your CV in the bin. It's not exactly showing good faith but I guess there is nothing to stop you agreeing to their T&Cs up front and then negotiating with the agent once you have an offer from a client.

If they refuse to negotiate on T&Cs once you have an offer from a client then you can always up the heat by telling the agent you minded to reject the offer and follow up with a "courtesy call" to the client to let them know why you turned down the job.

[Mose]

You can agree verbally to anything, when they finally offer you the contract to sign negotiate it, nothing is agreed until its signed.

this really. Be polite and profesional through the interview process, but play your cards close to your chest. Once an offer is made and you have a better idea on the conditions it is the proper time to firmly negotiate payment and additional conditions.

[SueEllen]

Their tactic is to try and get you to agree to things quickly.

There are ways of agreeing and some how dropping into the conversation that you aren't going to agree to a particular term or a particular term is odd.

Most people whether they are agents or not, hear what they want to.

However as the others said don't say anything clearly and don't mention getting the contract reviewed until the client definitely wants you.

BTW it shouldn't take 5 days to get the contract reviewed unless it's a clear mess.

[kingcook]

There are ways of agreeing and some how dropping into the conversation that you aren't going to agree to a particular term or a particular term is odd.

^^ This ^^

As per what other people have said here, I always drop in the words "subject to contract" at the end of the acceptance line.

The agent never hears that bit though and just replies, "marvelous!!"