Separating real and fake calls....

[SueEllen]

Never answer the phone unless you know the agent. If its a contract they will leave a message, a fishing exercise and they'll move on to the next person on their list.

Not true. It's better to pick up the phone and be blunt with them if they are talking rubbish or fishing.

I picked up the phone to the agent, within 2 hours had an interview and within 3 hours had the contract. When I met the agent later she explained to me she had just been ringing everyone with one of the particular skills I had she could find on one of the job boards.

Other contracts I've missed out due to not being available to answer the call at the time and get back through to the agent very quickly,

[eek]

Other contracts I've missed out due to not being available to answer the call at the time and get back through to the agent very quickly,

Which ignores my point I use the answer phone to filter calls. You then return the important calls immediately and ensure you're back at the top of the list.

[SueEllen]

Which ignores my point I use the answer phone to filter calls. You then return the important calls immediately and ensure you're back at the top of the list.

Unfortunately when the agent is on the phone to the next person who picks up it makes no difference.

The best thing to do is block unknown numbers. Agents who are on fishing trips almost always hide their number.

[Dominic Connor]

Never answer the phone unless you know the agent. If its a contract they will leave a message, a fishing exercise and they'll move on to the next person on their list.

Is this some sort of tactic to reduce competition ?
Else that advice is East Ham, one stop short of Barking.


>The best thing to do is block unknown numbers
I've only been on CUK for a short while, this is the most stupid piece of advice I've so far seen.

I tend to use my mobile for most calls without hiding my number, so this crass moronicity won't affect me much.
But I expect better in a forum for technical people.

The way many corporate switchboards are set up is to withhold, this is laziness, but not usually an attempt to hide.
Because it's more work than they can be bothered to do, a switchboard will default to giving out the main number, so calling back will get you an operator who doesn't have a clue who to connect you to.

[socialworker]

It's been my experience that p*mps with REAL contracts will open the call with a quick, "Hi how ya doing?", wait for your answer, and dive into the specifics of the spec fast. Ask you a quick couple of questions about your cv and boof, you're cv's off.

Anything more, or anything more than 5 minutes yakking, they're a fake.

What do you lot reckon?

Im not in the IT field so for what it's worth, I think like others here that it is dangerous to be too dogmatic. I had an agent contact me about a year ago, wanted a very long conversation, what was I looking for etc etc, which I thought was a bit OTT at the time. She was pumping for market info but she has stayed in touch ever since, and has just got me a pretty nice role. They need good candidates to put forward so I wouldnt be too quick to brush them off, though obviously if it is just the "give me two references" schtick you can always say you dont give references until you are offered a role. If they are genuine then they would probably accept that.

[eek]

Is this some sort of tactic to reduce competition ?
Else that advice is East Ham, one stop short of Barking.


>The best thing to do is block unknown numbers
I've only been on CUK for a short while, this is the most stupid piece of advice I've so far seen.

I tend to use my mobile for most calls without hiding my number, so this crass moronicity won't affect me much.
But I expect better in a forum for technical people.

The way many corporate switchboards are set up is to withhold, this is laziness, but not usually an attempt to hide.
Because it's more work than they can be bothered to do, a switchboard will default to giving out the main number, so calling back will get you an operator who doesn't have a clue who to connect you to.

So as a pimp you don't leave messages and ignore people who don't immediately answer your calls? That seems an awfully strange thing for agents to admit to.

[SussexSeagull]

My last contract happened so quickly the agent forgot to ask me for two references until after the contracts were signed.

For once I was quite happy to indulge them

[Gym beast]

Speaking as someone who makes the calls, I think that's a crap filter.

I can see why you think that because of the way some firms operate, but you'll miss out on assignments where the recruiter is actually doing some filtering, these can often be the better ones.

Then, as someone who makes the calls, what constitutes a better filter? And I DO need a better one, as I've taken at least 5-10 fishing calls for every contract I've gotten.

[mos]

Speaking as someone who makes the calls, I think that's a crap filter.

I can see why you think that because of the way some firms operate, but you'll miss out on assignments where the recruiter is actually doing some filtering, these can often be the better ones.

-1.

If you were a big fish who can actually secure top contract then you would have known all good players damn well. Its only green newbies or fishers who want to talk as long as possible, which gives them the opportunity to 'milk' candidate for the information.

The risk/reward does not calculate.

(undoubtedly you are a big fish, but I cannot agree with you on that one)

[GillsMan]

The best thing to do is block unknown numbers. Agents who are on fishing trips almost always hide their number.

Can't agree with that tbf. A few of my clients (including law firms) block their number for whatever reason. And the agent who got me my last contracting gig (the highest daily rate I'd ever gotten through contracting) always called from a withheld number. While you're right that agents on fishing trips almost always hide their number, withheld number calls can also be from a variety of different people.

I don't see what the issue is with agents fishing anyway. Is the OP so busy that he can't take 15 minutes out of his day to answer a potential sales call? I'd hate to be so busy that I was screwing about a lost 15 minutes. I have multiple clients on the go, lots of meetings every day and still get the occasional fishing call. If I'm very busy and I can see it's just a waste of my time, I just cut the call short. Problem solved, surely?