New to contracting - Been given a preferred supplier list... help me choose?

[northernladuk]

1) Are you sure you are cut out for this?

2) Having a list that long of suppliers it's hardly any wonder gov't is ****ed.

3) I'd go for Green Park Interim and Executive Limited cause it's got the word Executive in it...

4) Have you read up on the new(ish) rules about contracting to the Public Sector?

[northernladuk]

I'm currently using Lorien Resourcing, no problems pay on time.

How did you get on with the Opt out/in situation with them?

[misterpingu]

1) Are you sure you are cut out for this?

2) Having a list that long of suppliers it's hardly any wonder gov't is ****ed.

3) I'd go for Green Park Interim and Executive Limited cause it's got the word Executive in it...

4) Have you read up on the new(ish) rules about contracting to the Public Sector?

1)Awww thank you for your concern for my well-being..... but I've spent a no. of years working for a big consultancy and this is a picnic compared to the malarky going on there!
2) Agreed!
3) Thanks - I'll look into it further.
4) Yep - I have read up - it's all a pain in the bum but in the first instance going umbrella should shelter me from any Gary Barlow type problems but it sounds like getting outside IR35 is going to be hard. Even if I can't manage that -this gig is round the corner from my house so it's pretty convenient , everything else would require me to commute to the big smoke for an hour.

[GlenW]

How did you get on with the Opt out/in situation with them?

No bother, I got an email assuming I would opt out. I replied saying I wouldn't. Got a phone call saying this was a problem, I said I didn't want the contract then. They said hang on I need to check, came back saying no bother don't opt out.

[northernladuk]

1)Awww thank you for your concern for my well-being..... but I've spent a no. of years working for a big consultancy and this is a picnic compared to the malarky going on there!

Am talking about being a contractor, not the actual work. Contracting is about finding the work running the business. Doing the work when at the client is an aside IMO.

[northernladuk]

No bother, I got an email assuming I would opt out. I replied saying I wouldn't. Got a phone call saying this was a problem, I said I didn't want the contract then. They said hang on I need to check, came back saying no bother don't opt out.

Blimey, they have changed their tune then. Nice going. I assume they asked you all this after they had introduced you but eitherway, that isn't what I expected.

[northernladuk]

When you say pick one to register with, at what stage are you? Pick one to be put forward by for roles or you have been interviewed/offered a role already and just following process by picking one?

[TheFaQQer]

When you say pick one to register with, at what stage are you? Pick one to be put forward by for roles or you have been interviewed/offered a role already and just following process by picking one?

When I did some public sector stuff a good few years back, the recruitment process went something like this...

1. Contact in government department asked if I was interested in a role
2. Met face-to-face and had a chat about the role
3. Department advertised the role and asked me to apply
4. Contact gave me a lit of agencies that I could use
5. I selected agency, rang them, and told them to put me forwards for the role
6. Department received my CV along with others and reviewed them
7. Department invited me and others for face-to-face interview
8. Formal interview, during which I was asked technical questions by someone I trained in the technology he was interviewing me about
9. Department offered the role at a slightly lower rate than I'd pitched myself at
10. Agency and I haggled commission and agreed a rate
11. Started work

Simple process, really - I guess that the OP is somewhere in the middle if they are only choosing an agency at this stage.

[misterpingu]

When you say pick one to register with, at what stage are you? Pick one to be put forward by for roles or you have been interviewed/offered a role already and just following process by picking one?

The client has asked for me specifically as it's with folk I used to work with at my consultancy- the job is mine baring the paperwork. So I didn't go in via an agent, but I do have to pick one as that's the only way they can contract under the framework - which allows them to get me specifically as a "nominated worker". (as it's govt- any deviation from process adds decades).

I'm tempted to just say "Hays" as they are big, seem generally ok and unlikely to disappear in a puff of smoke - does that make any sense?

[northernladuk]

The client has asked for me specifically as it's with folk I used to work with at my consultancy- the job is mine baring the paperwork. So I didn't go in via an agent, but I do have to pick one as that's the only way they can contract under the framework - which allows them to get me specifically as a "nominated worker". (as it's govt- any deviation from process adds decades).

I'm tempted to just say "Hays" as they are big, seem generally ok and unlikely to disappear in a puff of smoke - does that make any sense?

Any chance of getting a whiff of the rate before the agents? Would just be a matter of finding one that took the lowest cut (with a balance of size of company for the reason you mentioned above as well of course)