Recruitment Agents...

[alreadypacked]

Thanks, but wasn't really the question I asked. I was wanting to know the ramifications of going direct.

Several issues:
The company may have a number of prefered suppliers i.e. they don't deal directly with contractors.
The company may have a policy on a limited number of CV per supplier i.e. they can only send the best 5 CV.
It's Christmas, your CV is in some ones in box they have not opened it yet.
The role is for next years budget and they have not got final approval yet.
The company didn't put your name in the short list for interview, wait and see you might get in on the second round of interviews.
Maybe many more reasons.

Most agents, will not call you or take a call from you, unless they need you for something (Interview, referance etc.)

Welcome to contracting
HTH

[danjericho]

Not to be big headed, but I was a 100% match for the role. The role had been advertised at £xx but then the agent tried to back track and said, "Well actually they are only offering £x". As I went in at the high end of the budget they might not have put me over as obviously that reduces the agents cut.

[tractor]

...

Not to be big headed, but I was a 100% match for the role. The role had been advertised at £xx but then the agent tried to back track and said, "Well actually they are only offering £x". As I went in at the high end of the budget they might not have put me over as obviously that reduces the agents cut.

I am sure that you think you were but the client may have thought differently. Equally, it is more likely they put someone in cheaper than you because they had others who were good matches.
The best thing you could do is to email the agent and tell them that their window for representation has now closed and you withdraw your permission. Then, if you can find another agent to represent you on the role, go right ahead.

[alreadypacked]

Not to be big headed, but I was a 100% match for the role. The role had been advertised at £xx but then the agent tried to back track and said, "Well actually they are only offering £x". As I went in at the high end of the budget they might not have put me over as obviously that reduces the agents cut.

Let me translate that for you.

100% match for the role = random set of job specs. from the company, or random set of job specs. from the agent based on a quick call from the hiring manager.

The role had been advertised at £xx = Agent it's Christmas, I'll put it in at a high rate, so I get enough CV to send to the client.

they are only offering £x = Now I have enough CV, this is the rate I will make the most profit on.

You need to decide who you are, what your skill set is, and what is the rate range you are prepared to work for.

The rest is just backround noise, get used to it.

[jmo21]

Not to be big headed, but I was a 100% match for the role. The role had been advertised at £xx but then the agent tried to back track and said, "Well actually they are only offering £x". As I went in at the high end of the budget they might not have put me over as obviously that reduces the agents cut.

Here are some of things to think about that probably get in the way of the fact you are "100% match for the role":

- Many agents state high upper limits to attract lots of applications. (naughty agents)
- Many agents will happily push the candidates they can get a better margin from. (evil agents, but this is business)
- Many candidates lie on their CV's and may look better than you on paper (bad candidate, useless agent for not weeding them out)
- Many clients want to pay the lowest they can. (pay peanuts, you get monkey's, that's their decision)
- Many advertised roles, get 100's of applications, yours may have simply went in the bin at some point (tough on you, and the client - there is only so much time in the day for agents to get through so many, plus the calls back etc, so they bin CV's for a multitude of reasons - pick the first 50, chuck out 5 that live furthest away, chuck out 5 that don't have skill X etc)
- There may be people better than you. (shocker I know!!)
- There may be people better than you, that are looking for less.
- There may be people not quite as good as you, but have been contracting longer, or lots of experience in a specific industry that gives them a leg up over technical skill alone.

There's probably more, but you get the idea.

[OwlHoot]

Good advice above, and something else to be aware of is that agents rarely give candidates bad news, unless pressed and often not even then, because:

(a) Why bother wasting the time and phone call just to tell one of maybe dozens of candidates they weren't selected for interview.

(b) If the candidate has a good CV, there's every possibility another role suitable for them will soon come up. So it's in the agent's interest to string them along until they can be put forward for that instead.

[danjericho]

Thanks for the comments

[tractor]

...

Good advice above, and something else to be aware of is that agents rarely give candidates bad news, unless pressed and often not even then, because:

(a) Why bother wasting the time and phone call just to tell one of maybe dozens of candidates they weren't selected for interview.

(b) If the candidate has a good CV, there's every possibility another role suitable for them will soon come up. So it's in the agent's interest to string them along until they can be put forward for that instead.

On top of that in at least one contract I was offered after 4 months of not being told anything, the agent came back offered me the role there and then because they had originally rejected me and the person who got the role turned out to be (more) useless (than me) .

[TheFaQQer]

Not to be big headed, but I was a 100% match for the role.

It's a pain when that happens - you're perfect for the role and they still don't want to touch you. Having been knocked back in the past for roles working with software that I wrote originally when I worked for the vendor, I understand your frustration.

Maybe someone looked at your CV and thought "if we get this guy in, he'll make us all look really bad because he's going to be better than we are" and so they blocked your role. Who knows?

The role had been advertised at £xx but then the agent tried to back track and said, "Well actually they are only offering £x". As I went in at the high end of the budget they might not have put me over as obviously that reduces the agents cut.

Unless the agent was on a fixed margin, in which case they should be getting the best rate possible for you so that they increase the money they get.

[northernladuk]

Chance of them taking you on direct if there is an agent involved is slim to none as they use an agent to do without dealing direct. Once client has seen your name agent has dibs. Grow some and move on IMO.