Contract vs Permanent offer

[northernladuk]

Stall agent 1, tell them you need to get the contract terms reviewed or somesuch. Tell agent 2 that you have done this and need an offer sharpish. Put a deadline on it and stick to it.

Do not accept offer 1 if you plan to bin it in a couple of weeks. You'll piss off agent 1, which isn't too important, but you will piss of client 1 who may not forget. Whatever, this sort of thing gives contractors a bad name.

This. Advise you are having it IR35 checked by QDOS. They can have up to a 5 day turn around and they are off over hols. That should be good for 7 or 8 extra days.

[SlipTheJab]

Never feel bad about lying to agents as they're almost certainly lying to you.

And as long as you end every email with "Regards" you'll be fine.

^^ This. Don;t worry about upsetting the fragile ego of an agent. As mentioned, stall by telling Pimp A you're getting the contract reviewed which will take a few days, in the meantime tell Pimp B to pull his finger out sharpish. Once your deadline has passed make a decision and stick to it.

[BlasterBates]

It's not the agency that is important, it's the client you don't want to upset if the client is constantly offering opportunities.

My experience is that a client taking on contractors is looking more or less on a continuous basis, and if you turn down an opportunity, another one will appear pretty soon. That's why it's a good idea not to burn bridges.

[BrilloPad]

Take option 1. Then invoke your right to substitution.

[ChimpMaster]

It's quite possible you'll end up with neither option in the end.

[jmo21]

Agencies, and agents have incredibly short memories if you can make them a £.

I pulled out of an interview last year as I got offered a contract (I didn't want to waste their time, the start date was 4 weeks away, so couldn't have strung it out), the agent was really unhappy with me, even though it was only for pulling out of an interview.

Sure enough, the contract fell through at the last minute.

Sent out CV's again, including to the pissed off agent. He phoned, all smug, "well that role you pulled out of is gone, but I do have this role that has came in this morning, would you work in a place called {my small home town}"...... urm....yeah.... I live there.... BOOM, all sweetness and light again, and got the role.

[metallica]

Thanks fellas.

I am not going for the permie for the comfort and because the contract is difficult, it is due to personal circumstances

Right, so going to start the contract and then wait for things to shape on the permie side. The maximum I could push the contract is for a week and unlikely to get anything on perm side within that timeframe.

So gotta do it the hard way hopefully without pissing of the client.

[metallica]

Take option 1. Then invoke your right to substitution.

Excuse the newbie ignorance, but how would it work?

As I understand I need to provide an alternate staff with equivalent skills.