Agent Scum

[BrilloPad]

Sounds like you have hacked off an agent, could cost youy dear in work when you are needing some.

this game is all about networking - agents talk to each other as us contractors do. You are not doing yourself any favours.

Out of interest, how old are you??

If you answer that, next question will be "where are you working now?"

[youngguy]

Wow,

I have to say I’m surprised at how much debate a off the cuff post has generated!

First up, I have paraphrased the conversation. This is entirely due to my laziness and to be fair, I shouldn’t have posted what appeared to be a transcript without quoting verbatim.

To answer a few of the responses:-

DA
Yes to ask me if I am looking for work is fine. What I don’t like is when I say I am not looking but will contact them when I am, then they continue to ask me the same question again and ask if I would drop out of my current contract for a better one. This is not checking my answer as you suggested!

I understand that many a (in my opinion) dodgy contractor may chase the pot of gold but this is something that I would not do and I object to be enticed in this way after already saying I would not do this.

Whether I am still at XYZ is of no relevance to the Agent, especially since I am not looking for them to tout my CV at this time. I can think of no good reason why this information is needed at this time (of course I don’t understand the practices of Agents as well as you DA).

Shaunbhoy
Fair point. I personally don’t like to hear the offers in case they are that great (company Ferrari, blonde PA) that I then put myself in a position where I have to decide!

Wilmslow
The conversation ended politely, as I said I have been lazy and paraphrased but in my (yes…limited!) experience, both contractors and agents will forgive if there is a good enough opportunity on the table so I’m not worried!

My username relates more to my years contracting rather than my years on this earth by the way!


Just so you all sleep soundly, I am over the incident already! I think DA is angrier than me….but that is understandable given he feels he has to fight the agent’s corner. BTW DA, I know a good agent…..only one, but he is a good’un! We speak every couple of months and I have referred colleagues looking to contract to him and he checks in to see what I am up to so I occasionally share the love!

[BrowneIssue]

... I know a good agent…..only one, but he is a good’un! We speak every couple of months and I have referred colleagues looking to contract to him and he checks in to see what I am up to so I occasionally share the love!

There is? The only two I knew are out of the game.

Who? Who? Who? Name & telno, please!

[BrowneIssue]

There is? The only two I knew are out of the game.

Who? Who? Who? Name & telno, please!

I've been trying to think of a clever way of saying that... got it...

Name & fame 'em!

[DodgyAgent]

Wow,

I have to say I’m surprised at how much debate a off the cuff post has generated!

First up, I have paraphrased the conversation. This is entirely due to my laziness and to be fair, I shouldn’t have posted what appeared to be a transcript without quoting verbatim.

To answer a few of the responses:-

DA
Yes to ask me if I am looking for work is fine. What I don’t like is when I say I am not looking but will contact them when I am, then they continue to ask me the same question again and ask if I would drop out of my current contract for a better one. This is not checking my answer as you suggested!

I understand that many a (in my opinion) dodgy contractor may chase the pot of gold but this is something that I would not do and I object to be enticed in this way after already saying I would not do this.

Whether I am still at XYZ is of no relevance to the Agent, especially since I am not looking for them to tout my CV at this time. I can think of no good reason why this information is needed at this time (of course I don’t understand the practices of Agents as well as you DA).

Shaunbhoy
Fair point. I personally don’t like to hear the offers in case they are that great (company Ferrari, blonde PA) that I then put myself in a position where I have to decide!

Wilmslow
The conversation ended politely, as I said I have been lazy and paraphrased but in my (yes…limited!) experience, both contractors and agents will forgive if there is a good enough opportunity on the table so I’m not worried!

My username relates more to my years contracting rather than my years on this earth by the way!


Just so you all sleep soundly, I am over the incident already! I think DA is angrier than me….but that is understandable given he feels he has to fight the agent’s corner. BTW DA, I know a good agent…..only one, but he is a good’un! We speak every couple of months and I have referred colleagues looking to contract to him and he checks in to see what I am up to so I occasionally share the love!

First off, I do not defend agencies because I am one myself. In fact I criticise them more than I criticise contractors. I will defend agencies when I feel we are being unfairly attacked which was what I felt about what you said.

Agents are lazy and any information more than a day old is out of date, so one never knows whether a contractors circumstances are going to change. It seemed to me that this agent was covering every angle. Not only that, but in sales the rule of thumb is to ask three times, he only asked you twice. He is also not going to accept that you are automatically going to update every agency of your circumstances, and why should he?

If anything you should damned grateful that this guy knows you, and if he is the type of sales person who is prepared to put in the hard yards instead of sitting flicking through porn sites and looking for cheap hair gel on ebay, whilst waiting for the jobserve ad to throw something up then I would hang on to him.

[BrowneIssue]

...If anything you should damned grateful that this guy knows you, and if he is the type of sales person who is prepared to put in the hard yards instead of sitting flicking through porn sites and looking for cheap hair gel on ebay, whilst waiting for the jobserve ad to throw something up then I would hang on to him.

Alternatively, it is a junior grunt resourcer who has been told to ring everyone in the contacts database to update records and try to get leads. I've had about 20-30 such calls since the start of the year and god only knows how many such emails.

"... and which department was that?"
"... and who was your manager there?"
"... I don't suppose you have a number?"

Be offended if you want, but many, many recruitment agencies operate this way and once you've had the call enough times, you get to know the script.

[Spacecadet]

"... and which department was that?"
"... and who was your manager there?"
"... I don't suppose you have a number?"

Some polite vagueness heads off those questions

when they ask you where you were working, give them the location e.g. london. If they ask you which company, tell them your own... still not taking the hint, then simply state you're not comfortable divulging that information at this stage as you still have an on going relationship with them.

[darmstadt]

I love this line in an e-mail I got from an agency this week asking for updated details:

Unless you send us your updated profile within one week, you won’t be considered for any project from us. If you send us your CV at a later point in time we will activate your record immediately.

Now I may be thick but don't the sentences kind of contradict each other?

[DodgyAgent]

I love this line in an e-mail I got from an agency this week asking for updated details:

Unless you send us your updated profile within one week, you won’t be considered for any project from us. If you send us your CV at a later point in time we will activate your record immediately.

Now I may be thick but don't the sentences kind of contradict each other?

Agencies are lazy. They want you to place yourselves and then pay them 30%

[youngguy]

First off, I do not defend agencies because I am one myself. In fact I criticise them more than I criticise contractors. I will defend agencies when I feel we are being unfairly attacked which was what I felt about what you said.

Agents are lazy and any information more than a day old is out of date, so one never knows whether a contractors circumstances are going to change. It seemed to me that this agent was covering every angle. Not only that, but in sales the rule of thumb is to ask three times, he only asked you twice. He is also not going to accept that you are automatically going to update every agency of your circumstances, and why should he?

If anything you should damned grateful that this guy knows you, and if he is the type of sales person who is prepared to put in the hard yards instead of sitting flicking through porn sites and looking for cheap hair gel on ebay, whilst waiting for the jobserve ad to throw something up then I would hang on to him.

Thanks for the reply DA.

I see your point with regards to them not knowing/trusting that I will keep them updated. When I update my CV I actually do send it to (almost) every agent that has ever contacted me and as such the last two times I have had agents contact me with jobs rather than me go down the Jobserve route.

Of course he doesn’t know this and I am sure he views me based on the majority of contractors he has dealt with who may not do this, just as view him based on the majority of agents I have dealt with.