Let me ask all you contractors who get so hot under the collar about agents blagging for references how you would feel if such practice was banned? (forget the practicalities of it). Rather than go to one agent you know well, who is well connected and a bit ruthless about getting you a job, just think of the number of agents there would need to be to cover every snippett, every opportunity that existed on the market.
At the moment there are a number (few) effective agents who dedicate their time to finding out every bit of information going in whatever area of the market that they work in. they do this by spending all their time meeting and talking to clients and contractors alike. They supplement their information by going to the best written source of information going.. the CV, and sometimes (or all of the time if they are at CP) they will cynically engage people for information. I am afraid that this is the way of the world, and this is how people become successful in our industry.
Now imagine that agents were prohibited from coercing information in this way. There would be many many more of us all armed with only tiny (relatively) bits of information, none of us would have a really good knowledge of the market. You lot would have to talk to many more agents.
Where I think CP and the other agencies who use CV references as a central part of their strategey to obtain business is that they are missing the point somewhat. They do not realise that such a brazen and clumsy tactic will piss off most contractors by making them feel used. This will be counter productive. Such a tactic should be used as part of a networking strategy and the agents should be made to learn the art of obtaining such information without the contractor knowing (or at least being offended by) that the information has been extracted from them.
The moral of the story is: dont give out information unless you feel rewarded for doing so.
At the moment there are a number (few) effective agents who dedicate their time to finding out every bit of information going in whatever area of the market that they work in. they do this by spending all their time meeting and talking to clients and contractors alike. They supplement their information by going to the best written source of information going.. the CV, and sometimes (or all of the time if they are at CP) they will cynically engage people for information. I am afraid that this is the way of the world, and this is how people become successful in our industry.
Now imagine that agents were prohibited from coercing information in this way. There would be many many more of us all armed with only tiny (relatively) bits of information, none of us would have a really good knowledge of the market. You lot would have to talk to many more agents.
Where I think CP and the other agencies who use CV references as a central part of their strategey to obtain business is that they are missing the point somewhat. They do not realise that such a brazen and clumsy tactic will piss off most contractors by making them feel used. This will be counter productive. Such a tactic should be used as part of a networking strategy and the agents should be made to learn the art of obtaining such information without the contractor knowing (or at least being offended by) that the information has been extracted from them.
The moral of the story is: dont give out information unless you feel rewarded for doing so.
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