A Letter to the contractor employment "Industry"

[doodab]

Contractors are a resource. They're bought in to do a specific function and you expect them to be an expert within the area you bring them in for. As a lot of contractors like to try and blag it, then there's no hiding if the person who hired you is more of an expert in the area than you are.

No hiding from the fact that if you were a) really an expert and b) half decent at an important part of your current job then you wouldn't have hired them in the first place?

I find it hard to find people "better than me" but I can certainly tell when someone isn't, or is trying to bulltulip me on something I know a bit about.

[suityou01]

No hiding from the fact that if you were a) really an expert and b) half decent at an important part of your current job then you wouldn't have hired them in the first place?

I find it hard to find people "better than me" but I can certainly tell when someone isn't, or is trying to bulltulip me on something I know a bit about.

Look no further

[doodab]

Look no further

Can you explain what a one-pass online algorithm is and why you might want to use one?

[Mich the Tester]

Can you explain what a one-pass online algorithm is and why you might want to use one?

It's a good old morning dump and you can earn twenty quid while you're at it.

[suityou01]

Can you explain what a one-pass online algorithm is and why you might want to use one?

Simple. In this day and age, now that antibiotics don't work any more doctors are prescribing one-pass online algorithms to clear up rashes.

HTH

[expat]

I do think at times agents fall down in their primary task of bringing good candidates to clients. In my last two major contracts I was way down the list of people considered and went on to sail the interview and do well in the contract.

Don't know if this is caused by Agents just not finding qualified people or only putting forward people they think they will make a larger margin on but you do hear a lot of clients being unable to find good people, which sounds wrong in the buyers market of the last few years.

... at the price that the agent told them they could get someone for?

Also, if there are 200 applicants for a contract, the client won't have the time to screen them all, and the agent won't have the knowledge.

Not to mention other factors. One I have seen for myself went like this: in 2009 I spent months on the bench. Eventually I got a contract in Paris. Once inside, I found from the client that they had been looking for months, but their PSL agent told them that there was no-one available. So they hold off presenting anyone remotely acceptable for months, then after client and contractors have stewed for a while, the client will pay a high rate and the contractor will accept a low one. Is that a "market" or is it a con?

[suityou01]

... at the price that the agent told them they could get someone for?

Also, if there are 200 applicants for a contract, the client won't have the time to screen them all, and the agent won't have the knowledge.

Not to mention other factors. One I have seen for myself went like this: in 2009 I spent months on the bench. Eventually I got a contract in Paris. Once inside, I found from the client that they had been looking for months, but their PSL agent told them that there was no-one available. So they hold off presenting anyone remotely acceptable for months, then after client and contractors have stewed for a while, the client will pay a high rate and the contractor will accept a low one. Is that a "market" or is it a con?

It's life

[Bunk]

... at the price that the agent told them they could get someone for?

Also, if there are 200 applicants for a contract, the client won't have the time to screen them all, and the agent won't have the knowledge.

Not to mention other factors. One I have seen for myself went like this: in 2009 I spent months on the bench. Eventually I got a contract in Paris. Once inside, I found from the client that they had been looking for months, but their PSL agent told them that there was no-one available. So they hold off presenting anyone remotely acceptable for months, then after client and contractors have stewed for a while, the client will pay a high rate and the contractor will accept a low one. Is that a "market" or is it a con?

That only works if they only use one agent. As soon as there's any competition the agents would stop f***ing around and get someone in there before they miss out completely.

[SussexSeagull]

... at the price that the agent told them they could get someone for?

Also, if there are 200 applicants for a contract, the client won't have the time to screen them all, and the agent won't have the knowledge.

Not to mention other factors. One I have seen for myself went like this: in 2009 I spent months on the bench. Eventually I got a contract in Paris. Once inside, I found from the client that they had been looking for months, but their PSL agent told them that there was no-one available. So they hold off presenting anyone remotely acceptable for months, then after client and contractors have stewed for a while, the client will pay a high rate and the contractor will accept a low one. Is that a "market" or is it a con?

I would have thought the agent would want to get someone in ASAP before someone else does.

[Contractoid]

Only those with contempt for the process get treated with utter contempt. There are good agents, poor agents, good contractors, poor contractors, good clients, poor clients, good managers yada yada yada.

Being sensitive and being a contractor don't go together. Ask Suity.

If asking for even a basic level of courtesy is being sensitive then we may as well all take our gloves off and deal with each other with total contempt and rudeness. Really everyone looses with this current culture that has got increasingly worse over the past few years.