Agents - looking after contractors?????

[Lucifer Box]

When I use agents, which is increasingly less the case nowadays, I can't be bothered with all the faffing around so I usually phone up a handful of agents (four or five) I've had dealings with before, tell them what I'm looking for and tell them there's a £1000 cash bonus for whoever gets me the job, to be paid after my first invoice is settled. Naturally I tell them all it is a competitive situation.

It's amazing how much the level of service improves and it works every time. From then on you nearly always have a hold over that agent as well, because invariably the seem to forget to tell their boss or the taxman about the bonus.

[The Lone Gunman]

Not these days. I got out in 2002 when rates got so low it wasn't worth getting out of bed. Now I write about IT and tech, including writing for Contractor UK.

This question is tied to CUK's front page for tomorrow. I'll be writing a piece on the idea, perhaps using some of your comments. I'm trying to find an agent that does this - if he/she exists.

It all started with http://www.recruitermagazine.co.uk/A...r+service.html
in Recruiter magazine.

I am repeating what others have said I think. This has been my experience.

I believe you are starting from the wrong stand point.
We do not employ agents in the same way models, sports and pop stars do.
They sign contracts with agents who then find them work. Their agents do a lot of the negotiation and their agents take a cut of all their income.
That relationship does not exist in the IT (and other fields) contractor world.
The agents in our business are more like introduction businesses and they work for the clients.
Very few agents in our business build long term relationships with us. They are looking for a body to fill a gig. Once that gig is over then so is the relationship. The agents are not interested in doing the leg work looking for our next gig. If we are lucky then they will still have our details and will contact us when something suitable comes along but they will not actively find work specifically with us in mind.
The agents in our business are also very selfish. I have had successive contracts with the same agency but have had to do all the leg work of getting details to individual agents. They work for the same company, but keep "thier" contractors hidden from the other agents. I was finishing one job and the agent told me he knew of nothing suitable. I saw a post on jobserve that seemed suitable so I contacted the agent. He thought I sounded OK so asked me for my details. I then found out he was with the same agency I was about to leave but had no record of me on his database and the other guy had no record of this vacancy.
I have had other agents who were a lot better than that too.

[GreenerGrass]

When I was with Best in 2001 I used to get taken out for a pub lunch about once every 6 months, which cost about the same as their % cut for one hour of my work. And he had the nerve to say "we're good to you aren't we?".
Still thats more than most agencies do for you.

I once got given an invoice by mistake (someone picked it up from the fax machine as it had my name on it) which showed their true cut was about 5% more than they had claimed.

[Cowboy Bob]

When I was with Best in 2001 I used to get taken out for a pub lunch about once every 6 months, which cost about the same as their % cut for one hour of my work. And he had the nerve to say "we're good to you aren't we?".
Still thats more than most agencies do for you.

I once got given an invoice by mistake (someone picked it up from the fax machine as it had my name on it) which showed their true cut was about 5% more than they had claimed.

Mr Anderson?

[GreenerGrass]

Mr Anderson?

Who me or the agent? Neither in any case. Maybe they all get given the same cheesy lines to recite.

[hyperD]

Mr Anderson?

"Mr Anderson?"

[expat]

IT Contracting "Agents" are not agents, they're brokers. And their fee is paid by the client, who is therefore their customer.

I think the practical difference is that in sports and showbiz the contractor gets one agent (and pays them) and the client will deal with any agent that's got the goods; whereas in IT the client gets an agent or two (and pays them), so it's the contractor that has to deal with any agent that's got the goods.

I.e. in sports what's on sale is the sportsman, and the club is a buyer; in IT it's the job, and the contractor is the buyer.

[The Lone Gunman]

IT Contracting "Agents" are not agents, they're brokers. And their fee is paid by the client, who is therefore their customer.

I think the practical difference is that in sports and showbiz the contractor gets one agent (and pays them) and the client will deal with any agent that's got the goods; whereas in IT the client gets an agent or two (and pays them), so it's the contractor that has to deal with any agent that's got the goods.

I.e. in sports what's on sale is the sportsman, and the club is a buyer; in IT it's the job, and the contractor is the buyer.

Bloody hell expat. That sums it up so nicely.

[Torran]

Fame at last for the Prawn and the Monkey

http://www.contractoruk.com/002804.html

[DimPrawn]

Writing on the CUK bulletin board, one contractor with the pen name DimPrawn, put forward his opinion of how contractors relate to agents, "Clients are the supermarkets, agents are the slaughterhouses and we are the cattle."

I thank you.