Agents - looking after contractors?????

[Andyw]

[WKnight]

the myth or the reality

You're not really a contractor, are you?

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.

[DimPrawn]

Threaded shagged Renee Zellweger if that's any help.

[BlasterBates]

DP has a good analogy....contractors are like farm animals, though contractors remind me more of sheep, whereas footballers are like thorough bred race horses or greyhounds. You wouldn't think of eating horses or dogs !!!

[AtW]

Threaded shagged Renee Zellweger if that's any help.

No, he made her clone with adjusted personality to suit him better.

hth

[Asterix]

Doesn't exist

WKnight: like someone said, agents work (and get paid) by the clients, so your question is irrelevant. Actors and maybe other professions have agents who find them work and take a cut from their fees.
You sound very similar to NFP (NamesFaecesPlaces), another ex-contractor do-gooder character we had here a few years ago.

[Francko]

I think WK has a point. The empathy element is often missing in the agent-contractor relationship. We are all used as commodities. That's not a very useful approach in the long run for companies and contractors both. What they fail to see is the human character and how you fit in the environment. Surely, we are not as rare as athletes but then the market is much larger and the reward less so I don't see the point why contractors have to be considered like meat in a meat-market. Just put a label on it with a list of skills and voila' make a choice. Perhaps the root of the problems is the managers' approach to contractors which is very predjudiced from a human point of view. Permies are human beings, contractors are disposable commodities. However, put the same individual in two different environments and his productivity can vary very much. I used to have a good agent, a bit like Jerry, but unfortunately he didn't have enough clients to guarantee me a constant sequence of contracts so I had to call others too (oh well, at least, in the recession years). I wished that companies would pay more attention to the human factor which is as important as pure technical skills. And the only way to understand which character is the best match for an agent can only be down to the agent being close to you and understand your personality, your needs and your problems. Things that an agent (hopefull who has a good grasp of human sciences like psychology or sociology) who just talks to you once or twice on a phone would never be able to understand.

[DimPrawn]

Francko, you have permie written all over you.

[Cowboy Bob]

There are a couple I've come across that I'd consider "good guys/gals", but if you think I'm going to let slip who they are, you're very much mistaken

[Churchill]

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.

Couldn't cut the mustard then, eh?

Pressure got too much for you?

Maybe had a little breakdown too, eh?