Reply to: Direct or via Agency

[Wanderer]

Question: without agencies doing the role-hunting activity, how much bench-time would you need to spend on the phones hunting out a role that fits your skill-set and experience? Note, after the calling of warm contacts, the rest is a drudge of cold-calling new people in new companies. (with the social skills and rapport-building abilities expressed on this forum, I suspect this would be an uphill struggle for most here.)

Question for you: If agencies stopping pissing people off by cold calling them and wasting peoples time with fake jobs so they can do their phishing for references, would the contract jobs still exist?

I put it to you that the jobs would still exist, they would still get advertised and the world would be a much happier place without the agencies.

[NickNick]

Wouldn't that be nice. Would you give have the money you would have paid for the agents service which you are now not getting when you don't need to. I bloody wouldn't.

I was direct at a previous client and they had a policy in place that all temporary staff doing the same job were paid the same rate. So all PMs were on £x etc. This was irrespective of whether you went thorugh an agency or not. Rates were lower than elsewhere, in fact the lowest I've ever had, but the place was nice enough.

[evilagent]

I wonder if he/she is a real agent?

Yeah, yeah.
Can't respond to meticulously laid out response to "cutting out the middleman", so attack the messenger.

The reasoning still stands, irrespective of whether I am an agent, a contractor or deliver pizzas.

[evilagent]

I wonder if he/she is a real agent?

I (it) used to be.
Most of this year I have actually been contracting, upskilling, so when/if I return to recruiting, I will have a more updated understanding of my sphere of work.

It's quite cushy being a contractor, isn't it?!

[ITPRO2]

evilagent is just trolling, ignore it...

If the contractor and client can cut an agency out of the deal then why wouldn't they just split the agency commission 50/50....

I wonder if he/she is a real agent?

[ITPRO2]

Of course client co isn't just going to just split the agent margin with you.......that's obvious. You just know you have more negotiating headroom........don't forget negotiating is a key part of any successful business.

The last time I went direct, I heard of the gig on the grapevine (and knew they were desperate). A friend passed me the PM details. After a quick phone call and interview, I made a take it or leave it offer and it was accepted. It was above the general market rate at the time. The only way I got this is the fact there wasn't an agent involved.

[evilagent]

How many weeks would you guess before the phone calls convert to an interview, and then to a start-date?

Please, for the purpose of this exercise, have an honest guess.

If you believe the advantage gained is 10% more (remember, you don’t get ALL of the agency fee, you are splitting it with clientco), then you deserve the extra.
Yes, you DESERVE it,
But…
If you have spent 1 week on the bench role-hunting, then you need to bill 10 weeks at the +10% to recover your bench-time.
If you spent 2 weeks on the bench, then you need 20 weeks at the +10% to recover your bench-time, etc.

You are NOT getting more money.
You are recovering the money that you didn’t make whilst phoning around looking for roles.

[evilagent]

Imagine, as John Lennon might, there are no agents
(Its easy if you try)

You are in a contract.
If you are lazy, you wont start looking until you are at end of current one.
If you went through all your previous contacts, and people you know, and LinkedIn, chances are you will complete this is about 1 day.
Chances are very, very high work is available at some time in the future.
Chances are very high work is available in the next 6 months.
Chances are less high there is a requirement within 6 weeks.
Chances are less high you find someone wanting you within 2-4 weeks.
Chances are you would be lucky to start “next week”.

Question: without agencies doing the role-hunting activity, how much bench-time would you need to spend on the phones hunting out a role that fits your skill-set and experience?
Note, after the calling of warm contacts, the rest is a drudge of cold-calling new people in new companies. (with the social skills and rapport-building abilities expressed on this forum, I suspect this would be an uphill struggle for most here.)

[evilagent]

No trolling on my part.

Clientco pays agency fee for out-sourcing the admin, and not having to deal with you.

If you cut out the middleman, you would likely both split the difference to gain mutual advantage.
For the sake of argument, say the margin is 20% (ha-ha-ha), and decide to split the difference.
You get 10% more, and clientco pays 10% less.
Happy days if you are sole contractor, or one of small number.
If you are part of large contingent of contractors, clientco is simply not going to tolerate negotiating individually with all of you separately.
You will get a standard contract, with standard terms.
Note, the Opt-In or Opt-Out becomes moot. (ie, getting paid irrespective of agency getting paid, as there is no agency involvement)
You get paid because the clientco authorises it.
You are not special. You are just another supplier.
You will get paid at month-end, or whenever their payment cycle is.
You likely WONT get paid every week.

[TheFaQQer]

By going direct, both parties can effectively increase their respective bottom lines.

No you can't.

Yes you can. But it's absolutely by no means a given.

You assume that the client will say "oh, we're not paying the agent £10 a day, so we'll split the difference with the contractor and pay you £5 more a day". Instead, many clients will just say "oh, we're not paying the agent £10 a day" and that will be the end of the discussion.

It's possible that the client will split some of that saving with you, but why would they bother?

[northernladuk]

evilagent is just trolling, ignore it...

If the contractor and client can cut an agency out of the deal then why wouldn't they just split the agency commission 50/50....

Wouldn't that be nice. Would you give have the money you would have paid for the agents service which you are now not getting when you don't need to. I bloody wouldn't.

It's all a bit hypothetical anyway. The number of chances you will get to see the agents rates and then go direct for the same gig to try get more money is pretty bloody slim. I know PM's direct to clients that are on less than PM's through agencies. Just because an agent is involved it doesn't mean you will get more direct and going direct with poor paying agents doesn't put you in any better position than through an agent with a good paying one.

Solution : Understand the agents role, let him have his 5% if you get the rate you want and just deal with it rather than getting upset about it. It's not going to go away, in fact if anything in this world of outsourcing services it's going to get worse.

[Wanderer]

By cutting out the middleman, how can this not be true?

evilagent is just trolling, ignore it...

If the contractor and client can cut an agency out of the deal then why wouldn't they just split the agency commission 50/50....

[ITPRO2]

No you can't.

By cutting out the middleman, how can this not be true?

[NickNick]

leeches

Unless you are implying that Cary Grant was an agent.

OT but, my kids go to the same school that he did, and every day walk past a plaque with his name on. There's another inside that bigs him up and it's a well known and presented fact at the school. There is a smaller plaque with an equation written on it. Just shows how highly one profession is taken over the other these days.

[evilagent]

By going direct, both parties can effectively increase their respective bottom lines. Agents are just leaches.

No you can't.