Reply to: HELP! Extension Day Rate Negotiation!

[SussexSeagull]

I think the day rates most of us are on are contingent on being supplied a steady 5 days a week. I would probably double my rate if I was just getting work sporadically but i wouldn't turn it down.

It was better than nothing and eventually I found something better and never went back.

[cannon999]

Couple of times I have contracted direct were a real eye opener trying to get paid. Like it or not agents do serve a purpose for most of us.

I work directly, get paid weekly. No pay - no work next week. Pretty simple really.

[jayn200]

In my current (soon to end) role I am not sure if the think I am a consultant or contractor. Normally it is academic although a previous client started wanting me to do things like three days work in a fortnights time not realising I wasn't getting paid in the interim was a pain up until the point I got a better paid full time contract and waved them goodbye.

I think the day rates most of us are on are contingent on being supplied a steady 5 days a week. I would probably double my rate if I was just getting work sporadically but i wouldn't turn it down.

[SussexSeagull]

Actually more to do with the naivety of Human Remains and the way agencies sell themselves. Pick one at random and read their website. They all have loads of fully qualified staff on their books ready to fill any role you are likely to ask for. The fact that they don't even look at their own database first but go straight to JobServe somehow doesn't appear.

I've lost count of how many clients thought that they were using a consultancy and I was one of their staff.

In my current (soon to end) role I am not sure if the think I am a consultant or contractor. Normally it is academic although a previous client started wanting me to do things like three days work in a fortnights time not realising I wasn't getting paid in the interim was a pain up until the point I got a better paid full time contract and waved them goodbye.

[SussexSeagull]

Couple of times I have contracted direct were a real eye opener trying to get paid. Like it or not agents do serve a purpose for most of us.

[BlasterBates]

Never really understood (and still don't) the point of agencies from the side of the client. Yeah as contractors we are forced to use them because that's the hand that is given to us. Seems like a profession that exists just for the sake of it. If the agency is peeling £75-£100 off my rate - that's 18-25k a year the company could have saved if they found me themselves. And this is just 1 contractor! Could have just found someone else to do full time recruitment for that money.

Recruiting your own contractors is a huge effort. If you'd ever worked as a PM you would know that you wouldn't have the time, you just ring up the agency.

[malvolio]

Actually more to do with the naivety of Human Remains and the way agencies sell themselves. Pick one at random and read their website. They all have loads of fully qualified staff on their books ready to fill any role you are likely to ask for. The fact that they don't even look at their own database first but go straight to JobServe somehow doesn't appear.

I've lost count of how many clients thought that they were using a consultancy and I was one of their staff.

[Lance]

Never really understood (and still don't) the point of agencies from the side of the client. Yeah as contractors we are forced to use them because that's the hand that is given to us. Seems like a profession that exists just for the sake of it. If the agency is peeling £75-£100 off my rate - that's 18-25k a year the company could have saved if they found me themselves. And this is just 1 contractor! Could have just found someone else to do full time recruitment for that money.

you think agencies are bad? Wait till you have to deal with HR instead.... And a HR bod getting paid on the back of your efforts. And who also knows nothing about what you do as they're HR.

Agencies exist for a reason. Or do you think clients like paying more money?

[northernladuk]

Never really understood (and still don't) the point of agencies from the side of the client. Yeah as contractors we are forced to use them because that's the hand that is given to us. Seems like a profession that exists just for the sake of it. If the agency is peeling £75-£100 off my rate - that's 18-25k a year the company could have saved if they found me themselves. And this is just 1 contractor! Could have just found someone else to do full time recruitment for that money.

It's just simple outsourcing, just like they do with IT, marketing and many other aspects of their business that isn't directly related to what they do.

[cannon999]

We go through this with agents once in a while. I agree some of them don't help themselves and contractors have a love/hate relationship with them (no doubt reciprocated) but they also are the best mechanism for most of us to get contracts and they have to pay our invoices potentially a couple of months before they get paid.

Never really understood (and still don't) the point of agencies from the side of the client. Yeah as contractors we are forced to use them because that's the hand that is given to us. Seems like a profession that exists just for the sake of it. If the agency is peeling £75-£100 off my rate - that's 18-25k a year the company could have saved if they found me themselves. And this is just 1 contractor! Could have just found someone else to do full time recruitment for that money.

[Paralytic]

In my experience many clients consider the contractors as blood-sucking parasites, and agents just as a means to find the cheapest one.

FTFY

[Lance]

They got to make money i suppose given that they have chosen that line of work. But it is not a business that i could do with a clear conscience. The business of being a blood sucking parasite.

When you can find your own work you won't need them. The fact that you use them means that you need them.
In my experience many clients consider the contractors as blood-sucking parasites, and agents just as a means to find the right one.

[SussexSeagull]

We go through this with agents once in a while. I agree some of them don't help themselves and contractors have a love/hate relationship with them (no doubt reciprocated) but they also are the best mechanism for most of us to get contracts and they have to pay our invoices potentially a couple of months before they get paid.

[northernladuk]

I wasnt lecturing anyone, just saying how i saw things. You seem to be the one who wants to lecture others on what words they should not be using.

But it's key to understand who's money it is and how the flow works. At some point knowing that will make the difference between getting a better deal or not and other issues you may come across.

[Fraidycat]

Doesn't change the fact that you clearly do not understand a £27bn a year business. So don't lecture those that do.

I wasnt lecturing anyone, just saying how i saw things. You seem to be the one who wants to lecture others on what words they should not be using.