Reply to: Agents commissions

[DodgyAgent]

Spill yer guts



Like rocking horse poo then

Not quite

[Epiphone]

There are a number of great tales.

Spill yer guts

But I will say that bad contractors are as frequent as good agents.

Like rocking horse poo then

[spoons]

What's the second rule of marketting?

Don't talk about marketing

[pmeswani]

The first rule of marketing is to understand your customers.
IT is full of shallow lecherous men

See poll under "general"

What's the second rule of marketting?

[DodgyAgent]

I think the main reason we dislike (most) agents is because it's very rare to find a good one. Let's face it most of us are bums on seats whether in the contract or client manager's eyes so it doesn't take a rocket scientist to place us, hence every boy and his hair-gelled dog taking up the recruitment business at some stage.

If you get 10 calls a day from agents and 9 are blatently fishing or 99% of contracts you've had has the agent taking a 50% commision you're not going to think too highly of them as a whole are you. It's up to the good agents to try and persude the good contractors that it's better to work together rather than trying to 'one-up' each other.

Anyway, seeing as all the DA's have been slagged off good and proper let's hear some tales of nightmare contactors from them

There are a number of great tales. But I will say that bad contractors are as frequent as good agents. I am not keen to cite specific examples as I dont want the culprits to identify who I am on this site.

Talking of "bad" contractors
I would always take Churchill out for lunch in the smallest car available. When he looked at it he would always say "sod it I'm not getting in that lets go to the canteen.." which would usually mean that he would have to pay.

[Epiphone]

I think the main reason we dislike (most) agents is because it's very rare to find a good one. Let's face it most of us are bums on seats whether in the contract or client manager's eyes so it doesn't take a rocket scientist to place us, hence every boy and his hair-gelled dog taking up the recruitment business at some stage.

If you get 10 calls a day from agents and 9 are blatently fishing or 99% of contracts you've had has the agent taking a 50% commision you're not going to think too highly of them as a whole are you. It's up to the good agents to try and persude the good contractors that it's better to work together rather than trying to 'one-up' each other.

Anyway, seeing as all the DA's have been slagged off good and proper let's hear some tales of nightmare contactors from them

[expat]

The cost of entry into this business is zero and the business model which amounts to no more than making 50 calls a day attracts many people who have no need to form long term relationships. The availability of so much information on the internet (references) enables this model. This recession may weed these people out but because the market is a constantly shifting target I think it is unlikely.

I'd like to think that tougher times might select for good agents and weed out bad ones, but it may not work like that.

With a contractor, generally speaking, what it takes to make what we would call a good contractor is the same as what it takes to make a successfull contractor. Perhaps with agents this is not true, and the most successful are not necessarily what any involved person, contractor or agent, would call good agents.

[Romanymagic]

I suspect that we will see many agents go under during this period of economic crisis

[Stan.goodvibes]

Clearly I made the right decision to go into recruitment then, 15 years is just madness!

OK, slight misunderstanding... I did my first contract at Glaxo '95 after only 2 years experience with Access/Excel/VB3. Been contracting ever since, so *now* I have over 15 years (and the degree and yes I know '95 + 15 yrs = 2010, I am including the 2 years experience b4 contracting).

I've had some pretty fantastic contracts - most of which start out at 3 months and go for years (4.5 yrs at one clientco in the City - when I left in 2001 I was the 5th longest serving IT member out of 76 people!).

And I have to say all the agents I've dealt with have been brilliant. In fact the agent who got me this gig just before she left for London (good timing!) is back for a wedding and we are off out for coffee next week.

So hopefully the crunch *will* weed out the chavs and dodgy sales gits and just leave the real agents...

[lightng]

The first rule of marketing is to understand your customers.
IT is full of shallow lecherous men

See poll under "general"

You have shown me a mirror and I am ashamed.

So ... have the ladies made a team calendar?

[TheFaQQer]

I dont have any techies working for me just lots of crumpet with large n****s who go out for long lunches with clients and contractors.

When I started the last contract, the client gave me a list of agencies on the PSL to apply through.

Any blokes on the PSL went straight out the door, obviously

[DodgyAgent]

Do you cover the north-west? Tell me where to send my CV

The first rule of marketing is to understand your customers.
IT is full of shallow lecherous men

See poll under "general"

[lightng]

I dont have any techies working for me just lots of crumpet with large n****s who go out for long lunches with clients and contractors.

Do you cover the north-west? Tell me where to send my CV

[Another Dodgy Agent]

I dont have any techies working for me just lots of crumpet with large n****s who go out for long lunches with clients and contractors.

Think I want to come and work with you!

[DodgyAgent]

Which is why my company's approach is not only unique but value added. All of our consultants are ex techie's and specialise in the industry sector they originate from. For example we have 2 IT trainer's that run a training division providing TAP qualified trainers to companies, a Desktop Support Manager who specialises in the network/server/desktop support market, an ex Java Developer who specialises in providing Developers and so on. We don't employ sales people and we don't do sales targets.

We found that when we tried to recruit experienced agents that they brought some terrible traits with them, like the fishing for contact names, not providing candidates with feedback, no interest in building long term business relationships and it ended up affecting the business.

I dont have any techies working for me just lots of crumpet with large n****s who go out for long lunches with clients and contractors.