company finds contractor but uses recruiter to negotiate

[darrenb]

Thanks for your advice. There's a lot of smoke and mirrors here. The skills of the position are spot on, so I believed the first agent who said he was contacting me at the explicit request of the client (and I'd been in that kind of situation before). He also went on to claim that the client had rejected my rate as too high. In that kind of situation it seemed unwise to be talking to other agencies.

However, looking at it again, I'm not even sure if the client is back from holiday yet! It seems like a big project where a number of agencies are just collecting CVs to present in a week or two. But it's difficult to be sure.

[nomadd]

A recruiter claims they have been asked by a client specifically to recruit me.

It's called "stroking your ego." Also called BS. Take your pick.

Like you said, plenty of other agencies are working on it, so you aren't that special. Sorry.

...but you also aren't stupid. As you've already pointed out, it's just to stop you putting your cv forward with someone else. End of story. Move on. Either submit your cv - via whoever is offering the best rate - or forget about the whole thing.

Still, best of luck if you do go for it.

[CalmEddie]

I've done this before.

The Client Co wanted me, and asked me to chose one of 5 preferred. The pimp I chose took their rate as commission on invoices, at percentage agreed in their relationship with Client Co.

From my side, I insisted that all contracts contained wording which stated that I initiated the relationship and engaged the agent for invoicing.

My purpose here was to be able to work with the Client Co in the future without being bound to that agent due to their (albeit unenforceable) non-contact clauses.

[darrenb]

A recruiter claims they have been asked by a client specifically to recruit me. However, there are a number of agencies working on this role. So there's a possibility that the recruiter is just trying to stop me from submitting my CV through other recruiters.

What are the odds? How can I find out?

[BolshieBastard]

Suppose a client company finds a CV it likes online. Now instead of going to the contractor direct (as they should), they hire a recruiter to go and negotiate with the contractor.

What is this arrangement called? How is the goon typically compensated for his time (assuming the client retains the right to make a direct contract?) General comments, opinions?

D.

Erm, who says the client 'should' go direct to the contractor? I dont know of any 'rule' that says they must do this.

The client can do what they want. If they want to engage an agency after finding a suitable cv, that's up to them.

If you dont like the way the client is working, you have two options, go with it because there's a good possibility of a job at the end of it or, dig your heels in and tell them to negotiate directly with you but, be prepared for the client to lose all interest in you.

Im mean is it really worth it?

[nomadd]

yeah i know a couple of people at Nomura where 4 weeks leave is compulsory - not very ir35 friendly i would say

In which case you haven't seen the latest PWC one... It even has the word "employee" in it several times! I counted at least 30 very, very IR35 unfriendly terms in it before turning it down last year. The agent eventually started to call the contract "an IR35 one" in the job description.

[HeadOfTesting]

All Investment Banks I know of work this way. You can't go direct, instead they push you into an "in-house" agency departments which is run by one of the bigger agencies (e.g. Hays, Resource Solutions). These agency departments set the contracts and they're are usually much less IR35 friendly than if you went through a "real" agency. The agency department is on a small percentage (maybe 3%) for administering the contract and handling payment etc.

Even if you are through a different agency, that agency still has to go through the in-house agency so you just end up with another agency in the chain.

yeah i know a couple of people at Nomura where 4 weeks leave is compulsory - not very ir35 friendly i would say

[Hex]

All Investment Banks I know of work this way. You can't go direct, instead they push you into an "in-house" agency departments which is run by one of the bigger agencies (e.g. Hays, Resource Solutions). These agency departments set the contracts and they're are usually much less IR35 friendly than if you went through a "real" agency. The agency department is on a small percentage (maybe 3%) for administering the contract and handling payment etc.

Even if you are through a different agency, that agency still has to go through the in-house agency so you just end up with another agency in the chain.

[nomadd]

Suppose a client company finds a CV it likes online. Now instead of going to the contractor direct (as they should), they hire a recruiter to go and negotiate with the contractor.

What is this arrangement called? How is the goon typically compensated for his time (assuming the client retains the right to make a direct contract?) General comments, opinions?

D.

The agent gets a fixed fee, just as if they were finding a permie guy.

I did a contract in this exact manner in 1997. The thing you have to be very careful of is the contract wording, and the payment terms, as effectively you are working directly for the client. The agent has no further involvement beyond the introduction. At least that's how it was in my case.

Remember, from taking the job onwards, you are on your own. It's up to you to chase invoices, do your own contract renewals, do your own rate negotiations, etc. If you don't mind doing all that, it can be pretty rewarding. I stayed working direct for that particular client for 4.5 years.

[Troll]

Something similar happened to me once in the days before t'internet - company wanted me back <shock horror> their PS didn't have me on their books so did a trawl of agencies to find me & paid a finders fee for my details.

Bit miffed the client still went through their PS but being a Bank wouldn't use contractors direct anyway

[pzz76077]

How about you do the negotiations and then pick the agency you want to work with?? Sitting back and waiting for something to happen will never be in your advantage!

PZZ

[norrahe]

I've seen this in action as some companies insist on using a PSL to facilitate the contractor, interviews etc. I found it quite odd being rung up by an agency stating that their client wanted to interview me specifically.

[darrenb]

Suppose a client company finds a CV it likes online. Now instead of going to the contractor direct (as they should), they hire a recruiter to go and negotiate with the contractor.

What is this arrangement called? How is the goon typically compensated for his time (assuming the client retains the right to make a direct contract?) General comments, opinions?

D.