Google is indeed our friend.
I googled "contractor opinion of RDF" before posting here and found references to Aristotle, Eurolink and appointments as director of various agencies.
There is a major difference between working for a consultancy and an agency.
IT consultancies who hire contractors direct when too short staffed to carry out projects for clients normally provide more technical information. The matching process works better and faster. Many consultancies arrange an interview with a couple of their senior technologies before sending the candidate to clients for interview.
In the IT consultancy business, candidates normally meet someone who knows the client well for further background on the project before an interview.
Mark ups 10-15% and no higher in my experience.
Recruitment is a different type of service based on sales. Very little background and the client has to do the technical interviews. Mark ups are higher.
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Reply to: Contracting for the RDF Group
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Previously on "Contracting for the RDF Group"
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Originally posted by AnonAgent View PostThey arent an agent, they are a consultancy, so their rates are always going to be higher than an agents as they have more work to do and more guarentees in place.
I do know that a former director of NR is now in a similar postion at RDF.....read into that what you will.
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Originally posted by AnonAgent View PostThey arent an agent, they are a consultancy, so their rates are always going to be higher than an agents as they have more work to do and more guarentees in place.
Really? You mean they have their own permies working as senior consultants co-ordinating contractors and fleecing the client by creating additional Work Packages?
Or are they just sorting out their contracts and payroll? That sort of 'consultancy'?
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Originally posted by Sausage Surprise View PostOh well..if you put it like that it doesn't sound bad at all
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Thanks to everyone for the replies about RDF.
On a positive note, they seem to pay the invoices.
Hearing the other replies, I think I was right to follow my instincts and be wary of RDF, even though I would have enjoyed doing the project I saw advertised.
A lot of agents have big mark ups unfortunately, but once you have been contracting a while, you start to spot some of the tricks.
£150 a day is a big mark up and I'm sorry to hear they ripped you and the client off like that. Worse still as you say when the then Northern Rock (now owned by Richard Branson) could have done with saving on costs, let alone for you as the contractor. Virgin Money and others could save a lot if it worked with contractors and smaller companies direct or did what some other companies do with their preferred suppliers - fixed their commission percentage.
I knew the RDF rates were low and got an idea from the contracts on their website.
They don't seem to do much for the large mark up either.
I applied for one role and heard nothing for 3 days, so rang up and chased them. I offered them a large discount for a role I applied for, but that was still not enough and they wanted to knock me down a lot more.
I had the impression the agent did not read my cv properly and did not understand technology. (Mind, I once had contact with a different agent there who seemed to want to understand what the roles were about and took more time to discuss them).
On another occasion, they put out an ad at their low rates on jobserve. They could not find anyone for the role. The very same ad went out a week and a half later with a rate increase of £140 per day.
I think a lot of agents try to prey on contractors for roles in Northern locations and Scotland along the lines of the project is in a depressed economic area so the rate is low...
I've met some agents in Europe who discuss their mark up with the candidates. A couple have fixed prices like €7 per hour. I once had 2 companies in between and the margin was still only 15%. They gave me a higher rate to cover payroll costs without me even asking for it. Even better, they actually understood something about technology...
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Originally posted by malvolio View PostNo, that was your fault for not knowing market rates
Also worth remebering that they didn't take 42% or your income, you got 66% of theirs...
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Originally posted by Sausage Surprise View PostOk..they billed NR £450, I got £300 and a lesson learned. Is that bad enough for you?
Also worth remebering that they didn't take 42% or your income, you got 66% of theirs...
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They were flying agents up to the north east from Brighton for a couple of nights each week, to check on their contractor’s welfare too….I guess I wasn’t the only one being fleeced at the time.
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Originally posted by JamJarST View PostNo good complaining about £150 mark-up without saying what you were getting is there. If you were get £200 per day then its bad, but if you were getting £500+ it isn't.
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Originally posted by Sausage Surprise View PostNot a good experience for me I'm afraid - got ripped off good and proper whilst at Northern Rock in 2009. Found out that their daily mark up was £150 - got offered a renewal so asked for a £25 a day rise. They refused...more fool them. I walked! I didn't want to, as the job was local, but they just struck me a bunch of greedy *******s
Received a call from a director of some sort a couple of days later wanting to know who refused the rate rise...ha ha... too late as I already had another role lined up.
You might ask why I accepted the original rate...well like I said, it was local and I had just had a 30% rate cut at BT as had a lot of others that switched to NR. RDF realised this and pounced like wolves...not just screwing the contractor but a government owned bank too.
Agents eh... who'd have thought it
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Not a good experience for me I'm afraid - got ripped off good and proper whilst at Northern Rock in 2009. Found out that their daily mark up was £150 - got offered a renewal so asked for a £25 a day rise. They refused...more fool them. I walked! I didn't want to, as the job was local, but they just struck me a bunch of greedy *******s
Received a call from a director of some sort a couple of days later wanting to know who refused the rate rise...ha ha... too late as I already had another role lined up.
You might ask why I accepted the original rate...well like I said, it was local and I had just had a 30% rate cut at BT as had a lot of others that switched to NR. RDF realised this and pounced like wolves...not just screwing the contractor but a government owned bank too.
Agents eh... who'd have thought it
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RDF
Originally posted by sunflower View PostHi
Does anyone have any experience with the RDF Group? The director is Tony Antoniades, who ran Eurolink and Aristotle. Some contractors on forums say they get paid and other messages advise to avoid working via them. They have some big customers, like Sky and Virgin Money, and I would expect such clients would not use a supplier unless the staff were paid.
What are they like now?
I worked via RDF for just over a year starting in 2010.
I had similar concerns as you, for exactly the same reasons, and think I posted almost the same question.
I had no issues being paid, and remember asking for an extra £50
per day on the rate being offered (£350p/d to £400p/d) before starting the contract. Which they successfully negotiated.
I would have no issues working via them again, based on this experience.
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