Reply to: So what agencies CAN you trust...?

[Taita]

I suppose they have never spammed you? 6 times a day even when on holiday abroad and even after I told them to f - off

How did they know you were on holiday abroad?

[max78]

IT-Talent

Avoid this agency, they send out unsolicited emails or cold call asking for potential employer(s) one is interviewing/engaging with , along with hiring manager details.

They in reality have, no genuine vacancies for you or is made up just to harvest potential leads and ruin your chances of securing an interview and offer.

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Daniel calls me almost weekly about a putative contract that demands a combination of rare skills.

Each time Daniel calls, he tells me that the client is keen to interview me next week. As he calls me each time it is as if he has never spoken to me before.

This has being going on since the start of the year.

Man I know that feeling! Had the same with a particular agent who used to be with Computer Futures and has now moved elsewhere. Every time he calls it is like we have never spoken before. I make sure to ignore it now.

[tractor]

...

Daniel calls me almost weekly about a putative contract that demands a combination of rare skills.

Each time Daniel calls, he tells me that the client is keen to interview me next week. As he calls me each time it is as if he has never spoken to me before.

This has being going on since the start of the year.

It's quite likely a different agent every week but the crib sheet they use has a fictional 'Daniel' in it. They are too stupid to substitute their own name. It's a little like the stupid idiots in the Pumpkin at the station who ask if you are staying in or going out with the fags you just bought because they are too stupid to realise the trainer was telling them about the hot food VAT rule doh! They even asked me whether I was eating a packet of Polos 'in' today.

[flipFlop]

Vivid

Daniel calls me almost weekly about a putative contract that demands a combination of rare skills.

Each time Daniel calls, he tells me that the client is keen to interview me next week. As he calls me each time it is as if he has never spoken to me before.

This has being going on since the start of the year.

[craig1]

Treat each agent as an individual and then as part of the agency they work for. There's one agency I've worked with a few times in the past that's distinctly ordinary but the agent I work with is outstanding and has never let me down in any way, when he went off on holiday for 3 weeks all of a sudden I started getting problems such as non-payment and daft bits of resistance to simple requests.

The other thing some contractors don't take into account is the margin: if an agency is taking under 6-7% margin then learn to expect RyanAir type quality, you'll get there eventually but you're not going to be getting business class standards; if an agent is taking 15%+ then that's when I demand high standards. Agencies that take over 15% and still try to stiff their contractors deserve to be beaten out of the industry like the shysters they are. I see that margin as the value-for-money index, the higher it is, the more I want in return, I really don't mind agencies making a living from margins but it's not acceptable seeing high margins and low quality.

[kal]

Hoaxleys! Would they be based in Manchester? I would be interested in any tales about them, please...

Big agency, send me fantasy jobs with sky high rates on a regular basis, I now direct all their emails to my spam folder to save me the hassle of reading their fictional job adverts...

[Jubber]

I need agents.

I've been contracting for over 17 years and I need them.

I've made lots of 'business' contacts, but usually when they ask my availability, I'm busy. Same the other way, when I'm out of work, they don't have anything. So what am I meant to do once I've called all my previous clients? Hit the phones? Yeah right, that's not me, I like to sit in a corner and be left alone while I develop solutions.

Good, bad or ugly I just roll with it and keep my best interests at heart.

[MojoDog]

One word Progressive... stay away, oh and Hoaxleys obviously, all other agencies it really depends on the agent.

Hoaxleys! Would they be based in Manchester? I would be interested in any tales about them, please...

[Boo]

...They are a necessary evil ...

FTFY.

Boo

[Tasslehoff]

Managed Resource

Managed resource.

Very small outfit. Best experience I have had with a "Agency" so far. Hard to call them an agency as they go against all the normal rules.

Chap who runs it is, straight talker no guff, works hard for you. Good example, over the Xmas period it was a 6 week month they gave us the option to submit our timesheets and get paid the same day. Gave me a bottle of Port for xmas too.

Thoroughly recommend. Wish I could go through them for all my contracts.

[kal]

One word Progressive... stay away, oh and Hoaxleys obviously, all other agencies it really depends on the agent.

[NickNick]

We all treat agencies with healthy dose of suspicion, but they can't all be bad...can they?

Here's a couple I've had good experiences with:

Harvey Nash (Edinburgh)

Sanderson (Bristol)

It's all about the individual (i.e. you) that counts here though. So whilst you've had good experiences with Sandersons, I've not. In the same way that I find the agent basing threads of little use, I treat the positive ones like this the same. That said there are instances where you just can't ignore what others are saying, such as recent posts on here have shown.

[tractor]

..

If you get food poisoning, you don't stop eating forever.

It's about how you manage your own relationships. Yes, from experience there are agents that I would never have any dealings with but just because Joe Poster here didn't read his contract and got screwed doesn't mean I wouldn't deal with the same agent/agency.

I have had the opportunity to work with some excellent agencies in the past who having been taken over 56 times since 1990 and have an entirely different business model or operating practices now, I would never deal with again. I have had excellent experiences with some very small enterprises and indeed sometimes they have been better than larger ones even though the financial risk may have been marginally higher.

Some excellent ones I have had recent experience with are Lorien and LaFosse even though the latter are more rigid in their contract negotiations.

Much of the problems with agents would be mitigated into oblivion if contractors were to gain an acceptable level of both business and legal know how before opening a £50 company and calling themselves businesspersons! At least with a car you are supposed to pass a test!!!

[RasputinDude]

RACI Chart sure that's not RAID?

Normally I agree with you Mal, but there is such a thing a RACI matrix.