Advice needed.

[SallyAnne]

Smashing idea.

Now I can see who's up for renewal when, and make sure my mates CV's are all on the hiring manager's desk, undercutting them by £50 a day, ready for when that request for a renewal and an £80 rate increase come in.

Lavverley Jabberley. Ahm cattin me ahn arm orf.

What accent is that ThunderLizard?
It sounded a bit geordie until you went all posh at the end!

[thunderlizard]

Smashing idea.

Now I can see who's up for renewal when, and make sure my mates CV's are all on the hiring manager's desk, undercutting them by £50 a day, ready for when that request for a renewal and an £80 rate increase come in.

Lavverley Jabberley. Ahm cattin me ahn arm orf.

[wendigo100]

They will still call and ask if your availability is up to date on the website. Oh, and what is the name of the hiring manager there again?

The crazy thing is, and I quote from the site's front page:

"only those recruitment companies that you know and have dealt with in the past will be able to search this site"

So the dodgy ones will have to carry on ringing you up as before!

What exactly does this site achieve, other than reducing your contact with those very agents that you need to talk to?

It's arse about face - it's the dodgy agents you need to force to this site!

[To BI or not to BI?]

I think it's a good idea, but pleeeease check your spelling. There is nothing more offputting (in my view) than spelling mistakes. Makes me authomatically think that the thing is not serious/professional enough...

(Hope you can take constructive criticism..... )

[DimPrawn]

I don't think much of this idea.

1. It will not stop calls from dodgy agents, calling for leads or other dodgy reasons, which seems to be its main purpose.

2. It will only be used by agents (a) that you like and (b) who genuinely only want to know if you are available. I don't know about you, but I prefer to talk to these agents in person - I call it networking.

They will still call and ask if your availability is up to date on the website. Oh, and what is the name of the hiring manager there again?

[wendigo100]

I don't think much of this idea.

1. It will not stop calls from dodgy agents, calling for leads or other dodgy reasons, which seems to be its main purpose.

2. It will only be used by agents (a) that you like and (b) who genuinely only want to know if you are available. I don't know about you, but I prefer to talk to these agents in person - I call it networking.

[expat]

I was only talking about the exact same service to a contractor collegue of mine at the end of last week. Nice idea, not sure the lazy pimps would use it though at the expense of the potential of a few free leads...

Good point. It's design purpose is to prevent the agents who choose to use it, from getting what they want. Will they use it?

[HankWangford]

Hello there - this is a work in progress but we're already getting good stats and interest. Take a look and if you have any constructive comments then I'd like to hear them. The site simply records the availability date of the consultant, IT contractor, engineer etc, and the agency or end client simply queries the database using the email address of the contractor. It's not a job board or candidate database - you have to know already the contractor that you're looking for. Comments will be read and we'll act upon them. You won't find many IT guys on there yet, we've concentrated in a small section of the engineering market to get the process right, but I would love to hear what you think. I think we're saving a bucketload of time by setting up a site like this one, but what do I know!

The site is www.availabilitydate.co.uk

Respectfully yours,

Oracle Man

I was only talking about the exact same service to a contractor collegue of mine at the end of last week. Nice idea, not sure the lazy pimps would use it though at the expense of the potential of a few free leads...

[expat]

I can't stand these type of calls which is why I wanted to put my availability date on a site that I can update at my leisure and then tell the agencies to, frankly, bugger off and stop wasting my time. Any agency that I've sent my CV to has my email address and can search for me anytime.

Eff me, I've got it in bold red letters top centre on my online CV. I still get calls asking, including loads who say, I came across your CV on the net.

Really? Did you read it?

[furbrains]

thanks for the quick replies

I can't stand these type of calls which is why I wanted to put my availability date on a site that I can update at my leisure and then tell the agencies to, frankly, bugger off and stop wasting my time. Any agency that I've sent my CV to has my email address and can search for me anytime.

The other thing I've noticed is that even when you've sent your CV to an agency they very rarely get your availability information correct on their own systems - worse still, I've been called by an agency who I was already working thru to ask when I was available!

Appreciate the comments, buty I'm going to stick with slow marketing of this site because if enough people get onto it then the agencies may even change the way they do business - ie they will irritate me less ! But they need to have something that's relevant to them b4 they start to use it, and I do think that this is bang on the money for relevancy.
More comments appreciated

[Lucy]

Similar to a call I got today from Robert Walters man asking if Fred was still the right person to speak to regarding recruitment matters.

I was in a very bad mood so I muted the phone and left him hanging for 20 minutes.

Sadly, he was still there when I 'got back to him' and said 'No'.

[_V_]

When the rec con calls you to ask your availability date, they don't actually care or want to know your availability date. They just want to see if you have any leads.

Rec con "So Tim, what's your availability"
Tim "Not till next August"
Rec con "Really? So you have a contract?"
Tim "Yes, at Microsoft, they are recruiting like mad"
Rec con "Yeah? Is Tom Baker still head there?"
Tim "No it's Barry Wilkins. Never heard of Tom Baker"
Rec con (to himself) "Thanks Timmy boy, just the lead I was looking for....."

HTH

[furbrains]

Hello there - this is a work in progress but we're already getting good stats and interest. Take a look and if you have any constructive comments then I'd like to hear them. The site simply records the availability date of the consultant, IT contractor, engineer etc, and the agency or end client simply queries the database using the email address of the contractor. It's not a job board or candidate database - you have to know already the contractor that you're looking for. Comments will be read and we'll act upon them. You won't find many IT guys on there yet, we've concentrated in a small section of the engineering market to get the process right, but I would love to hear what you think. I think we're saving a bucketload of time by setting up a site like this one, but what do I know!

The site is www.availabilitydate.co.uk

Respectfully yours,

Oracle Man