Its good to see Agencies humiliated once in a while!

[Cheshire Cat]

I've had a mostly positive experience of Pathway.
After my first contact with them I thought they were a bunch of chancers, as the guy I spoke to was EXTREMELY pushy and annoying. But after I got the gig I never heard from him again. I got an extension, which was handled smoothly, and I've never had payment problems with them. In fact, now I think of it, aside from the contract extension, I've never had to speak to them, which is probably for the best.
I'd question whether their "service" is worth the money they get, but that's the world we're operating in.
As a reasonably new contractor, I have little frame of reference, but I've been satisfied with Pathway so far.

[kryten22uk]

Would this 're-hiring' involve the original poster?

Not sure what you mean. I was completely independent from it all; just listening in.

[Dow Jones]

Because

Most large clients have PSL agreements which you have to follow for hiring and other matters

[NotAllThere]

Because some agencies (or specific agents) actually provide a good service, and do decent pre-screening of candidates. Square One and Nick Galley (whoever he's working for now) spring to mind. S3 spring immediately OUT of mind.

The particular role I was recruiting for above was permie. For contractors, I used my own contacts to get some good guys for direct work. But even then, I had to use an agency to fill on gap.

[PAH]

So why do you hirers and firers still bother with agencies at all?

Are you too lazy to post your own advert on jobserve? You still have to trawl through the CVs the agencies forward onto you.

I see very little benefit in dealing with agencies all round, they are more an hindrance than anything. From a contractor point of view it's only their ability to pay my invoices quicker than the client would that is beneficial.

Why don't more companies actively seek contractors direct?

[NotAllThere]

My desk is opposite the chief resource/contract decider for my client and today I was witness to quite an amusing conversation where he proceeded to grill Pathway Resourcing, concluding that he would never entertain work from them again.

He is currently responsible for the hiring of 30-40 contractors, so it aint going to send them under, but will certainly knock them down a peg!

I did that once - can't remember the agency - call in agency A. They'd nobbled my boss, and sent him a CV which he forwarded it to me. I'd already received it before from another agency (B) that I was quite happy using. However, the actually sending times was the other way round. No matter - I deal with them in the order I receive them.

So I did my usual pre-face to face telephone interview, and the candidate told me that A had threatened him with legal action if he went to interview. I called agency B and let them know what had happened, and to reassure the candidate. ( This was for a permie position, so it's not unusual for them to be scared of the big wide world ).

I then called agency A, and had a lovely time, with speaker phone on so the whole open plan office could hear, telling this agent that we'd never use them again, and how underhand, immoral and unethical they had behaved.

On another occasion I got a call, while hiring, from an agency that had previously tried (unsuccessfully) to sue my client in a previous contract. It was kind of fun explaining why my current company would never be dealing with them. What goes around comes around. One day, the contracter they've upset and threatened may be in a position of power over them. cue maniacal laughter...

[Dow Jones]

Premature celebration

Would this 're-hiring' involve the original poster?
wrt to anyone that has worked for them , they are the worst of the worst, only interested in the bottom line, hence not hard to find the dregs of contracting. I have often refused contractors from them without hesitation.

[tim123]

Do you know what they did to upset him?

From the contractor's pov they are a PITA to deal with, but I assumed that they acted better with clients

tim

[Wilmslow]

My desk is opposite the chief resource/contract decider for my client and today I was witness to quite an amusing conversation where he proceeded to grill Pathway Resourcing, concluding that he would never entertain work from them again.

He is currently responsible for the hiring of 30-40 contractors, so it aint going to send them under, but will certainly knock them down a peg!

Pathway are the WORST. They use a firm called Tactical to take a cut and mis-manage payroll, who are sister company and anything but tactical.

They deserve to be closed down IMVHO. (V = Very)

[kryten22uk]

My desk is opposite the chief resource/contract decider for my client and today I was witness to quite an amusing conversation where he proceeded to grill Pathway Resourcing, concluding that he would never entertain work from them again.

He is currently responsible for the hiring of 30-40 contractors, so it aint going to send them under, but will certainly knock them down a peg!