Reply to: Fishing Season

[mcquiggd]

...

Ive found it be a mixed bag.... some decent calls from honest agents, some are obviously fishing. For example theres been a posting for x ASP.Net developers in Amsterdam on one job board for a month - rang up originally and 'oh no, they went last week'. Im sure the advert will still be there on monday.

[Rebecca Loos]

well you are not a real business then and I will tell

[BoredBloke]

"And why not? The public sector is still a market to be exploited."

Have to agree - as I am curently exploiting this partiucular market at the moment!

[wendigo100]

It's like those companies that only work for the public sector, getting contracts through greasing the appropriate wheels - not real business IMO

And why not? The public sector is still a market to be exploited.

I think you'll find that wheel-greasing goes on across all business sectors.

[threaded]

Well, if you keep slicing things off that are not real businesses then what do you have left?

[Rebecca Loos]

Well Threaded you could argue that Leyland was then behaving not like a real business. A real business is like a plumber, for example, or a shop, a company that relies on its good name + advertising exposure to get a name for itself.

Leyland, yeah, whatever, don't tell me they were behaving like a proper, competitive business then. It's like those companies that only work for the public sector, getting contracts through greasing the appropriate wheels - not real business IMO

[DodgyAgent]

I was replying to rebecca

apologies threaded

[threaded]

I was replying to rebecca

[DodgyAgent]

This is a new one on me

Most real businesses have a small selection of clients, usually one or two big accounts, and they work for them for years and years and years.

As an example when that last bit of British Leyland finally realised it was dead with the consequent knock on to its suppliers. If the suppliers had many customers who were constantly changing it wouldn't have mattered to them would it?

This is a new one on me threaded, what do you mean by a "real business"

I always thought that a business neede to make money to be success ful

[threaded]

Most real businesses have a small selection of clients, usually one or two big accounts, and they work for them for years and years and years.

As an example when that last bit of British Leyland finally realised it was dead with the consequent knock on to its suppliers. If the suppliers had many customers who were constantly changing it wouldn't have mattered to them would it?

[Rebecca Loos]

working like a true business is hard, as it helps then to be a true business. What do you call a true business? A business with an ever-changing pool of clients, a business where you have to do all the marketing/advertising yourself?

Then clearly I am not a true business and I have no desire to be one, thank you very much. Very happy working with agents to find me work and get the client to pay the invoices

[voron]

Anyway agents. We all know what they're up to, we have to work with them still, so there you go. Let's stop whingeing and since we need them to find contracts, let's get along with them and play their little games. It's not as if we don't know the rules

I disagree with that. We don't need them in the truest sense. We are increasingly forced to work with them as they whisper in the ear of the client, making them believe the only viable option is to use a middle man.

The alternative is to operate like a real business and work direct.

[TwoWolves]

Anyway agents. We all know what they're up to, we have to work with them still, so there you go. Let's stop whingeing and since we need them to find contracts, let's get along with them and play their little games. It's not as if we don't know the rules

Just a natural symbiosis...

[Not So Wise]

Found the last week to be pretty busy, thank god because before that it was dead.

[Rebecca Loos]

Milan's right. I haven't been called in weeks. But during the summer, I was. And the spring.

Anyway agents. We all know what they're up to, we have to work with them still, so there you go. Let's stop whingeing and since we need them to find contracts, let's get along with them and play their little games. It's not as if we don't know the rules