Reply to: Setting up the 9% agency

[DodgyAgent]

I am not suggesting an alternative model. I am suggesting the same model done better, by a better quality of staff, and for the good of the talent as well as the good of the ClientCo.

(BTW: This next big doesn't include you nor all agents but......)

I am sick of being handled oft times by semi-literate, fat-tied, barrow boys when I am a highly educated engineer-manager. I would like to be managed by professionals who understood the market, my needs, my qualifications etc. The IT recruitment industry needs to improve and IT Consultants need to be involved in this process or it will never happen....

I am in total sympathy with your views. Unfortunately the placing of contractors has become a process rather than a networking communication skill. Many of the types of people you talk about (those that understood about IT yet were fabulous sales and networking people) grew out of the likes of computer people , Eurolink etc etc and set up their own agencies. These types of characters no longer exist except as niche small suppliers-they have all sold out and are living in the carribean . So mainstream jobs are handled within the context of process driven PSLs which are driven by cost and controlled by low level knobs in HR and resourcing. The business has been de skilled and placements rely much more on IT systems that match key words.

What you are suggesting is rolling back the clock and I am afraid that it wont work on any real scale. What may work is wrapping up your service as a managed service (T&M, SLA, Fixed Price)/solution provider that includes managed staffing. This you can take directly to IT without having some little Hitler or jobsworth in HR/Resourcing reeling off the PSL line.

[BlackenedBiker]

If there was an alternative and better business model for placing contractors then it would exist. How would you suggest using your roladex in any other way than tele sales?

I am not suggesting an alternative model. I am suggesting the same model done better, by a better quality of staff, and for the good of the talent as well as the good of the ClientCo.

(BTW: This next big doesn't include you nor all agents but......)

I am sick of being handled oft times by semi-literate, fat-tied, barrow boys when I am a highly educated engineer-manager. I would like to be managed by professionals who understood the market, my needs, my qualifications etc. The IT recruitment industry needs to improve and IT Consultants need to be involved in this process or it will never happen....

[Pondlife]

If there was an alternative and better business model for placing contractors then it would exist. How would you suggest using your roladex in any other way than tele sales?

Maybe the contractors already on site flag the requirement up in said portal?

[DodgyAgent]

Go on then tell me what is difficult about attracting good recruitment talent to an agency with a database of highly qualified IT talent and a roladex of pretty much every company in the country that recruits temp IT consultancy.

There is pretty much no barrier to entry into your industry. The majority of agents are simply tele-sales.

True fact Real talk.

Prove me wrong, I dare you

If there was an alternative and better business model for placing contractors then it would exist. How would you suggest using your roladex in any other way than tele sales?

[BlackenedBiker]

Which planet do you live on?

Go on then tell me what is difficult about attracting good recruitment talent to an agency with a database of highly qualified IT talent and a roladex of pretty much every company in the country that recruits temp IT consultancy.

There is pretty much no barrier to entry into your industry. The majority of agents are simply tele-sales.

True fact Real talk.

Prove me wrong, I dare you

[DodgyAgent]

We just employ an agent (or as the enterprise increases a number of agents). We identify through our membership the agents that are ethical and work well and transparently in existing agencies and recruit them.

Simples. It is just a running cost of the agency. They do the work, but in a proper, regulated and ethical manner.

What is so hard.

Which planet do you live on?

[BlackenedBiker]

It will never work. It is one thing finding a list of available contractors but nailing and negotiating the one with the right skills at the right time at the right place is a very time consuming task.
Variables include;

is the contractor available
what other jobs is he up for
is the location convenient

from the contractor perspective

he has to keep as many options open as possible without letting on that he may not take the job that he doesnt really want
Playing one job off against another to get a better rate
will want a job that is convenient, will enhance his skills set will be well paid

These variables between client and contractor rarely match each other so imagine the time spent by a hiring manager trawling through multiple CVs, tracking down a shortlist, arranging interviews and then negotiating terms of a contract.

Clients want three or four CVs on their desk that match their requirement both in terms of skills availability and price. They want to make one phone call to arrange all the interviews and then another call to make the final selection.

We just employ an agent (or as the enterprise increases a number of agents). We identify through our membership the agents that are ethical and work well and transparently in existing agencies and recruit them.

Simples. It is just a running cost of the agency. They do the work, but in a proper, regulated and ethical manner.

What is so hard.

[OrangeHopper]

It will never work. It is one thing finding a list of available contractors but nailing and negotiating the one with the right skills at the right time at the right place is a very time consuming task.
Variables include;

is the contractor available
what other jobs is he up for
is the location convenient

from the contractor perspective

he has to keep as many options open as possible without letting on that he may not take the job that he doesnt really want
Playing one job off against another to get a better rate
will want a job that is convenient, will enhance his skills set will be well paid

These variables between client and contractor rarely match each other so imagine the time spent by a hiring manager trawling through multiple CVs, tracking down a shortlist, arranging interviews and then negotiating terms of a contract.

Clients want three or four CVs on their desk that match their requirement both in terms of skills availability and price. They want to make one phone call to arrange all the interviews and then another call to make the final selection.

I appreciate fully what you are saying but I wonder whether the idea of endorsing a particular agency might work. Plus a portal to support that agency.

[DodgyAgent]

What about a place endorsed, by CUK contractors, that allows clients to look for prospective contractors. It would probably be run by/as an agency but it would be, again, one endorsed by the contractor community. A one/stop shop.

It will never work. It is one thing finding a list of available contractors but nailing and negotiating the one with the right skills at the right time at the right place is a very time consuming task.
Variables include;

is the contractor available
what other jobs is he up for
is the location convenient

from the contractor perspective

he has to keep as many options open as possible without letting on that he may not take the job that he doesnt really want
Playing one job off against another to get a better rate
will want a job that is convenient, will enhance his skills set will be well paid

These variables between client and contractor rarely match each other so imagine the time spent by a hiring manager trawling through multiple CVs, tracking down a shortlist, arranging interviews and then negotiating terms of a contract.

Clients want three or four CVs on their desk that match their requirement both in terms of skills availability and price. They want to make one phone call to arrange all the interviews and then another call to make the final selection.

[DodgyAgent]

That's what factoring services are for. Or maybe just model it on the way contracting used to work decades ago - end client pays contractor and contractor then pays the agency.

Quite. If at first it is tricky then do a deal with the contractors explaining that they will get paid as soon as you do. Once the track record is established get factoring and keep your contractors informed.

The biggest difficulty by far is getting the requirements and having good lines of communication with the decision makers.

[OrangeHopper]

I've never been paid weekly. I've always raised a single invoice a month and expect to be paid within 28 days. What's wrong with that model?

Ok, still need factoring if 60 day client payment but can't this be an extension to the adopted agency's factoring arrangement?

[bobhope]

That's what factoring services are for. Or maybe just model it on the way contracting used to work decades ago - end client pays contractor and contractor then pays the agency.

[malvolio]

The real problem is not running the agency, it's finding the dead money you need to support paying 100 contractors before getting paid yourself.

If you have 100 people in contract at an average £250 a day, every 7 days you have to pay out £125k. It will be an average 60 days before you get that money back from the client, so you are carrying a running daily debt of (£125k * 60) = £7.5 million... plus interest.

Still think it's a good idea?

[OrangeHopper]

What about a place endorsed, by CUK contractors, that allows clients to look for prospective contractors. It would probably be run by/as an agency but it would be, again, one endorsed by the contractor community. A one/stop shop.

[Diver]

I am sure that delivering the service would not be a problem, though there is a skill and dodginess required in negotiating placements.

FTFY