Reply to: Agency Lies

[DodgyAgent]

You're still sticking to ACCA members only?

I do hope so

[JaybeeInCUK]

I went for an interview in Edinburgh. Agency agreed to pay 50% of travel costs for the interview. I left home on a Friday at 5am parked at Heathrow, flight to Edinburgh; arrived at client's office 9am. 10am they gave the OK. Walked to the agency in the City centre and signed the contract to start Monday. Booked hotel for next week and booked the first flight for Monday am then flew back to Heathrow.

Monday morning on my way to Heathrow I get a text message that the end client has changed their mind due to budgetary issues. I never even got the 50% interview expenses back.

The first (and loudest) alarm bell should have rung at 50%. Either you pay, or they pay. This halfway-house stuff is horse-zhit.

[speling bee]

I wouldn't bother with Pioneer. They contact you, tell you that you are great and match the role - blah blah blah - and want to put you forward. But they wont' tell you who the client is. No thanks, heard that one before. I only deal with REAL agencies !

You're still sticking to ACCA members only?

[Paddy]

I went for an interview in Edinburgh. Agency agreed to pay 50% of travel costs for the interview. I left home on a Friday at 5am parked at Heathrow, flight to Edinburgh; arrived at client's office 9am. 10am they gave the OK. Walked to the agency in the City centre and signed the contract to start Monday. Booked hotel for next week and booked the first flight for Monday am then flew back to Heathrow.

Monday morning on my way to Heathrow I get a text message that the end client has changed their mind due to budgetary issues. I never even got the 50% interview expenses back.

[AussieDigger]

I wouldn't bother with Pioneer. They contact you, tell you that you are great and match the role - blah blah blah - and want to put you forward. But they wont' tell you who the client is. No thanks, heard that one before. I only deal with REAL agencies !

[lukemg]

[QUOTE=Gentile;1581672]Here are some rules of thumb that I've discovered over the years, and found to be huge time savers:

I think I'm in love - confident, smart and if the picture is true trim and blonde. It's all good and I would defo hire you on this basis, bollocks to the techy stuff, we can kick some deoderant-dodger a bit harder to cover....

[Old Hack]

Same here, I've worked in a male dominated industry for years and "being female" doesn't do you any favours. Maybe its different for tecchy roles.

Its not Norra. At the end of the day, if a man chose a woman for their looks, for a technical role, they'd not last long in the role. In Contracting, you are trying to get something done, not do someone. Trust me, as before with this poster, it's a little bit more about wanting people to look at her i.e. "Oh I am bottle shop blond and female and that helps me get gigs". Not true in the slightest and actually demeans women to say it, demeans men too. To be frank, if I had a woman letching it all up in an interview, it's very unlikely I'd put her forward; you want to know who's likely to do the role the best.

Just another pathetic post really.

[norrahe]

Crikey. I dunno if I agree with that. Give yourself more credit, chuck. Your post made me wonder if I have any advice, but I'm not a techy; and therefore suspect it's very different when I apply and interview for roles.

Same here, I've worked in a male dominated industry for years and "being female" doesn't do you any favours. Maybe its different for tecchy roles.

[Old Greg]

Well done. That's better than the usual dull toss you post on here you boring c**t.

There we go.

[TimberWolf]

Are you a socks user or a wierdo?

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Who                | Authenticated by                                  | Can authenticate?  | 
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    MaryPoppins        | cailin maith                                      |                    |

http://forums.contractoruk.com/gener...eople-cuk.html

Hypotheses non fingo.

[aussielong]

Twat

Well done. That's better than the usual dull toss you post on here you boring c**t.

[al_cam]

I have no idea what HSBC are doing out in Stirling, they request strong financial knowledge and experience as well so they are always going to struggle to fill roles as a lot of people will just not travel from Glasgow or Edinburgh.

Meanwhile, those of us with great experience but without the financial part can't get near the gigs despite Stirling being an easy commute from North Glasgow suburbs. FFS, I have proved that I can swap between sectors, what's so special about finance? Twunts.

[TestMangler]

LOL. so is that really you in the pic Gentile?

Dont look that bad to be honest.

[Old Greg]

I am pretty sure. Do you know otherwise?


Goldmans prop desk wind down:
Goldman winds down proprietary trading arm - FT.com

Black swan wiping out a hedge fund, read section on L.T.C.M.:
Black Swans: expecting the unexpected | Resilience Science


Why do people insult others randomly on here? I mean, I can understand a targeted retort but a random insult I find bizarre. I bet you wouldn't say boo to a goose in real life.

Twat

[JaybeeInCUK]

[*]Never apply to contract for banks. Unless you like working in bureaucratic environments, alongside bobs that exhibit a piss poor attitude and try to undermine everything you do because your actually getting stuff done makes them look bad.
.

[*]Never pitch for work on price. Yes, we're in a recession. Yes, there's more competition now (most of it of a low quality), but there's always somebody cheaper. You've got to focus on being better, and have the ability to prove it.

Largely agree. However the bottom-dollar dogs are fighting each other only out of poverty/desperation, and amongst them, you do have one or two bright sparks starting out on their way up. Better to be benched and improving your skills in comfort.

[*]Be female. I know you chaps wont have much choice in the matter, but trust me, when you go to an interview where you're up against half a dozen blokes that look as if they'll be wearing Death Metal t-shirts every day in the office, half of whom can't hold a conversation with anything that doesn't have a keyboard, it pays to have nice dress sense, long blonde hair, be presentable, and have the ability to communicate. You obviously need to be able to do the technical stuff too, but, all other things being equal, I'd be lying if I said that those other factors don't play a big and positive part. That's why I've landed some great gigs when I've been up against stiff competition. Nobody said life was fair, etc.

I imagine with the well-dressed and blonde part, it wasn't just the competition that was "stiff". (normally wouldn't permit myself such a bawdy joke with a woman, but you seem better placed than most to appreciate it). I myself have not shyed away a few times from flashing a beefy grin at a girl in traffic so she'd let me out..

[*]Be nice, but don't let anyone walk all over you. I judge agents on one criteria only: their ability or lack thereof to get me into an interview room with clients that are not deadbeats or tyre-kickers. If they can do that, I can forgive most other sins. Truth be told, some of the most effective ones I've dealt with have been people I wouldn't choose to go for a drink with personally, and conversely some of the ones that have been crap as agents have been nice as human beings. Fair / life / nice guys last, etc.

Another truism I'd agree with, with one great exception, a fella based in Bromley who is a solid chap and member of that small corner of the agency crowd who are both effective AND nice.

[*]Your friends aren't your customers, and your customers aren't your friends (which shouldn't stop you dealing with them fairly). I've been asked to do paying work for friends before, and I've always turned it down, or done what I've been asked to do for free if I had the time and I felt like doing it. It can ruin a friendship to do work that you don't get paid for. Similarly, being too pally with clients can make it difficult to maintain the professional distance that's necessary for a business relationship to work. Concentrate on being value for money for clients rather than their pal, and you'll be doing both yourself and them a favour.[/LIST]

Hmmmm....not been my experience, some of my best gigs (and it goes for my current one) have been with clients with whom the relationship is pretty incestuous, where I am we're FB friends, he's confided stuff about his life he wouldn't tell his Priest/Parents etc. One of my previous bosses from 5 years back is around my house every couple of months. I can't say I'm entirely comfortable knowing so much about a man who could end my job there in a flash if he put his mind to it, but so far it's worked very well.