Hello all

[kh64]

cheers, LondonManc. Good advice, there.
It's been a long time since I've dealt with agencies from the other side of the fence.

[LondonManc]

Cheers. I have a good list of contacts built up over my 20 years, but it's all perm.
I've been trying to go direct to companies via LI and direct postings on the likes on Indeed, but its like cutting my nose off to spite my face.

I talked to one agency guy this morning about a very good senior role i'd put myself forward for. He very clearly hadn't got the first idea what day it was let alone anything to do with IT. I looked him up on LI after our chat, he graduated from a business degree last year, and started his first job in IT recruitment in December.



Recently found myself getting short with kids at agencies and receptionists who's first question is what's my day rate before even passing me over to my contact, which isnt the best attitude.

I probably need to step away from it all for a week

Just say that your day rate varies depending upon the role and location.

Mine certainly does. They'd grab my hand off in London for me to work on my Manchester rate and hang up the opposite way round! Then there's how much stress you expect to be involved, how much you want the role, etc. (e.g. sacrificing £50/day may be worth it to get exposure to a new business area which is better longer term).

Don't forget to check out this thread for some of the stunts they pull:
http://forums.contractoruk.com/busin...eferences.html

In general, they want an easy route to spam the references and don't want you at all if they're asking for two references early on. I'll happily give them more than two after they've got me a role (and I know they don't want references, they want sales leads).

[kh64]

They see your experience (in years only, not skills) and that you're a long term PM - not many good AX PMs out there from what I've heard from a couple of good agents.

Cheers. I have a good list of contacts built up over my 20 years, but it's all perm.
I've been trying to go direct to companies via LI and direct postings on the likes on Indeed, but its like cutting my nose off to spite my face.

I talked to one agency guy this morning about a very good senior role i'd put myself forward for. He very clearly hadn't got the first idea what day it was let alone anything to do with IT. I looked him up on LI after our chat, he graduated from a business degree last year, and started his first job in IT recruitment in December.



Recently found myself getting short with kids at agencies and receptionists who's first question is what's my day rate before even passing me over to my contact, which isnt the best attitude.

I probably need to step away from it all for a week

[LondonManc]

Cheers, I do have a experience in Digital & Agile. Also around 11 years in cards, payments, ERP and their surrounding components (AR/AP/Collections, CRM, EDW/BI, etc). I absolutely shouldn't be short of agency contact at least.

Good luck!

I'm not even getting agency contact let alone getting my CV in front of a client

After 11 years in those areas and 21 in total, you'll hopefully have built some contacts up. Get on LinkedIn and sell yourself directly throughout your network. If the client then wants an agency middleman for convenience, you can (between you and the client) dictate terms to them (make sure there's no handcuff clause because they haven't earned one!

I am, however, taking 7 or 8 calls a day from agency kids who haven't got a clue what they're talking about and just looking to punt MS and AX roles

They see your experience (in years only, not skills) and that you're a long term PM - not many good AX PMs out there from what I've heard from a couple of good agents.

[ladymuck]

I am, however, taking 7 or 8 calls a day from agency kids who haven't got a clue what they're talking about

Welcome to contracting!

[kh64]

Welcome aboard.

Agile, Digital, Consultancy (Big 4) are the key PM flavours at the moment. So if you have any experience in these areas you should be quids in (and by that I mean contractor quids in..)

Cheers, I do have a experience in Digital & Agile. Also around 11 years in cards, payments, ERP and their surrounding components (AR/AP/Collections, CRM, EDW/BI, etc). I absolutely shouldn't be short of agency contact at least.

I'm not even getting agency contact let alone getting my CV in front of a client

I am, however, taking 7 or 8 calls a day from agency kids who haven't got a clue what they're talking about and just looking to punt MS and AX roles

[kaiser78]

Welcome aboard.

Agile, Digital, Consultancy (Big 4) are the key PM flavours at the moment. So if you have any experience in these areas you should be quids in (and by that I mean contractor quids in..)

[kh64]

Quick first post to say hi to all - short time lurker, first time poster. Recently took VR from the last in a 21 year permie IT Programme/Project Mgmt career.

I know, not the greatest time to look at contracting but I've got my redundancy to keep me going while I find the right role.

Anyway, hopefully i'll be contributing to this fine forum in some capacity going forwards....