Bad Agents/Agencies

[Drei]

Gonna get straight to the point, is there a post where we can find Agents/Agencies to avoid and ones that are actually decent?

Are we even able to post stuff like this without being called for libel? At the end of the day if they are that bad why shouldn't other contractors know to avoid them? It seems more am more that the market is all about the numbers, just as bad as estate agents, don't think agencies bother working exclusively and actively looking for new roles.

What about companies that give you a problem at interview stage and ask you how you would go about solving it... sounds like a free 1 2 hour consulting to me. I may be paranoid but some really did look like they were asking multiple candidates different questions from a bigger problem. I think some call that "brain fu***ng".

[BrilloPad]

A lot of that is quite subjective.

[Old Greg]

gonna get straight to the point, is there a post where we can find agents/agencies to avoid and ones that are actually decent?

Are we even able to post stuff like this without being called for libel? At the end of the day if they are that bad why shouldn't other contractors know to avoid them? It seems more am more that the market is all about the numbers, just as bad as estate agents, don't think agencies bother working exclusively and actively looking for new roles.

What about companies that give you a problem at interview stage and ask you how you would go about solving it... Sounds like a free 1 2 hour consulting to me. I may be paranoid but some really did look like they were asking multiple candidates different questions from a bigger problem. I think some call that "brain fu***ng".

YACNCOTBAC

zzzz

[WTFH]

You can always search on here by the agent name. If they are really bad they might even have their own thread.

[stek]

Gonna get straight to the point, is there a post where we can find Agents/Agencies to avoid and ones that are actually decent?

Are we even able to post stuff like this without being called for libel? At the end of the day if they are that bad why shouldn't other contractors know to avoid them? It seems more am more that the market is all about the numbers, just as bad as estate agents, don't think agencies bother working exclusively and actively looking for new roles.

What about companies that give you a problem at interview stage and ask you how you would go about solving it... sounds like a free 1 2 hour consulting to me. I may be paranoid but some really did look like they were asking multiple candidates different questions from a bigger problem. I think some call that "brain fu***ng".

All the Indian agencies for starters.

[northernladuk]

Gonna get straight to the point, is there a post where we can find Agents/Agencies to avoid and ones that are actually decent?

Are we even able to post stuff like this without being called for libel? At the end of the day if they are that bad why shouldn't other contractors know to avoid them? It seems more am more that the market is all about the numbers, just as bad as estate agents, don't think agencies bother working exclusively and actively looking for new roles.

What about companies that give you a problem at interview stage and ask you how you would go about solving it... sounds like a free 1 2 hour consulting to me. I may be paranoid but some really did look like they were asking multiple candidates different questions from a bigger problem. I think some call that "brain fu***ng".

If you aren't capable of handling agents then you need to try here or here.

HTH

[Drei]

If you aren't capable of handling agents then you need to try here or here.

HTH

Nice one it's more about wasting time with an agency, after all they will probe and ask you all kind of questions and yes even if you tackle them I rather not waste 30 minutes of my time if I know they have a bad record. Maybe they don't pay on time or try to take you for a fool, so many things that could go wrong.

A little bit of searching did point me here http://forums.contractoruk.com/business-contracts/107331-top-15-recruitment-agency-tricks-9.html which covers some of it and as others have mentioned by searching the name they might pop up.

northernladuk mate saying that if you cannot handle agents you should do something else it's like saying hey don't warn me about pot holes, ice on the road or God knows what other dangers because I am an excelled driver and I can take on the world.

I once had an agent that came to my house... yeah believe you me. I got two offers and was weighting between the two, guy wanted me to accept his offer. I opened the door and there he was "I live locally and thought it was a good idea to pop by to see if you received the offer and if you could sign and give it to me now"
I have no idea if he did live locally or just wanted the commission sooo badly.

[uk contractor]

Just assume most are going to screw you over for money or the role/referees. Its easier that way & all part of the game go perm if you cannot handle their at times questionable working methods. To be fair though a lot of agency contact is with junior staff you only really get the more senior experienced agents who know what they are doing at the offer stage before then its usually an ex-supermarket employee or ex-telesales person learning the ropes & playing you as part of that learning curve!

[Drei]

Just assume most are going to screw you over for money or the role/referees. Its easier that way & all part of the game go perm if you cannot handle their at times questionable working methods. To be fair though a lot of agency contact is with junior staff you only really get the more senior experienced agents who know what they are doing at the offer stage before then its usually an ex-supermarket employee or ex-telesales person learning the ropes & playing you as part of that learning curve!

20 years in the game mate, Perm is just as bad... I see no difference between Perm Agents and Contract Agents. Funny but I think Contract agents are actually nicer because they know that you will be around for a while, there is a high chance that in the future you may be in a managerial position and will remember them, same goes for doing business with you in the future. Been here all my life, not gonna move any time soon and I am only going up in my career. In a Perm role they will get that commission once then you might decide to stay with the company 50 years.

Don't forget that even if the role is Senior you might still get the odd cowboy thinking they can secure that big commission after seeing the role on some job site somewhere. The copy paste thing mentioned in the thread I linked above.

But yeah, point taken.

[northernladuk]

Sorry but that's just tosh. Be nice to you because there is a high chance you'll be in a Managerial position? There is so much wrong with that statement I don't know where to begin....