Agencies and the market

[hgllgh]

My gig's coming to an end and I'm hearing rumors that the contractor market is starting to tank . Is this true ?

I am wondering if agents will use the credit crunch as an excuse to lower rates whilst keeping their rates static and pocketing the difference.
Anyone talking to agents recently? What are the saying about rates?

[NickFitz]

My gig's coming to an end and I'm hearing rumors that the contractor market is starting to tank . Is this true ?

I am wondering if agents will use the credit crunch as an excuse to lower rates whilst keeping their rates static and pocketing the difference.
Anyone talking to agents recently? What are the saying about rates?

Depends which industry you're in and what your skills are.

It appears that the City is tightening its collective belt at the moment, but the media and web industries (where I hang out) seem to be pretty vibrant still.

[DimPrawn]

Agents would never do that would they?

Dodgy?

[Jog On]

I expire at the end of this month as well. Market looks a lot slower than it did last time I looked.

Anyone talking to agents recently? What are the saying about rates?

Send IT Contractors to Jail

That would make the market pick up wouldn't it

[DimPrawn]

You and about 10,000 city IT bods.

Good luck.

[DodgyAgent]

Agents would never do that would they?

Dodgy?

Absolutely we would'nt exploit the situation like that. Infact I am voluntarily dropping my , sorry margins in order to help my contractors to be as competitive as possible

It is great because they are all (bending over) at extension time

[BlasterBates]

hurry up, things are pretty good at the moment, compared to what they will be in 6 months time.

[DimPrawn]

hurry up, things are pretty good at the moment, compared to what they will be in 6 months time.

WHS. If you are nearing the end of a contract, I'd secure the next one pretty sharpish.

[hgllgh]

Absolutely we would'nt exploit the situation like that. Infact I am voluntarily dropping my , sorry margins in order to help my contractors to be as competitive as possible

It is great because they are all (bending over) at extension time

are rates coming down genuinely is the question then ?

[TheBigYinJames]

sigh .... i will search river deep and mountain high to go direct for my next contract ... if clients want to cut costs why don't they just cut the dodgyagents of this world out of the equation?

Because agencies provide so much value-add

- they check candidate previous work references thoroughly, and don't just say "yeh he's ok"

- they do criminal records and immigration searches on them, and don't just say "yeh he's ok"

- they use their network of industry contacts to headhunt the best candidates, and they don't just trawl jobserve/jobsite boards for keyword matches

- they are specialists in their field, and don't just end up asking the candidates "yes I know it says on your CV you write HTML, but do you have any web experience?" (or my personal favourite: "Oh you have 4 years C# experience, but I need to know if you have any exposure to dotNet?")

- they look after the candidates, and take care of relaying your interview feedback to them, and don't just forget they even exist once a candidate's been chosen

It's obvious why companies use them.