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Agency Free Contracting?

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    Agency Free Contracting?

    Hello,

    I like a lot of other people hate agencies and I also hate the fact that make so much money out of contractors for doing next to nothing.

    I was thinking the other day how I could get away from having to deal with agencies and deal direct with the client.

    I think some sort of contractor alliance which operated behind a website which authorised clients could access would be a good idea, but it would take some advertising.

    So essentially you register at this site and upload your cv, fill out a profile containing your skills, which locations you will work in and keep your availability up to date. You make clients aware of this and create hem an account to use. They can search on various criteria such as skills and location, view reviews which other clients have left from your previous gigs etc. They can contact you via email, or directly in the website. They can post job ads in a forum etc. I'm sure with a bit more thought and input from others you could stick a load more ideas on the list. Contractors would need to invited by other members so you can have some control over who get in and you could also control who was allowed to join by their skill set so the place doesn't become saturated.

    I know you can do something similar on sites like Monster but you still have the problem with agents. You could ban agents from the site and only give out accounts to clients. The contractor would pay a small annual fee which would go towards paying the hosting costs and doing any advertising and marketing. This would be a non-profit organisation with full transparency on the finances. The site could obviously be created by the contractors, or maybe it could be outsourced

    What do you think about the idea? Getting it out there would be the tricky part but if everyone reading this made there client aware today that such a service exists and gave them an account you would be already well on your way.

    Can anyone see any problems with this? Or do you have any reasons why it wouldn't appeal to you? Does something pretty much the same already exist?
    Last edited by jkoder; 11 December 2008, 19:34.

    #2
    Maybe it's just me but I don't have much of a problem with an agent getting me a job...
    "I can put any old tat in my sig, put quotes around it and attribute to someone of whom I've heard, to make it sound true."
    - Voltaire/Benjamin Franklin/Anne Frank...

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      #3
      I've always gone direct where I could usually when going back to the client for the second time (not an extension), and almost always at the client's request.

      Back when agencies were good and did actually look after people I was more than happy to pass on the business.
      Me, me, me...

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        #4
        I'm sure somebody was going on about this a while back and made a website but I can't be bothered to search for it.

        Nice idea but unlikely to work in practice.

        You rarely get a direct gig unless it is somebody you have worked for before and they know your capabilities, the rest of the time they pay agents to do the legwork for them because it takes time to filter through resumes and find the right person, time most clients don't have.

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          #5
          Originally posted by cojak View Post
          Maybe it's just me but I don't have much of a problem with an agent getting me a job...
          Me neither - whilst in 1999-2003 an dfrom 2004 to 2007 there were ALOT of cowboys and losers from a sales background - alot will be dropping in 2008 and the good ones that helped businesses grow and were in effect "good" will be the ones that stay.

          I actually have enjoyed working with my agents this year - although not sure what will happen next year!

          Just be aware of the cowboys when they phone up - youll know who they are but what they say

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            #6
            Originally posted by jkoder View Post
            Hello,

            I like a lot of other people hate agencies and I also hate the fact that make so much money out of contractors for doing next to nothing.

            I was thinking the other day how I could get away from having to deal with agencies and deal direct with the client.

            I think some sort of contractor alliance which operated behind a website which authorised clients could access would be a good idea, but it would take some advertising. ?
            You will be the 903rd pereson to have tried this idea

            and the 903rd person to fail

            HTH

            tim

            Comment


              #7
              is this a troll??

              see contractor alliance sticky at top of forum....

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by jkoder View Post
                I think some sort of contractor alliance which operated behind a website which authorised clients could access would be a good idea, but it would take some advertising.
                What a good idea!

                If only there were such a contractor alliance somewhere
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                  #9
                  Originally posted by TheFaQQer View Post
                  What a good idea!

                  If only there were such a contractor alliance somewhere

                  Anyone used it and have any reports to report?
                  Feist - 1234. One camera, one take, no editing. Superb. How they did it
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                    #10
                    This idea appears regularly and it never comes to much.

                    Personally I'm happy for agents to do my sales and marketing for me.

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