Hello from a bench sitter.

[CalmEddie]

Not sure if hello threads are the thing on this forum, but I thought I'd say hi.

I've been contracting for about 10 years now and found the main site useful, and decided to join the forum today. Maybe to distract me from the discomfort of the splinters on this bench.

Been on the bench since Aug, after 6 years of repeat contracts gained by word of mouth. So a bit rusty on the searching for work thing.
The whole agency thing seems to be greatly confused from what I remember! They just seem to get in the way?

[Tarquin Farquhar]

Not sure if hello threads are the thing on this forum, but I thought I'd say hi.

I've been contracting for about 10 years now and found the main site useful, and decided to join the forum today. Maybe to distract me from the discomfort of the splinters on this bench.

Been on the bench since Aug, after 6 years of repeat contracts gained by word of mouth. So a bit rusty on the searching for work thing.
The whole agency thing seems to be greatly confused from what I remember! They just seem to get in the way?

Spot on.

Or as my partner puts it, "how the Hell did you shower of spineless wimps let these idiotic winkers get you into this situation?"

[MaryPoppins]

Sorry to hear you're on the bench. For someone like yourself, agents will probably prove quite puzzling. But for someone like me, who hasn't quite got to the going direct route, I have to grit my teeth as I rely on them to find me work! Assume you've got your CV on Jobserve and all the rest of it. Good luck...

[EternalOptimist]

What line are you in, Calm eddie ?

[norrahe]

Hello CalmEddie from a fellow benchee

It all depends on what line you are in, it you are niche then find out who the most common agencies are who advertise in your line of work, get a name of someone there that you can contact (LinkedIn - very useful).

These days, it seems any fool and his donkey are advertising gigs and companies are not exactly sticking to PSLs or they change them regularly based on the position.

One thing we are all finding is that, there are a lot of fake jobs and a hell of a lot of fishing. If any one asks you for passport details, national insurance or two references, you know to put the phone down sharpish.

Best of luck and hope you're off the bench, soon (with the rest of us).

[Not So Wise]

The whole agency thing seems to be greatly confused from what I remember! They just seem to get in the way?

Basiclly agencys provide 2 services

*Marketing/networking so instead of contractors having to contact 100's of clients they only need to contact a few dozen agencys (and same in reverse for the clients)

*A factoring service

No other benefit, and sometimes are more hassle than they are worth, especially the ones who try to advoid providing the second service

If you don't need the first service then no point in using them really

[CalmEddie]

Thanks folks. Re the line I'm in, I do IT projects. Programme, portfolio and project management, the whole shebang. Anything from a software deploy to a entire data-centre and all apps.

My trouble is, most of the pimps triaging the CVs in the first line don't know enough about it, and the second line don't really understand it. That and now so many people are putting project manager on their CVs when really they've only done a bit of project admin. Makes the whole thing a merry-go-round.

One thing we are all finding is that, there are a lot of fake jobs and a hell of a lot of fishing. If any one asks you for passport details, national insurance or two references, you know to put the phone down sharpish.

Ah - the old fake jobs trick eh? It's almost like the return of an old friend

[Zippy]

Hi CalmEddie

What area/technology do you work in?

[RichardCranium]

Not sure if hello threads are the thing on this forum, but I thought I'd say hi.

What ho!

So a bit rusty on the searching for work thing.

Selling yourself direct has not changed, except - as norrahe says - we now have LinkedIn to make it easier to track down past colleagues. If you are not on there, get on with it.

The whole agency thing seems to be greatly confused from what I remember! They just seem to get in the way?

You probably know this by now, but just in case: link.

[Board Game Geek]

Do you like movies about gladiators?

All sockies like movies about gladiators.