Is the bench just full of dross?

[Jeebo72]

Serious question. I've been hiring now for 2 months and finally got my quota. And those that I've seen are shocking. Just met up with an old buddy who's in the same sector, and he's having the same trouble.

Is it that it's hard to get to see good people cos the agents are filtering out those asking for decent day rates...or is that that there’s no good people out there anyway? I have many good contacts in my field, but they are all in work.

[Mich the Tester]

Is it that it's hard to get to see good people cos the agents are filtering out those asking for decent day rates...

Nail. Head.

I've seen a load of CVs lately and they are all tulipe. Remember, it's not just agents that filter them but also the clueless dipsticks in HR and the clueless dipsticks in purchasing decide on a preferred suppliers list that can't provide decent people.

At the same time I know of very good people who are benched.

[threaded]

Exactly the same experience. I wrote about it in another thread some time ago.

What appears to be happening is the agents are upping their margin by asking a little less, and sending dross forward.

[doodab]

Serious question. I've been hiring now for 2 months and finally got my quota. And those that I've seen are shocking. Just met up with an old buddy who's in the same sector, and he's having the same trouble.

Is it that it's hard to get to see good people cos the agents are filtering out those asking for decent day rates...or is that that there’s no good people out there anyway? I have many good contacts in my field, but they are all in work.

In general the better, more experienced, people have been contracting for longer and have more to fall back on, both in savings and saleable assets like cars, and in income generating investments like property, or workable plan Bs. They often have lower outgoings as well, as having bought houses some time ago they have smaller mortgages.

So they are less likely to be looking for scraps.

[Mich the Tester]

Line manager at clientco is complaining about the dross too. I told him of a few guys I know who are trying to work direct instead of through agents; showed him 2 CVs which impressed him. He then asked permission from HR to interview them; no permission, not on the Preferred Suppliers List. His conclusion; ‘well f**k it, if they don’t let me hire the people I want then they can’t blame me when it all goes wrong’.

[minestrone]

I spoke to someone that was hiring and the spec was good skills at Java, Unix and Oracle but really it was java and one of the others and they would be happy with any RDBMS, they were struggling to get anyone to interview from the hundreds of CVs.

[downsouth]

Certainly the bench is not full of dross, highly likely to be quite the opposite, I too am looking at a stint myself on the bench quite soon, and why, well because agencies are taking the p1$$ on rates, filtering out experienced individuals by playing games with rates, requirements, practices etc.

Why dont those that are recruiting on here post a few lines for info/contact etc. that way any bencher's can almost deal directly but knowly avoid some of the agency tactics

[Mich the Tester]

I spoke to someone that was hiring and the spec was good skills at Java, Unix and Oracle but really it was java and one of the others and they would be happy with any RDBMS, they were struggling to get anyone to interview from the hundreds of CVs.

This is an example of what happens when an advert is placed saying ‘Do not respond if you do not have all of the skills named’. You end up with dipsticks who’ve done a bit of allsorts (or have put all the right keywords in their CV) but aren’t very good at anything in particular.

[threaded]

Why dont those that are recruiting on here post a few lines for info/contact etc. that way any bencher's can almost deal directly but knowly avoid some of the agency tactics

Well, I have personally advertised several jobs on here over the last few months, and only got agents sending me PMs.

[Churchill]

Well, I have personally advertised several jobs on here over the last few months, and only got agents sending me PMs.

Could the fact that you weigh 17 stone and we trust you as far as we can kick you clarify the situation for you?