Can I ask and agent these questions without arrogant or inexperienced ?

[Bellona]

Advice / opinions please....

I have been contracting about 14 months now.
First gig through recommendation, second gig through agent I had to contract through for the first gig.

Was on the bench for a month in between the first two gigs and was quite naive when dealing with agents ( spoken with hindsight after reading loads of posts here ! ).

This time round i'm trying to be a bit more savvy to weed out the non existent roles / lower level agencies / trawlers.

Anyway.............. last week I had a call about " a perfect role". Asked for spec/description, was told would be provided once I had agreed to be put forward - oh, and I needed a couple of references . I asked if they were Tier 1 supplier to the company concerned ( who they wouldn't disclose), and they got quite snippy with me.

I understand that if I ring the agents with an enquiry I could be a competitor wanting information, so they may be reluctant to give any details, but if an agent contacts me, with a (genuine) role, and wants me to agree for them to represent my application, surely it makes sense for me to
a) want to see the spec ! and
b) understand whether they are Tier 1 supply or not - its so hard weeding out duplicate jobs and, of course, I don't want a chain of agents taking a cut.

Thoughts ?

PS? :Last time round I would of offered up references. This time round they're not getting them until offer stage !

[northernladuk]

If you can guess their client you could go direct (or further up the agent tree) so they are generally won't give you any information that will give the situation away. Question is does it matter to you anyway? As you start looking around you will start to be able to guess who the clients are. Large financial client in Knutsford etc so a bit of homework can reveal the situation.

Getting a role spec is pretty key though so you can tailor your CV. Without one being available you can guess he is fishing. He should be able to cut and paste it without giving the clients name away. No spec and I start to get suspicious. You can then play his game if you can be bothered and circle each other like gladiators waiting to attack (You do like gladiators don't you?). Or you could just send him your CV, forget about it and move on. Don't take all the agent hate on board here. They are a necessary evil so deal with it and move on. Getting upset or starting wars with them won't help. Just understand them and play them at their own game when you can.

And just for Mr Mason... I looooooooooooooooooooove agents

[Dominic Connor]

I am a recruiter, this is a scam

I might even clam to be a (in)famous recruiter and if ever you feel you want to trust a pimp, trust me when I say this is a scam.

It isn't even a good scam. This is classic sales leads hunting.

They aren't even showing you the respect of making up a fake job, which to any competent scammer would be trivial. I would wager small money that the accent of the "agent" was Indian ?

I suspect this because as a recruiter I get spammed by outfits who offer to piss people around in this way for a fee.

Don't beat yourself up for nearly falling for it, we all start from zero, you asked a question, you learned from it.

[northernladuk]

I might even clam to be a (in)famous recruiter and if ever you feel you want to trust a pimp, trust me when I say this is a scam.

Hey Dominic... Wanna borrow an 'i'?

[Bellona]

Thanks.
Northern - yes, I like Gladiators and also Spartans (i'm an equal opportunities type of gal)

Family horrified that my message alert tone on my phone is an extract from 300 of Spartans "Hurraring".

I am balanced on the subject of agents, but some are definitely more genuine than others, and just want to come across as reasonable ( I want a spec) and hedge my bets (1st tier preferable).

Dominic - actually he had a northern accent , but now i'm going into stat mode and wondering why all the agents I speak to either have broad london or mancunian accents - nothing in between. Hmmm, in sheer boredom at being on my bench, however comfortable it is, might keep a tally of accents ( yes, I can really be that bored/anal!)

[Wanderer]

I suspect this because as a recruiter I get spammed by outfits who offer to piss people around in this way for a fee.

Ouchie, that's a tulipty thing for them to do.

How much do agents pay for a good lead these days, just out of interest?