Recruitment agency scum

[Whits]

AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi all again!

had to say this somewhere been winding me up all yesterday and today!!!!!

The company im subbying to has just lost 3 contracts as they were undercut by 15%, so yesterday i was layed off boo hoo!,

i came home rang around all my contacts and they were all in the same boat.

so onto the t'interweb i went, search after search after search for jobs loads coming up but 95% of these jobs were from agencies - the scum of the earth! - paying us

 

[Pyro]

Sorry to hear that you have been laid-off. It's always a nasty experience to have to cope with.

Having never had the experience of agencies, I'm in the dark here, but I have questions for the wise:

Is there any way that members of this forum could band together and set up an agency?

How do the existing agencies get work?

Who are their clients?

Why do the agency's clients choose to use an agency?

How could the "Talkelectricianforum Agency" break into the same markets as the current agencies?

The agency would need to make money, but there is a difference between turning an operating profit and ripping-it. If a "Talkelectricianforum Agency" were started, and turned a serious profit, the agency members could benefit from an annual profit-share and/or a hard-times benevolent fund.

A worthy idea or not?

Pyro.

 

[Robojin]

Firstly sorry to hear that Pyro

I think the answer to your question is 'Exploitation' unfortunately it's fundamental to the capitalist system (and I'm not a fan of Socialism either, both systems are flawed)

Agencies and the like attract the bigger companies who need work done and feel comfortable that they are dealing with a credible organization (for the most part), the agencies allocate most of their budget to PR etc, by sub-contracting the work they of course keep the overheads down and keep most of the profit (rightly or wrongly)

As to the second question, possibly a better route than an agency is a franchise structure based around a single branding (e.g. Subways, Mac's etc ), however you still have a potential for a single point of wealth gravitation, so a solution might be along the lines of a co-operative franchise where all members retain a % of the asset value of the entity, however the drawback is as more members join the share value dilutes unless you can grow the franchise % value faster than the rate of membership

 

[green-hornet]

The problem lies with the government and the % of wages and taxes we all have to pay.

For a wage of say

 

[sparktobe]

sorry to hear of your msifortune Whits. those agencies bug the life out of me.

The problem lies with the government and the % of wages and taxes we all have to pay.For a wage of say

 

[WarrenG]

The way agencies work is simply advertise none existant jobs to begin with to pull you in, employ lots of young eager school leavers with fat Next ties with titles such as sales executive, to represent your many years of skills to companies the big cheeses at the agency have managed to get to sign up.

You are dealing with inexperience people who will make a commision on you if they put you in front of their client and you get the job.

The problem is these young up starts will generally know nothing about the industry you are in or for that matter anything about working life / business in general. Its easy for them to forget to mention you or give you the usual false promises or totally pull you out the running. After all there is that many looking for work they can play roulette with your CV.

Years ago agencies appeared to be very professional but in todays climate they appear to be very unprofessional. Sick of getting calls from young kids asking me if I would use their agency to recruit for a 10-15% fee of the advertised salary. i.e.

 

[Evans Electric]

Agree entirely with Warren G , why should they make a buck out of your hard work . You could be sent out on a site freezing your nuts off while they sit on their fat arses in the warm.

Kick 'em into touch !!!

 

[Theorysparky]

im signed up with 3 agencies

when work dries up i give them a call

they text me once a month with work if i want it commercial/industrial stuff as a sparky mate

they dont have that many good blokes on their books so im sought after..

 

[seajayess]

So what is the average pay for agency work per hour? CJS

 

[Lee321]

ok there are sum/lots of bad agencys. but some are very good i.e they properly enquire on references and check your jib registered and all ecs etc and also vet you through feedback from the client.

these agencys are the sort that get work from the large companies such as haden young or baileys etc.

rates typically in the midlands are