Successful contractors rely predominantly on two things: winning work and ensuring that the money we earn works for us, not against us.
Whilst an umbrella company can ensure that we retain the maximum from our earnings, how can we be sure that our recruitment agency is doing its utmost to maximise our earning capacity?
What should your recruitment agency be doing for you?
There’s a mental barrier to cross for most contractors: paying recruitment agencies to find us work. But why is it like that? Surely they’re doing us a favour?
We see an ocean of jobs on freelance agencies across the globe that attract comparatively small fees next to those charged by the average UK recruitment agency.
However, when you’re competing in a global market, the odds are stacked against UK contractors for many reasons.
Cheap labour, time difference, US English requirements and even payment currency can all be barriers we’re not used to dealing with.
That’s why so many contractors eventually rely on recruitment agencies to source work as well as handle the payment and invoice aspects, albeit begrudgingly.
Is it in an agency’s favour to look after its contractors?
Let’s be brutal, without its temporary workforce (that’s us), a recruitment agency has nothing to offer its client base. So it stands to reason that we’ll get a good deal, right?
Yes, it does equate that recruitment agencies will look after its contractors, even with this underlying standoffishness between the two parties.
So how do we bridge the gap to develop long term relationships that will prove harmonious over the long term for contractor, client and agency?
The best way of smoothing the waters is to provide an overview of key points that we expect recruiters to specialise in and they can confirm that they’ll provide.
It stands to reason that these are points that contractors either struggle with or would rather let others handle on our behalf and recruiters have invested in to fill that gap.
What can you do to make sure you get your money’s worth?
Recruitment agents are pushy. It’s a competitive niche and, despite its growing size, agencies always want a bigger slice of the pie.
Cold calling often leads to a cold shoulder for agency staff, but each victory ensures us contractors aren’t left out in the cold.
Whether you agree with cold calling or not, as the potential recipient of successful lead generation through this tactic, we contractors have to take our hat off to the agency staff who put themselves through what is often a thankless task on our behalf.
Cold calling is, however, only the half of it. In order for organisations to accept calls from recruitment agency staff at all, barriers have to be breached at senior management level.
As Health and Safety tightens and recruitment becomes more stringent in automotive and/or liability-sensitive industries, component and service providers failing to make a preferred supplier list simply won’t get their feet in the door. That applies to temporary staff as well as the nuts and bolts of the specific industry.
Should a temporary vacancy arise, being able to fill the post swiftly is imperative. This is where the relationship between the contractor and agency genuinely comes into play.
Contractor and recruiters should focus on long-term opportunities, not job by job
The agency expects us to be truthful about our ability and experience. A client will expect the agency to have someone to hand to dispatch to their premises at the drop of a hat.
The level of trust all along that chain is apparent to all.
We expect the agency to be able to find us as a capable contractor on their database, negotiate the wage we’ve requested and get the details of the contract to us within the quickest possible time frame.
Beneath all of that negotiation, we expect the recruitment agency to handle aspects of long term contracts (and the renewal thereof) that may have implications to our income tax.
We expect agencies to forward relevant references to ensure we stand the best chance of getting hired in the first instance.
And we expect them to pay us on time, even if they themselves take a month longer to get the cash on account from the company to whom we’ve provided our services.
Contractors can take their recruitment agency for granted
Recruitment agencies take care of all of this within their fee. We also perhaps take for granted the good will generated by an agency’s reputation that we would be unable to replicate ourselves.
We also take it as read that the recruitment reaches and surpasses all of the legislation required to protect, both physically and from discrepancies we may otherwise face upon interrogation by the taxman should we be left to our own devices.
There are contractors who are excellent at handling every aspect of the freelance role. From selling themselves to ensuring they’re paid on time, a small minority do have that knack.
For the majority, however (9 out of 10 IT short term contracts are placed through recruitment agencies), they would rather pay a percentage of their salary and let an agency deal with the non-productive aspect of contracting. Of which, as you can see, there are many.
I’m not saying all recruitment agencies are equal. They’re not.
But at least now you have some idea of what they go through and, more importantly, a checklist of your own to ensure that your agency covers you for all eventualities.
This will allow you to be at your creative best at all time, whatever sector it’s in that you offer your services. Win-win-win for all parties, you can’t beat that!
What are your experiences of working either for a global freelance agency or a more local recruiter here in the UK?
Is paying an agency worth the fee they deduct from your nett rate? Or would you be better off dealing with the tax and NICS aspect of your own volition?
For some, the balance will be marginal. For others, the choice will be a no-brainer.
We’d love to know which way you like best and what else you’d maybe like your recruiter to over and above that which we’ve mentioned.
