Is there a role for a different type of IT agent

Is there a role for a different type of IT agent (11 Comments)

Author

Gerry McLaughlin

Date

30/7/2010

Article:

Agents

Many IT contractors, when they first start out contracting, when they see the words ‘agency’ and ‘agent’ think that what they have found is someone who will act on their behalf, and in their best interests, to obtain as many jobs and as high a rate as they can for them.

After all, it is in their interests isn’t it?

The contractors know the model of the theatre and cinema where actors’ agents are known as Mr. Tenpercent.

There is also the footballer model as well where the agents look after the contractors best interests when negotiating with the football clubs.

They assume that there is some set margin which the agents take, just as they assume that they will look after their best interests.

As contractors with more experience will know, nothing could be further from the truth.

Not Agents

Agents aren’t agents as such, in the sense that the rest of the world knows agents. Any external loyalty that they have would be to the client. Their interests are in the following order:-

1.     Themselves
2.     Their department
3.     Their company
4.     The client
5.     The contractor

Why So?

So, why do we have this model in the IT world? Why do we not have the same model as actors and footballers have?

Is it just the way it started out in IT?

Would the actor / footballer model work in IT? After all this is the most commonly used model in the world outside IT.

Would there be a role for agents who were real agents and who found work and got increases for the contractors on their books?

There would potentially be a lot of money for an agent who had a few hundred (or thousand) contractors on his or her books.

In Action

If they didn’t have work for a particular contractor they could get contact other agents who did have more work than they had contractors and split the fee.

They could also concentrate in particular skills or knowledge areas so that companies would know who to go to when they had a vacancy.

This is not to say that the current agency model would have to go. The two models could co-exist.

So, what do our readers, contractors and agents, think?

Is it a desirable model?

Would this model work?

Would you prefer to be represented by a real agent or do you prefer the existing model?

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Article Comments: (11)

Post your comments in response to this article

Is there a role for a different type of IT agent Agencies @ 30/7/2010 08:47:28

Should there be a change in the law to encourage this?

Is there a role for a different type of IT agent easty @ 30/7/2010 11:02:13

Something needs to happen with agents and I'd settle for some common sense. I sent my cv off for a contract which was vague about location and asked them to tell me what part of London they were talking about, as outer suburbs could cover Watford to Bromley. 4 days later I thought I'd got an answer but no its the same agent telling me about a role I have no skills for, 350 miles from where I live.

Is there a role for a different type of IT agent Ajax @ 30/7/2010 11:11:42

Something needs to change, that's for sure because the current model doesn't work for the contractor and poorly serves the client, in my opinion.

For the the last two interviews I attended, I was:

a) told too late what to put in my portfolio to take to the client, i.e. not until I was on the station platform going to the interview was I told to take technical diagrams. This is too late and, because of what I do, my portfolio is very important during the interview process.

b) given the interview details and contacts very late, again not giving me enough time to prepare. I was then sent to the wrong address! Only my knowledge of the area and client's premises meant I arrived on time.

In the latter case I believe I was deliberately set up to fail and make another contractor shine. Good luck to whoever got the role but I'd rather not have wasted my time.

How were either of those agents acting in my interests? It's $hite and it needs to change.

Is there a role for tunneling? ANSWER @ 2/8/2010 06:50:44

ANSWER.- It depends

Although this subject has been very much in the News recently and law enforcement is having some success at the moment, the are perfactly legitimate uses of the technique.

For reasons of security however illegitimate users should be forced off the net.

Is there a role for a different type of IT agent Anon @ 2/8/2010 08:22:16

"For reasons of security however illegitimate users should be forced off the net."

What utter bullshit. People who talk shit about things they know nothing about should be forced back to school.

Getting back to the article, my question is why are footballers, actors, etc, exempted from the current regulations?

Is there a role for a different type of IT agent Captn P @ 2/8/2010 11:49:23

@Anon,

I would guess that most of them actually pay PAYE/NI on a self employed basis. One of the jobs that the agent handles for thier 10% fee.

Most contractors were self employed, till the last conservative government changed the law and made clients/agents liable for unpaid tax and NI by self employed workers. I'm pretty sure this was around 1990? This effectively forced everyone to go Ltd.

This then in turn was followed up by IR35 which shifted the liability for "unpaid" taxes to the contractor. Of course this was only applied to IT contractors.

Is there a role for a different type of IT agent Anon @ 2/8/2010 12:37:18

@Cap'n P :- makes sense. Legally the self-employed would be paying agents to find customers, rather than "jobs".

Being Aug 2nd another aspect of the last tory govt comes to mind. It's exactly 20 years since the west's conflict with Iraq began. Those tories promised us back then it would be a "short war". Critics who claimed it would still be going on ten years later were derided as fools. Here we are 20 years on with the disasterous war still on-going with no end in sight and around three milion people killed.

Never trust a tory (or labour, who are little more than a branch of the same party). .

Is there a role for a different type of IT agent GOD @ 4/8/2010 07:47:26

"What utter bullshit." says Anon

Rubbish. It's people like you, who are obviously up to no good, who should be taught a lesson they won't forget!

We don't need crooks in IT.

Is there a role for a different type of IT agent Captn P @ 4/8/2010 15:58:15

LOL ... nice troll bait ...

Is there a role for a different type of IT agent Captn P @ 4/8/2010 15:58:55

Its all a bit lame ...go away dude ...

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