Best IT Recruitment Consultant Ever
I have to say the best IT recruitment consultant ever I had the privilege to work with was Justin Broadbent.
He got me a contract with ABN bank in Pall Mall in London. I was there for 2 years and 8 months altogether with quite a few renewals.
It didn’t start very well.
Late First Payment from Agency
I didn’t receive my first payment through his agency. There were several delays when his agency didn’t pay up.
He said it was teething problems with setting up a payment system.
He had just broken away from a major agency and had just set up his own.
I spoke with the client and they said if the agency didn’t pay up soon they would not pay them any money. They would pay me direct.
However, I gave Justin’s fledgeling agency one last chance.
He said that the money would be with me within a few days.
I was sceptical and said I wanted it now.
Would Bring the Money to Me
He said “look if you really want it, I’ll go down now to my personal bank account and draw out the money. I’ll head immediately over to Pall Mall to give it to you”.
So, I said that I would give him the couple of days that he asked.
The money came into my bank account in a couple of days. That was the last bad experience I ever had with him.
We had a good relationship after that.
Bought His Round of Drinks
He would regularly come down to my workplace after work when I went for a drink with my work buddies and he would always buy a round of drinks.
Any time I heard of any vacancies coming up I contacted him and he got other people in there.
He paid out a reward of £250 for anyone he placed that I gave him – which was quite generous in those days.
Also, he regularly got me renewals with pay increases and he didn’t add to his margin at all.
He was a good negotiator for his contractors.
Agency Bashes at Roof Gardens and Hippodrome
Even though his was just a small agency his agency bashes were the best.
I remember one of them being at the Roof Gardens in Kensington / Knightsbridge.
That’s some place with streams flowing in the roof gardens seven floors up and pink flamingos as well as all sorts of bushes, trees and plants.
We were inside in the Disco.
Madonna and Geroge Harrison
Earlier that day Madonna and George Harrison of the Beatles had given an interview there about some film or other that Madonna was in and George Harrison was sponsoring through his Hand Made Films.
At the Disco that night was Feargal Sharkey the lead singer of the Undertones who made DJ John Peel’s favourte ever song Teenage Kicks.
Also, there at the disco was American footballer, William Perry, called the Refridgerator or The Fridge who had won the Superbowl that year with The Chicago Bears.
He was with a girl and we went to talk to him.
This crazy Geordie friend of mine asked him if he wanted to go outside with him which puzzled the Fridge quiet a lot.
He could easily have thrown my friend over the roof if he had so chosen as he was around 22 stone, from memory – and could run 100 metres in 11 seconds.
Hippodrome Agency Bask in London
Another agency bash that he set up was at The Hippodrom in London.
He was always very generous in buying the drinks, booking the best places to go and in letting you keep all of your renewal rise.
He really was a hands-on agent and I considered him a friend – as did many of my friends and fellow contractors who he had never placed but whom he always invited along.
And we always invited him along if we were doing anything ourselves.
Building Relationships Between Recruiters and Contractors
If all agents were like Justin we would never have any of the bad feeling that there is currently between recruiters and contractors.
He built up his agency through sheer hard work and making good relationships with both contractors and clients.
Indeed, when we went to other places where he didn’t have an ‘in’ we would introduce him to the client and recommend him.
This is how a relationship should work between contractors and recruiters.
If you have good relationships with people there is no need for any of the sneaky tricks and stunts that some recruiters pull.
Justin Broadbent – The Best IT Recruitment Consultant Ever
So, here’s to Justin Broadbent – the greatest of them all.
He has now gone on to greater things as the Chairman of Isoenergy.
Who is the best IT recruitment consultant ever you dealt with?
Let us know in the comments section.
End
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