Agents Add Value
An agent tells us how agencies add value to IT Contractors.
A reader posted this as Comments after an article of ours.
Work Involved
Can any of you work out that there is still a cost and involves work from an agencies perspective after the original contract has run its course?
Agents payroll contractors for the whole term they are on-site.
OK, I appreciate there may be an argument for fees being reduced after that first contract period, but for a small agency there is going to be a minimum operating margin that they need to make in order to even justify that payroll fee (as an absolute minimum this needs to be around 5% or the agent is operating at a loss on that contractor).
Become Permie
If you want to be in direct employment by a client then go permie and the client will pay the one off fee you are all so obsessed with.
But a good agent would put considerable time into nurturing their relationship with you, making sure they negotiate well on your behalf at extension time, pay you on-time and immediately every month or week, even if they have up to 60 day payment terms with their clients etc – so you cant expect to carry on working through them for nothing!
Helping Contractors
At the end of the day though, the job of the agent is to make sure that the contractor values their relationship with you, and that at extension time they WANT to carry on working through you.
At the very least you want to make sure they want you to help them get their next contract.
If the agent can’t manage that basic task then they deserve to be screwed over and the contractor go direct.
And yes I am an agent – just one who works very hard to make sure I provide a service that justifies me charging a fee where I can add value to IT Contractors.
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