Paul The Programmer

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The end of the agent?

Posted at 04:41 PM on April 04, 2009

Ask yourself what an agent does, is it worth it?

Are they putting you into contact with new customers or just trying to make a sale?

Are they matching your skills with the perfect client or are they gathering your CV and playing a numbers game with your career?

Do they help you build a community of exceptional followers of your work or keep you as an anonymous resource?

Do they profit share with you or with themselves?

Do they help you to make cost savings or are they making more than you?

The internet changes the playing field. Agents no longer have the monopoly on potential clients and rarely do they help you network with other contractors, other agents or those likely to help you.

So why use an average agent? If your agent isn?t doing these things for you, ask yourself what are they doing.

Categories: April 2009

1 Comment

Reply Andy P

04:46 AM on November 06, 2009

Hi Paul,
I completely agree with what you say,

Ive been contracting since 2006 and have never had a contract through an agent despite countless conversations. If anything on my latest contract I found the agency to be a hindrance. I had an excellent working relationship with the end client, they called me to see if I was free and I obviously agreed.

When the agent became involved (to dot the is and cross the official ts) they ended up almost preventing me from taking the job ? all because of references... my last roles were with the same client, however its this companies policy that they are not allowed to give professional references.
The agent needed 2 professional references from the last 2 roles... catch 22.. my last two roles were with the same client!

So in the end even though Id been working for the same client for the last few years very successfully because of agent inflexibility I almost couldnt take the role which myself and the client had agreed before we got the agent involved.

The worst thing was when everything cleared, the agency had the cheek to come out with the same old line... agent to client: weve found an excellent contractor for you agent to me: weve found an excellent role for you when in fact all they done nothing of the sort and all they added was complication to an informal agreement made between client and myself....

I also find their standard contracts to be so far removed from my working practices and yet so inflexible that I rarely can do anything to get the changed to reflect actual working practices.

Unfortunately they seem to be a necessary evil ? people you have to keep on side as they act as the gatekeepers to your career. I think its time for a new way

A.

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