:)
Personally from experience the whole Us vs Agency mentality is fast spreading into negative b.s
These days an agency does swfa other than hold up its brand and market itself via job channels. Most recruitment agencies hire visa carrying imports (usually from the UK), reason being is its an easy job and its easy to get into (can you sell, congrats your hired).
I don't have a problem with the recruitment industry, what I have a problem with is the fact they don't *know* their industry? You can throw around analogies all day -- bottom line, if you don't know enough about the product / service your are selling, then your just going to piss both the employer and employee off.
I resent the fact that most recruitment firms take a slice off the top for doing nothing. Its their job to source the appropriate person for the prospective job? Instead you have morons at the helm who couldn't give a flying shit about you or your expertise, as far as they are concerned your name came up in a database search.
I get head hunters calling me all the time (more so in the last few weeks) and they always start off with the same scripted attitude "are you currently full time... oh really, its just that we have an exciting coldfusion / flash position going in sydney and would you be interested in it"..
My first response to this is "Oh really, what makes it exciting?" -- usually by this time i get a muddeled response if not ignorant based "oh the employer has some really exciting projects"
My beef is more so out of ignorance and the fact that you take the trouble / time to go meet these wankers to fill out their little forms and to have a "chat" again..and again..and again...THEN after all this, you are the one chasing them about the status of your application? Things like "oh yeah, sorry thats was filled about 3 days ago" -- fuckin pisses me right off when they do that.
Door knocking is over-rated, it does get you job (i find networkings the better way) - but you also have to allow for morons doing the hiring in organisations, who refuse to accept door knockers because their little memo dictates they have to go to some recruitment firm.
Its like a rainfall of idiots.
Think I'm being to harsh, read some of the adverts? "4 years Flash MX experience" was one i read ages ago. I sat back and went, you frekin moron its not even 4years old. You also get the usual "Must have ASP / CFMX experience" typically they are on opposite sides of the skillset. You find out its actually an ASP job, that has nothing to do with CFMX at all.
Sorry for the rant, but topic close to my heart.
Scott
Mark Stanton wrote:
Agent's commissions are usually pretty high as well, 'cos they can get away with it when the job market is not tight. I have heard of an agent recently charging a company $57 dollars p/hr for a good Flash Developer friend of mine (MM Flash MX certified), and paying him $40 p/hr. $17 p/hr, quite a good commission for the agent. Needless to say, my friend he as annoyed when he found out.
That is not high or unreasonable - its close to the standard recruitment commission (20%). This is not some big conspiracy to rip off developers.
If you are a developer & you don't like the commission structure - go knocking on doors instead of answering agency ads. If you're an employer & you don't like it - put the ad out yourself. No one *needs* an agent, but they manage to stay in business somehow - probably because they are seen to be worth their %.
How much do you pay for a plumber is Sydney? More that $40ph I'm sure.
Plumbers are skilled tradesmen who have to invest a lot in their materials. Also a plumber has usually done several years of apprenticeship for next to nothing. Is your average AS coder more or less skilled than your average plumber?
Traditional thinking is that blue collar workers are less educated than white collar workers & as such should be paid less. How many [web developers|plumbers] are qualified? How many are self taught? Does this "less educated" analogy still work?
As for "Flash ACTIONSCRIPT developer $25-$30ph (1 to 2 week contract)" I think that's on the low side, but if you don't want it don't take it.
Sorry for the rant, but I refuse to pay homage to this "they get it so easy, why I'm so hard done by" attitude. Get super good at all aspects of what you do and then go pound the pavement & *sell* yourself as an asset & make sure you bring value. If you are good & persistent you will get good work at good rates.
If you constantly go through the traditional channels and queue up for jobs with 50 other people and are unable to differentiate yourself you're going to have to take what you can get.
I know James & I know that he is self motivated, innovative & knowledgeable. I think his idea of "I prefer to go direct to company or client, word of mouth etc etc." will pay off for him.
One other point - TAFE (NSW) are crying out for IT & multimedia instructors @45 ph. There are more avenues than just the classifieds in the Saturday paper.....
I'm not flaming anyone where - this is meant to be a positive email - its just something I feel strongly about.
Cheers
Mark
______________ Mark Stanton Web Production Gruden Pty Ltd Tel: 9956 6388 Mob: 0410 458 201 Fax: 9956 8433 http://www.gruden.com
-- Scott Barnes http://macrofun.pvpers.com
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