Contracting Rate Question

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Does anyone know how much recruitment agencies get from placing people in jobs? The reason I'm asking is that I've just been offered a contract today and I think the agency is screwing me over the hourly rate. When I was first contacted about the position I stupidly told him how much I was currently getting. When I asked him how much this new contract was offering he was very vague, saying "oh it's more than what you're on, but don't have an exact figure."

Well it certainly does pay more than what I'm currently on, 50 pence an hour more. Is it worth negotiating with the agency? I used to think that if the contractor was being paid £15 per hour, the agency also get £15 per hour. However, in my current position I'm told my agency only gets £4 per hour on top of my rate.

I don't want to burn my bridges, but I was expecting more.

 

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Impossible to answer. Depends on many things - the contractor, the agent, the employer etc etc. Basically, the agency will look to screw you out of as much as they possibly can - if the agent concerned has a remit to place someone for £28 an hour from a client, ask yourself whether they are going to give you £16 or £12 an hour depending on what you tell them you're worth. The easiest way to test this is to give an agent an upper and a lower figure you're willing to work for (say between £15 and £1. Guess what? the client will 'only' be willing to pay £15. In reality, they're bull****ting you - and the extra £3 goes straight into the agent's commission.

IT recruiters = scum of the earth.

 

I once submitted my resume to an IT recruiter, many years ago. I told him my salary range - let's say it was X and X+5. Invariably, the positions they found for me ALWAYS paid X.

That said, I *did* give him a range I was willing to take. Fortunately, I had assumed from the start that the recruiter was going to lowball me, so I gave him a minimum that I would indeed be willing to take.

What ultimately turned me off from these jokers was that I had told them I needed to be considerate and give my current employer two weeks notice, and they ALWAYS had a job opening for the next day. When they offered me three "immediate placement" jobs on three consecutive days, I finally asked the recruiter, "What part of 'two-weeks notice' do you not understand?!?"

They didn't call me back after that.

Many years later, I applied for a job through a recruiting agency and had a good experience. I later found out that my employer paid them a flat rate of $12,000 to recruit me. That, I have no problem with, as long as 1) the employer is willing to pay the fee, and 2) they're offering me a fair wage. Hey, if they're paying me fairly, I couldn't care less what the employer pays or what the recruiter makes!

 

My previous job was for a very large American IT outsource company, I was placed in another multinational company and my job offer was given to me on a 3 month 'temp to perm' basis through the recruitment agency. the rate i was getting was £70 P/D with no benefits, this was much lower that the perm job figure i was promised if i was employed after 3 months but i was unphased as the job was pretty peachy! Both the agency and the employer were very open that the rate paid by the employer to the agency was £100 P/D and they took the extra 30% cut, after paying me! Although i didnt really like leaving a solid job to work on this kinda basis i feel that the amount paid to the agency was fair and reasonable.

Sorry to drift a bit, but i must make the point that:
I did have the last laugh as i turned down the job the day before i was to go permanent, to which the agency also lost out on their bonus from the employer. Possibly a good lesson for employers to learn! If you want to put people on a long trial period, dont be suprised if staff start looking around for other jobs incase they dont go perm! And in my case......... Find a more skilled job offering more $$