Any Techniques To Weed Out Bad Borks / Agencies?

[Walter Mitty]

>>>>> Any Techniques To Weed Out Bad Borks / Agencies?

I have a very successful one. Don't talk to any Borks / Agencies. If possible, get work directly on your own and avoid the whole mess.

" A strange game. The only winning move is not to play."

When I took my wife to see War Games she asked me how close to reality the scenario was.  I said that it was extremely plausible.  Less plausible today. 

[Peter Gibbons]

I have a very successful one. Don't talk to any Borks / Agencies. If possible, get work directly on your own and avoid the whole mess.

I found my last contract thanks to a colleague. After the company offered me the contract - they asked me to contact one of their preferred vendors and go through them ...

Previously I worked for small mid size company. They also used agencies. They seemed to pay more to people that were there through bigger consulting agencies.

I am starting to think that the only way I can work truely direct with a company is if the company has less than 5 employees.

The smallest company I worked for in the last 10 years had around 10 people and the company was using agencies to find contractors during busy times.

[DarkHumour]

When I took my wife to see War Games she asked me how close to reality the scenario was.  I said that it was extremely plausible.  Less plausible today.

For some reason I thought they filmed a 'bummer' non hollywood ending that tested poorly so they redid it.  I watched the clip on youtube and laughed at some of the nuke scenarios that appeared on the screen like "Turkish Heavy".  (I found some blog that took the time to compile the list and make comments about them).  The password guessing by the computer for dramatic tension was really annoying...as though there were 10 x 1 character passwords.  I haven't queued up the likely crappy sequel.

It's one of those movies, although watchable, made much more sense in an 80s framework.  I've been trying to find "Twilight's Last Gleaming" to watch again...mostly for possibly useful quotes and the cool split screen cinematography more than the story. 

DarkHumour

PS. Did you hear about the remake of Red Dawn?  Did you hear about them selling out and digitizing all the Chinese flags to North Korean?  Pfft. The original villain makes a hell of a lot more sense...

[TRexx]

When I took my wife to see War Games she asked me how close to reality the scenario was.  I said that it was extremely plausible.  Less plausible today.

I especially liked the part when they were "searching the deep logic" they were looking in the back of a 3420 tape drive.   

[Walter Mitty]

I have a very successful one. Don't talk to any Borks / Agencies. If possible, get work directly on your own and avoid the whole mess.

I found my last contract thanks to a colleague. After the company offered me the contract - they asked me to contact one of their preferred vendors and go through them ...

Previously I worked for small mid size company. They also used agencies. They seemed to pay more to people that were there through bigger consulting agencies.

I am starting to think that the only way I can work truely direct with a company is if the company has less than 5 employees.

The smallest company I worked for in the last 10 years had around 10 people and the company was using agencies to find contractors during busy times.

One of the things agencies can offer clients is, in effect, immunity from IRS reclassification as an employer.  Clients are scared to death of this.  Unless they never heard of it.

[David Randolph]

Aren't "contracts to hire" offered at a lower rate than a true contract position? That makes them an even better deal to the company.

[TRexx]

Aren't "contracts to hire" offered at a lower rate than a true contract position? That makes them an even better deal to the company.

It depends.  Sometimes the broker's margin is higher to compensate him for agreeing to a shorter term deal. Often the client pays the broker a one time fee when the person transitions to FTE.  As you can imagine, both the client and the broker would be delighted to pass those expenses to the individual.

[Origisaurus]

Aren't "contracts to hire" offered at a lower rate than a true contract position? That makes them an even better deal to the company.

It depends.  Sometimes the broker's margin is higher to compensate him for agreeing to a shorter term deal. Often the client pays the broker a one time fee when the person transitions to FTE.  As you can imagine, both the client and the broker would be delighted to pass those expenses to the individual.

What TRexx said.  And sometimes it is impossible to distinguish a C2H offer from a scam to knock down the contractor's rate.  You give up some money to purchase the "employer's" option to offer you a job.  That's why I said "bad, usually".

[The Gorn]

It's really hard to tell about C2H.

All I know is that in 99% of the cases these days, a permanent or contract technology position is just a job - not a career steppingstone.

And even when FT employment (the desired outcome by most IT people these days) is possible, the employer usually wants a contract "trial period."

Maybe they do just want a cheap contractor for a short period. But there is no way to really know, and most job seekers in this industry have no leverage to push the issue.

[ilconsiglliere]

The problem as most of us know is that a lot of bigger companies wont take direct contractors so you have no choice but to go through a bork. If you arent on the vendor list its not going to happen.

Like my last bork, was not on the vendor list at the client company and I found out AFTER I got there that I have been subbed out through another company. They were both Indian and running some kind of multi level scam.

This is why I want to make sure I weed them out.