I figured that I should at the very least post a starting thread for this forum. So here it is. I, as an IT Consultant want to re-establish the direct relationships I used to have more often with consumers of my services. Here's my offer to those of you who might be interested in this idea as well. You already know the rate that you are paying for qualified IT resources. What if there was a way to increase your HR budget yield by 30,50, or even in some case 100%?
I'll give you an example, I just recently finished a contract with a international fortune 500 company that was paying $130.00/hr for my services. Never mind how I found out what the rate was. The staffing firm I was working for was able to get me for $65/hr. I needed the work!
My capabilities in the area I market myself in are well established through my resume and excellant references. The staffing firm that hired me did not check my references but relied solely on my resume's content. That resume is produced by me and it seems I could have claimed to be the worlds greatest neuro surgeon for all that staffing firm cared. They where just interested in getting me to lower my rate which they succeeded in doing to fill a need their client had. It was a very short engagement, 4 months. Basically the Client paid and extra $41,600.00 above what I was charging for my services. The staffing firm earned this money becaused I called them (they didn't call me or even find me) about this opportunity. The client had also hired another consultant as a 'mid-level' that they where paying $100/hr for. That other client was an H1B, who it turned out to be completely unkowledgable abot Net, ASP, and/or Vb.net. He was a recent grad from a university and only had a Java/J2EE in his background. It took about 6 weeks for the Client to recognize that this person could not perform his duties and let him go. He came from a different staffing firm then the one I was working for and I know they knew he wasn't a good fit for this position but put him in there anyway. I am not aware of what excuses they used for hs lack of ability, but he was soon replaced with someone else from that same staffing firm. This person was little better than the previous one. He did at least khow HTML, CSS, and was able to survive until I left.
A Staffing Horror Story? You bet!
That client could have hired two people like me for the amount they did pay for me. Of course they would have had to find the talent on their own. And the reality at present is that HR departments are subbing out that task to staffing firms. This client I am talking about could have spent more of their own time researching the talent databases out there for themselves. Even if they had gotten the same staffing results on their own as they did with the staffing firms it would have been at considerably less cost.
And for me?, I could have bargained for a higher rate and better circumstances and still have given this client a better return for their HR dollars. And that is my motivation, getting paid a more eqitable amount for my services while giving the client more bang for the buck. And I know that there are many more like me ot there. It is in the best interests of the Staffing Firms to prevent this from happening. And as long as they succeeed in this then HR Consumers will , on average, be getting an inferior performance for their HR Resorce investments.
Ibrahim