Robert Half Technologies

[jaybert]

Originally posted by: bonkers325
headhunters / recruiting firms see u as commission revenue. if they think u have the *slightest* chance of being hired, they will hound u. but the second that they realize u wont be hired, u will never hear from them again.

lol..true that. i did the headhunter thing when looking for a new job (I was already employed at IBM as a IT consultant, so I was very picky as to who I would interview for). I made it clear that I was only looking for fulltime positions, in the finance industry, near NYC. I used 2 different recruiting agencies, and between the 2 of them, I interviewed at a few of the top hedge funds/investment banks in the area (goldman sachs, lehman brothers + a verry large hedge funds). Ended up getting offers from the 2 hedge funds, 1 from each recruiter. I got phone calls from the recruiters multiple times of the day, from their bosses too. They are always like "i dont care what you do..you're the one who needs to live with your job", but somehow every one of them who tried to help me objectively choose between the 2, always ended up with the one that their company referred. how odd!

I ended up taking the job referred by the headhunter I didnt really like. His boss was very pushy, and pretty much yelled at me when I didnt accept the position right on the stop and told them I wanted to take a few days to think about it (which the actual company/hiring manager was really cool about and understood).

That said....was it a good experience? Hell yes. I have a fulltime position with one of the top players in the industry, making way more than I was at IBM. These companies never even gave me a look coming out of college, and probably wouldnt have looked at my resume if I just submitted it through their website. The ceiling here is much higher, and at a much quicker pace, when compared with a large company like IBM.

If you decide to go this route, you need to be careful though. Be sure to be explicit as to what you want in a job, and turn down ant interviews that dont match them. Dont let them think they can sucker you into a crappy position. If you get multiple offers (especially if 1 is from them, and some arent), DONT LISTEN TO ANYTHING THEY HAVE TO SAY. The good ones wont outright lie to you, but all of them will fudge the truth to point you in their direction. There is alot of money on the line for them, and it doesnt matter to them if you are unhappy once you take the job as long as they get paid

 

[Imdmn04]

Originally posted by: alkemyst
Frag, if you are seriously working for only 14.5/hr and they are paying $120 an hour to have you there...I just don't know what to say about that.

We have brought on our two last programming hires from them. We pay $40-50k for this position and I think they charge us about $45/hr for contracts.

It works good to screen applicants as everyone has a million certs and resume fluffs...but when they get in it's as if they are fresh out of Intro to C++.

Also when working with an agency and getting placed on a crappy assignment...it's up to you to pull the plug on it. I have been sent on gigs that was nothing like what I wanted (mostly contract to perm...not a total temp assignment).

It's really the recruiter themselves that makes or breaks you...some recruiters just push the cherry commission assignments or throw good workers on the 'regulars'.

Make sure your recruiter is looking for your interests.

To be honest, the quality of applicants for a C++ job that pays only $40-50k will not be great. I mean, fresh CS grads from my school average more than that. I would not expect any experience beyond an intro to programming class out of applicants for a $45k C++ job.

You guys are paying $45/hour (about $90k/yr) to the contracting agency for a job that pays about $40-50k if it was a permanent FTE position? Then why not just post the perm position for $75k straight up, I am sure you will get a lot more competent candidates to apply than some temp contractors.

When you pay decent money, you sorta naturally filter out the incompetent people because more competent candidates will squeeze out the unqualified, therefore reducing your hiring risk significantly.

 

[jaybert]

Originally posted by: Imdmn04

Originally posted by: alkemyst
Frag, if you are seriously working for only 14.5/hr and they are paying $120 an hour to have you there...I just don't know what to say about that.

We have brought on our two last programming hires from them. We pay $40-50k for this position and I think they charge us about $45/hr for contracts.

It works good to screen applicants as everyone has a million certs and resume fluffs...but when they get in it's as if they are fresh out of Intro to C++.

Also when working with an agency and getting placed on a crappy assignment...it's up to you to pull the plug on it. I have been sent on gigs that was nothing like what I wanted (mostly contract to perm...not a total temp assignment).

It's really the recruiter themselves that makes or breaks you...some recruiters just push the cherry commission assignments or throw good workers on the 'regulars'.

Make sure your recruiter is looking for your interests.

To be honest, the quality of applicants for a C++ job that pays only $40-50k will not be great. I mean, fresh CS grads from my school average more than that. I would not expect any experience beyond an intro to programming class out of applicants for a $45k C++ job.

You guys are paying $45/hour (about $90k/yr) to the contracting agency for a job that pays about $40-50k if it was a permanent FTE position? Then why not just post the perm position for $75k straight up, I am sure you will get a lot more competent candidates to apply than some temp contractors.

When you pay decent money, you sorta naturally filter out the incompetent people because more competent candidates will squeeze out the unqualified, therefore reducing your hiring risk significantly.

because $75k isnt how much you will end up paying...dont forget about taxes that the employer needs to pay, health insurance, etc, etc.

 

[Nightfall]

I have dealt with RHT and I haven't had the best of experiences with them. When I was out of work, I met with them and interviewed at 3 different places. It just felt to me that they were trying to place people to make a buck. IMHO, RHT was the worst recruiter I ever used and I had 3 different account managers there.

Teksystems was much much better. I was really close to a job they matched me with before I took the job I have now. The job they had me matched with just didn't come up with a offer in time. I got the offer here and took it because it was very fair and I liked the job. The job I didn't take was a much larger company so more hoops to jump through, 4 interviews, and it was a long process. Teksystems understood and they still call me today.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: Tsaico
Well, I went though with my meeting with them and overall it seemed positive. I ended up leaving because of their "no compete" clause, which I do some consulting private on the side that I do not want to give up, but if I was straight out of college I would have stuck around based on what happened.

For the most part, the staff was friendly, I told the lady I wanted to speak with the recruiter before I filled anything out and they were fine wiht that. I spoke with the guy about 10 minutes after my appointment, and exlained what I was looking for and what I wanted. Asked about the no compete clause and confirmed it wouldn't allow me to do my own consulting (he did give some scenarios where it would be fine, but I just didn't want to chance it all). Then he also told me that I wouldn't be guaranteed 40 hours a week, but as much as they can assign me. It sounded a little shakey, so I opted out, we chatted a little bit and then went our seperate ways, about 20 min or so total time spent.

Their no-compete clause is with previous clients for a period of 1 years from last working for/interviewing the client.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: Fraggable

Originally posted by: spidey07A contracting company pays you 35 bucks an hour and bills you at 85, essentially making you a whore.

I get 14.5/hr and get billed at 120, what does that make me?

A back alley whore on crack:roll:

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: Imdmn04
To be honest, the quality of applicants for a C++ job that pays only $40-50k will not be great. I mean, fresh CS grads from my school average more than that. I would not expect any experience beyond an intro to programming class out of applicants for a $45k C++ job.

You guys are paying $45/hour (about $90k/yr) to the contracting agency for a job that pays about $40-50k if it was a permanent FTE position? Then why not just post the perm position for $75k straight up, I am sure you will get a lot more competent candidates to apply than some temp contractors.

When you pay decent money, you sorta naturally filter out the incompetent people because more competent candidates will squeeze out the unqualified, therefore reducing your hiring risk significantly.

You are definitely right about the $40-50k salary not attracting experienced candidates. Employees who make that money are entry level so companies should expect an entry level employee. I really hate it when a company hires and entry level person because they are attracted to the price and are willing to gamble with the quality since they make them sign a 3 month probation contract. In the end, if that entry level guy can't sit at his desk and produce work like someone with 2 years or more experience then they will often let him go and move on to the next guy. I'm not saying all companies are like this, but it is definitely not uncommon where I am from especially with start up companies.

 

[Tsaico]

Originally posted by: Common Courtesy

Originally posted by: Tsaico
Well, I went though with my meeting with them and overall it seemed positive. I ended up leaving because of their "no compete" clause, which I do some consulting private on the side that I do not want to give up, but if I was straight out of college I would have stuck around based on what happened.

For the most part, the staff was friendly, I told the lady I wanted to speak with the recruiter before I filled anything out and they were fine wiht that. I spoke with the guy about 10 minutes after my appointment, and exlained what I was looking for and what I wanted. Asked about the no compete clause and confirmed it wouldn't allow me to do my own consulting (he did give some scenarios where it would be fine, but I just didn't want to chance it all). Then he also told me that I wouldn't be guaranteed 40 hours a week, but as much as they can assign me. It sounded a little shakey, so I opted out, we chatted a little bit and then went our seperate ways, about 20 min or so total time spent.

Their no-compete clause is with previous clients for a period of 1 years from last working for/interviewing the client.

I asked specifically about it. It states that I would not be able to work for any other consultation firm in a "technology" basis while I had "active contracts" with RHT. It also stated that I would not interview with the client outside of their reps. I would have been fine with "don't try to undercut us with people we send you to" clause. Since i was looking for some extra work, not a new job, that was too restricting in my case.