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My aside on recruiters is the same as Tina's. In the Twin Cities of beautiful Minneapolis and St. Paul the recruiters are OK. I have an established
relationship with one, I interview her for articles, and we talk about the industry, but she never has anything for me because I'm too senior and garner
too much dinero. On the other hand, there are plenty of recruiters that I speak with on regular basis, because they call me, and I always have a prepared
speech (sort of like Heathers, "I have a speech prepared for my suitors who expect more then I want to give, 'Geez blank, I had a really nice time...'")
but I never get any work, mostly because their margins are too high.
A couple of weeks ago I finalized a deal for an ID/writing position. I was referred by someone on the inside whom I had worked with at a previous
contract. However, this particular company ALWAYS uses this recruiting firm, Writing Assistance. Well, I've had my share of run-ins with the owner, Scott
Hartmann, and he is a greedy, pain-in-the-arse, and even though I snared the job on my own they wanted an ENORMOUS hourly cut, even though I would be
1099, and they wouldn't be managing me. I won't go into the whole thing, but let it suffice to say that the sales person asured me they would accomodate
my rate, and then, suddenly, the owner is calling me on the phone TELLING me how much I better charge because he HAD to make his cut.
The job ended up falling through for August, but may go through for January 2001, and I have to make a judgement call. The company is one I want to work
with, however, the way Writing Assistance is handling things is so far beyond what I feel comfortable with, well, I should just go back to my old mantra,
which was, "Michele, NEVER, EVER work with recruiters."
My problem is I've always done such a good job for my clients, I haven't wanted for new contracts, unfortunately I get bored working for the same people,
so here I sit, wondering what to do...
--
Michele
