![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
On pay rates and tech recruiters
Oct. 24th, 2007 05:07 pmI was asked last night what became of my question regarding an apparent disconnect between the hourly rates I sought as a consultant and the hourly rates I saw offered in online ads. I posted the same question on the Freelance Switch forums, and got a great response. Conversations and experience since then have borne it out.
In a nutshell, I was looking in the wrong spots. I wanted to connect with individual clients seeking consultants, not tech recruiters trying to park as many geek-butts in their clients' cubicles as they can. Recruiters have already done the contract negotiations with the end-clients, and are now just looking for warm bodies to sign them and start generating revenue.
Part of the reason the rates I saw were so low was that the clients do in fact expect to dispense this amount to you for seven hours per day, in exchange for your languishing in a cube halfway up Rte 128 or wherever. The other reason is that there's a sizable overhead - something on the order of 25 percent - going into the recruiter's hands in every such case.
When you approach clients yourself as a service provider, you have complete control over your half of the negotiating table, and this includes not just naming your price but explaining the value you bring. A compatible client that isn't a cheap nincompoop will hear you out, and might propose a counter-offer, and off you go.
Many clients advertising a need for consultants won't bother listing what they wish to pay, or list it as "DOE", because they know how to play this game. Some do list a price, but the advice I received - and which I have practiced, and pass along - is just to pretend that they didn't, should you find yourself talking to them. Like as not, they'll play along. And maybe you end up agreeing that they can't afford you after all, but if so, at least you made the contact.
In a nutshell, I was looking in the wrong spots. I wanted to connect with individual clients seeking consultants, not tech recruiters trying to park as many geek-butts in their clients' cubicles as they can. Recruiters have already done the contract negotiations with the end-clients, and are now just looking for warm bodies to sign them and start generating revenue.
Part of the reason the rates I saw were so low was that the clients do in fact expect to dispense this amount to you for seven hours per day, in exchange for your languishing in a cube halfway up Rte 128 or wherever. The other reason is that there's a sizable overhead - something on the order of 25 percent - going into the recruiter's hands in every such case.
When you approach clients yourself as a service provider, you have complete control over your half of the negotiating table, and this includes not just naming your price but explaining the value you bring. A compatible client that isn't a cheap nincompoop will hear you out, and might propose a counter-offer, and off you go.
Many clients advertising a need for consultants won't bother listing what they wish to pay, or list it as "DOE", because they know how to play this game. Some do list a price, but the advice I received - and which I have practiced, and pass along - is just to pretend that they didn't, should you find yourself talking to them. Like as not, they'll play along. And maybe you end up agreeing that they can't afford you after all, but if so, at least you made the contact.