Confessions of an IT Manager_Phil Factor

184 IT Agencies and the Devil
incorporate skills and experience that I don't possess. "It's just to bring out
those aspects of your CV that are important to the client," they explain
soothingly. In a couple of cases, they actually altered my CV themselves before
passing it on to the client. Unfortunately, I only discovered this when the
interviewer homed in on a golden nugget of my fictional IT experience.
However, it's not all 'mutual loathing': on occasion, the relationship between
agency and job seeker can be surprisingly synergistic. I once did a contract job
for a company that involved building a complex SQL Server reporting system
for a Telecomms Switch. After a year had passed, I'd done everything
necessary, and arranged with the IT department to recruit a permanent member
of staff to maintain the system. Although I favoured a rather boring candidate
who had the required skills, an alternative candidate was suddenly presented by
one of the agencies. He was bright, talked the talk, had polished shoes, a suit
and good hair. He had everything, in essence, to attract the typical IT manager.
To me, he seemed too good to be true. I couldn't work out why the job would
attract him. In real life one doesn't get candidates like that. However, the suit
and the good hair won the day and I was over-ruled.
Once this splendid fellow had settled in, I started the handover process.
Although he was amiable, he showed no more than a polite interest in the
technology or application. He would often sneak off to do deals on his mobile.
It was all very hard work. Eventually, just before I left, I challenged him as to
what he was really up to. Surprisingly, he offered to tell me on condition I was
sworn to secrecy. For every candidate the agency placed, they got a percentage
of his or her first year salary as a 'finding fee', on condition that the candidate
stayed in the post for at least three months.
Having discovered this, along with his own talent for interviews and for
impressing IT managers, he had negotiated an arrangement with the agency
whereby, over and over again, they submitted him as a candidate. He stayed in
each job for exactly three months, at which point the agency split the finding
fee with him. I was amazed. I ran the calculations through a spreadsheet: it was
a good living. Furthermore, the lack of communication between IT departments
is such that he could happily go on working the scam for years and years
without detection. Naturally, he left the company a month after I did.
I don't know if there is a name within the industry for this agency trick, but I
suspect it ought to be termed 'the tethered goat', were it not for the fact that the
original goat was often sacrificed.