What is the point of an offshore recruitment agency?

Sometimes it seems like we’re viewed as a necessary evil in the offshore industry, fighting for popularity ratings with estate agents or traffic wardens. But I’m not interested in eliciting sympathy. What I want to do is start a conversation.

I’ve always viewed an agency as a broker with two bosses – the freelancer and the client. However, trying to keep both sides happy at all times is nearly impossible and there will inevitably be times when we disappoint one (or both).

Having been a freelancer for eight years, I have an innate understanding of what a freelancer wants and that’s something I impart to my team at every stage.

It’s not enough to simply get people work. We all want to be treated like we’re more than a number, to be shown respect, and develop a relationship with people who are genuinely interested and invested in us. My team knows we’re in this for the long-term relationships not short wins. And even though I’ve not met many of regular freelancers in person, I feel like we’re a big part of each other’s lives.

That being said we can’t make miracles happen and we must work with the options the clients give us.

The client side has nearly always been trickier to deal with as it appears to bring an inbuilt scepticism that an agency is trying to get one over on them. I’ve been lucky enough to only ever have had great experiences when working as a freelancer, going to projects that I was suitable for (except one LBL job in Malaysia, where I was informed when I got on-board that I was the Senior LBL Engineer) and I don’t think the agency I worked through ever took the mick too hard on margins.

But we all know someone who has had a bad trip, and it’s this which fuels the suspicion between the various parties. I am not saying Precise is perfect; we’ve made mistakes which we have tried to learn from and we’re dealing with humans who are subject to emotions. It’s impossible to be perfect, no matter how much we aim for it. 

I think the next few years are going to be a testing time for our industry and that agencies are going to play a greater role in staffing offshore projects from running software courses to identifying ways to assure the competency of our personnel.

With the recent downturn fresh in the minds of freelancers and clients, it’s going to be a long time before people can be persuaded back to the ‘safety’ of a staff job, yet freelancers will need to ensure they continue to see progression in their careers. We’re going to see busier summers and a smaller skill pool from which to fish from. This will lead to an increase in day rates, but reasonable expectations need to be set. There’s no point holding the industry to hostage. Ultimately, we all lose down that path – ‘fool me once…’ and all that.

While there are reasonable arguments in favour of an increase in day rates, any significant change in wages is only going to come when there’s a demonstrable change in professional development.

Agencies play a largely underrated role which, if people in the industry considered differently, could help to create positive changes on both sides. Take the e-portfolio which has its pros and cons: we’re speaking to the people behind it as well as the people who we’re encouraging to use it so we can make it work better. I want to hear from people about things they’d like to see improve – from freelancers, clients and others.

So, let’s start this conversation online or off. We’re always open to hearing from people, because we committed to make a difference when we started and, even as we grow, we haven’t forgotten where we came from.