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What's new?
February 2002 - In order to improve functionality, this web site is being moved to a new hosting provider. During the move the site will not be able to accept any new surveys. Everything else should continue to operate as normal. Watch this space for further developments.
Old news...
January 2001 - Due to several requests this site is being redeveloped to add extra functionality, including a search/sort facility. Until the new site is ready we are still accepting your survey responses, but the results on the web site will not be updated for a while. Please keep using the site in the meantime & keep filling in those surveys! The new site should be ready by the end of March, so please visit us again soon.
November 1999 - First survey results available. See below...
Yes, at long last we have some results for you. During a six month period between June and November 1999, various contractors completed a total of 159 surveys for agencies that they were working through, or had previously worked through. The results for the "agents that you have dealt with but not worked through", "what you would like in an agency" and "IR35 - do the agents know" surveys are not shown here.
Additional results will be made available as soon as possible. These results have been produced as a way of saying a big "Thank You" to everybody that took the time to complete the surveys. This site is for your benefit and we hope that you will continue to find it useful. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please don't hesitate to let us know.
Best wishes from the QandA team.
The "top" agencies, by number of replies (ie NOT quality!) were:
# of replies agency name
------------ -----------------------------
10 MSB International
8 Elan Computing
4 Lorien
4 Spring IT Personnel
4 Parity Resources
4 Progressive Computer Recruitment
3 Abraxas
3 Sanderson Contract Recruitment
3 Professional Systems Personnel
3 Modis International
3 MBA
3 Gatton Volt Group
3 Computer People
3 Computer Futures
3 Best People
(others not shown)
With the possible exception of MSB and Elan there are not enough surveys for each agency to calculate meaningful "individual" results. The following results are therefore an average across all agencies and should give a view of what a "typical agency" is like, if there is such a thing. The questions asked and the range of answers received are shown below. Totals may not come to 100% due to the fact that the respondant may not have known the answer or had no opinion on a particular question. All questions are shown phrased in present tense, but for "previous" agencies they were posed in the past tense.
1. How would you describe their overall knowledge of the computing industry?
49% good or better 34% adequate 17% poor or worse
2. How would you describe their overall level of professionalism?
58% good or better 21% adequate 21% poor or worse
3. How would you describe their overall ability to find you suitable work?
47% good or better 30% adequate 15% poor or worse
4. Did they ask your permission before sending out your CV for this job?
91% yes 3% no
5. Did they tell you the name of the client before sending out your CV for this job?
81% yes (when asked or without being asked) 10% no
6. How good were the job details that they gave you before your interview?
53% good or better 24% adequate 17% poor or worse
7. Once you were made an offer, how did they act?
42% not at all pushy or aggressive 26% a little pushy 26% quite pushy or very pushy (even aggressive)
8. Would you work through them again?
50% yes, happily 28% yes (perhaps or reluctantly) 22% no (unlikely or never)
9. Are they a preferred supplier to your client?
63% Yes (known or believed to be so) 28% No (known or believed not to be)
10. What sort of relationship do they have with your current client?
54% good or better 25% adequate 13% poor or worse
11. How often do they pay you?
47% monthly 11% twice-monthly 38% weekly
12. What payment method do they use?
92% BACS / bank transfer
6% cheque
13. What margin do they take?
Note: A large number (24%) of people did not know the answer.
21% have a margin of < 14% 22% have a margin of 14-15% 11% have a margin of 16-19% 10% have a margin of 20-23% 12% have a margin of > 23%
14. How long does it normally take them to process your invoice and make a payment?
31% a day or a couple of days
41% about a week
21% about two weeks
6% three weeks or longer
15. Have they ever paid you late?
8% yes, frequently
11% yes, occasionally
14% yes, rarely
66% no, not really or never
16. How would you describe their standard contract terms?
38% mostly fair or very fair 28% neutral 30% unfair or very unfair
17. Did you accept their standard contract?
51% yes, with no changes
33% yes, with minor changes
11% yes, with several changes
5% no, had to rewrite their standard contract
18. Do you have the right to terminate your contract early?
72% yes, with four weeks notice
6% yes, with less than four weeks notice
17% no (or only with agreement)
19. How often do they contact you?
25% regularly, at least every few weeks 36% occasionally, every few months or so 21% infrequently, perhaps just at renewal time 17% very rarely or never
20. How often have they taken you out?
3% regularly, at least every few weeks
31% occasionally, every few months or so
16% infrequently, perhaps just at renewal time
19% very rarely, only when there is a special occasion
29% never
21. Have they invited you to a party or special event during the past 12 months?
22% yes, and I went / will go 27% yes, but I didn't go / won't go 14% no, but I would have liked to have gone 28% no, but I wouldn't have gone anyway
22. What is the geographical location of your current client?
21% London-City
16% South-East (excluding London)
9% Europe (excluding UK and Ireland)
9% London (excluding the City)
8% South-West
7% East-Anglia
7% North
6% South-Central
6% Midlands
(others not shown)
23. What is your main role currently?
33% Analyst Programmer
8% Developer
7% Software Engineer
6% Technical Support
6% Project Manager
5% Database Administrator (DBA)
4% Network Specialist
4% Team Leader
3% Business Analyst
2% Tester
(others not shown)
24. What technical skills are you using currently?
Note: Up to 5 different skills could be selected, so the total comes to more
than 100%.
20% Oracle
19% SQL
16% Visual Basic
14% Microsoft Office
12% TCP/IP
11% C
10% C++
10% HTML
7% Access
6% Sybase
6% Visual C++
(others not shown)
25. What platforms are you using currently?
Note: Up to 3 different platforms could be selected, so the total comes to
more than 100%.
59% Windows NT
45% UNIX
32% Windows 95/98
11% Windows 3.x
9% Novell/Netware
(others not shown)
26. What business area are you currently working in?
28% Banking/Finance
18% Telecomms
8% Retail/Distribution
5% Manufacturing
4% Defence
4% Scientific/Technical
4% Public Sector
3% Insurace
3% Transport
(others not shown)