Perhaps this post will make me unpopular with recruiters for the next few years. Anyway. Here’s what I don’t get:
In these economically challenging times, why don’t companies search for freelancers directly instead of going through agencies?
This would allow them to pay a lower hourly rate while still leaving a better margin for the freelancer. I’ve been in a situation twice where I applied to a company directly for freelance work and was rejected, only to end up working for them later as a freelance consultant through a recruitment agency.
Instead, the typical workflow for freelancers in Germany often looks like this: You go onto one of the freelancer platforms and screen job ads posted by junior recruiters who—though often incapable of judging your actual competency—are tasked with filtering applicants by looking for keywords. You submit your CV and a template cover letter (that no one will ever truly read, but one can hope…). If you’re lucky, you get a call where you have to convince someone who has never worked in your field that you are the right match.
The ‘screener’ then hands you over to an account manager who will select two or three candidates to be marketed to the end customer. If that end-customer chooses you, the agency charges him an additional 20–30% on top of your hourly rate for every hour worked. For companies, this makes hiring consultants extremely expensive, while most of the risk remains with the freelancer.
To be clear: there ARE exceptions. I’m still in contact with some highly competent recruiters to this day, and I will gladly accept an opportunity through an agency if I can’t reach end customers directly.
What I do NOT understand is why END CUSTOMERS rarely engage with consultants directly. This would allow them to select the most talented individuals by offering higher hourly rates, all while saving a fortune by cutting out the recruitment agency markup.
Have fun, Rüdiger