June 16, 2010
Thinking about contracting? Understand the new VMS system first
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NWjobs
One of the frequent questions I've been getting in my seminars lately comes from active jobseekers or contract workers who wonder, "why am I getting e-mails from contracting firms asking for exclusive rights to represent me or wanting the last four digits of my social security number?"
The answer is related to something noteworthy that has been instituted within the last year at many of the large area employers such as Microsoft or Boeing.
It's called the Vendor Management System (VMS).
Prior to late 2009, large, established vendors and contracting firms such as Volt, Kelly Services, Siemens, or Excel Data recruited directly for the hiring managers at many of the big area employers. Due to favoritism, hiring managers used certain vendors exclusively. This created low competition among vendors and the cost of recruiting started rising.
In late 2009, many companies instituted the VMS to allow all approved vendors access to the same openings, therefore leveling the playing field and forcing vendor fees down. This means that local boutique contracting firms such as Vertical Move, Xtreme Consulting, and Allen Partners could compete with the larger firms.
Each employer has its own VMS and generally imposes the same rules to its vendors. Understanding these rules can help you avoid mistakes novice contractors make when applying to contract openings.
- Recruiters at contracting firms are no longer allowed to contact hiring managers directly.
- Hiring managers post their openings into the employer's VMS and vendors are notified of the opening. Some employers could give 200 vendors access to their VMS.
- To ensure each applicant is unique, employers require vendors to capture "exclusive rights to represent" a potential contractor or the last 4 digits of the candidate's social security number.
- Although each vendor might have hundreds of qualified applicants, they are only allowed to send up to four candidates per opening.
When choosing a vendor, make sure to select one you already have a strong relationship with. This can help increase your odds of being considered among the four who may be entered for the job opening. If you don't already have a relationship with a vendor, do your research carefully to find a firm that is a good fit for you and will work hard to represent you.
Don't assume that by applying through multiple vendors that you can increase your chances of getting noticed. If the employer's VMS finds duplicates, it will remove all of your submissions.
What has been your experience working through this process?
Paul Anderson of ProLango helps professionals in transition find their desired employment.
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Karen Burns is the author of The Amazing Adventures of Working Girl, a career guide based on her 59 jobs over 40 years in 22 cities.
Lisa Quast is a certified career coach, mentor, business consultant, former corporate executive and author based in the Seattle area.
Randy Woods writes about job-search tools, networking techniques and other tips to help you land your dream job.
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Michelle Goodman is the author of "My So-Called Freelance Life" and "The Anti 9-to-5 Guide."
Paul Anderson helps professionals in transition find their desired employment.
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Definitely make SURE you can form a good working relationship with a vendor company, if this is the way you want to go. The VMSystem has increased competition for workers and we, the job hunters, feel the heat. I had 4 different vendor companies contact me within hours of each other and throw their best pitch. The difficult thing is that some of these companies, being smaller and less-known, offer less to the potential employee by way of benefits, etc. So, if you have a good relationship with one, stick to them--You DO NOT HAVE to go with the first company that contacts you and you DO NOT HAVE to go with the company that the hiring org. "prefers"--it's up to you. So, create a little competition yourself, that's what I did. I wanted a certain salary range and benefits (by the way, if the recruiter is GOOD, they can work their magic here)and I held out until the vendor companies matched or came close to what I wanted. DO NOT give away your exclusive rights until you know for sure what you want and what you're getting. The vendor companies are quite fierce in this respect-- lots of pressure. So read fine print and ask lots of questions. If you do not, this will make it difficult to move later if you're dissatisfied. Good luck everyone!
My Question is this... If the Company limits what jobs it sends to the different vendors - by categories at least - if you are interested in say either a development role or a test role - by going with only one vendor, aren't you risking missing out on some of the jobs you may be looking for? And how do you study the different vendors anyway? Especially the smaller ones... I am interested in learning more because this sounds like a sensible point - but difficult to put into practice... Thanks!