The fact is, there aren’t as many heavily experienced SharePoint contractors out in the field as we would like just now, though the community is growing fast year on year. SharePoint implementations are rapidly on the increase and there are a number of extremely well developed SharePoint solutions being placed in companies of all sizes which is exciting.
From a UK and European perspective the (good) SharePoint contractor pool is still pretty small and the good guys tend to know each other, be friends with each other or often know of each other’s work. Many of the good guys have developed their careers after leaving the partner companies in which they crafted their skills and have gone on to do many fine things with SharePoint.
As SharePoint is very much a community, it bears no surprise therefore that we often find ourselves sharing a drink or meal with like-minded professionals. It is this community relationship that presents an issue to recruiters because we share our information on the current market situation. We are very well aware of which jobs are doing the rounds, what rates are being offered and which recruiters are treating us well and which are not.
SharePoint Contractors are regularly contacted by a plethora of recruiters by phone and email asking if they are available, can they send in their up to date CV and are they available. The contractor duly obliges only to never hear from that agent again. A few days later the same contractor receives another phone call from another person from the same agency asking the very same questions. This is of course not always the case, but it is frequently the case.
Another issue regards communication, or rather, the lack of it. A SharePoint contractor will oblige and spend their time sending in all relevant details to recruiters, chatting about the world of SharePoint and being professional. The contractor will be told that they will receive an update call later that day or within a couple of days. The contractor doesn’t hear from the agent again.
The other major issue that SharePoint contractors face is with regards to rate. Whilst we are currently in a recession (still) it may be that some companies believe that it is a buyer’s market and daily rates can be driven down. However the recruiter is in a difficult position because they are representing both parties. The company states it only wishes to pay £250 a day for a senior MOSS architect and they need one immediately. The recruiter knows that this is going to be a difficult challenge but calls the contractor anyway and asks what their rate is. The issue often is that the role description is not detailed enough to quote and when a general rate is given the response almost always is, ah no, the company only wishes to pay £250 a day. End of story.
Now if I call a builder and tell him I want a new extension to a house, that builder is going to have to come and look, scope out the job, price up the solution and then provide me with a quote. And if that quote is too much I may get a few more quote and then decide which builder I want, based on not only the cost, but previous implementations, the quality, the professionalism and other deciding factors. I’ve never seen a situation where a SharePoint contractor is given that level of detail in advance.
And yet an atypical conversation between a recruiter and contractor may be that a company (sector often unknown) wants a global SharePoint solution designing, developing and delivering. The contractor doesn’t know what specific business sector the solution is for, how many users it is catering to, whether there are any integration factors to consider, how many internally skilled staff there may be to assist, what level of licensing they are dealing with, what the state of desktop estate is and so on, but more importantly the recruiter doesn’t know this either. However, can you quote us your daily rate please? – Ah no, that’s too much!
Hopefully you can now see the issue. If I was a builder I would not be able to quote as I don’t have the relevant facts. Remember that many contractors are running Limited companies and have a product to sell, their skills, intellectual property and knowledge that have set them apart from the rest. They are industry professionals. Whilst there is always an element of negotiation, that’s what it is, negotiation, not an edict of its £250 or nothing. It is the responsibility of the recruiter to educate the client in realistic rates for different SharePoint roles. Yes you may be able to get a lead SharePoint 2010 architect for £100 day, but from where and are they really any good? The truth still stands – we get what we pay for in general.
Therefore I am including the following checklist to assist recruiters in a highly competitive market to assist you in managing your SharePoint contractor pool effectively, sensibly and to the satisfaction of both your contractor and client.
- Build a select SharePoint pool you can rely on for information and advice
- Communicate regularly with your SharePoint pool even if you don’t have a role for them yet. Keep in touch
- Do not promise SharePoint contractors roles that you don’t actually have
- Do call your contractor back if you say you are going to. SharePoint contractors will share knowledge about bad recruitment experiences
- Use Linkedin.com and other associated professional sites to learn about your contractor pool
- Vet your contractors and check out their credentials, look for articles and recommendations about them or blogs they have published
- Understand what SharePoint is and know your subject, even specialise in it if possible. Contractors know when you don’t know your subject through your use of terminology
- Do understand what your SharePoint contractor specialises in and what rates match their skill set. Do not start calling a SharePoint architect about a .NET developer role.
- Read the contractor’s CV properly before calling them as they are probably working for another client when you call
- Understand the various SharePoint roles that exist, and what are the expected rates for these roles in general. Match this against the contractor’s experience and be realistic
- Brief your client on actual rate expectations and do not just agree that yes you can get an MVP for £200 a day because there is market downturn without actually knowing this is a fact
- Understand that a successful SharePoint implementation is frequently actually in the hands of the recruiter themselves. Once a company has a SharePoint contractor they can be at their mercy as they have no in-house knowledge and if the contractor is no suitably skilled and the implementation fails, it may simply because the wrong person was placed
- Do not pretend you are a leading SharePoint recruiter if you aren’t because professional SharePoint contractors already have regular recruiters they trust
- Remember that the world of SharePoint is, as yet, a pretty small community, and therefore treat your contractors with professional respect and you will receive that courtesy back
- Appreciate that it isn’t always a buyer’s market
- Appreciate that SharePoint is not purely a development platform and often companies do not require development for the first 12 months of implementation
- And finally be cautious of anyone new entering the SharePoint contract market. It is not a subject picked up in just a few months and requires a wide range of skills and experience at the higher level of roles
