I know I have, been doing agency work for a few months, driving all sorts and then passed my C+E and the first job I got resonated with me, I enjoyed it immensely, the guy I was doing cover for did not come back, I asked if I could have the job and they said yes!!!
I reckon a fair few have done that, because working for an agency enables you to try out a lot of different jobs and trucks and managers…Once you find a place where it all seems to fit into place, that has to be the job to go for??
Yeah a lot have done that, its a good way to get into a company, years ago i did some shifts for DHL as a agency driver then a job came up, applied, at the interview didn’t know the guy but told him i had already been working with them through an agency and he went checked and basically told me the transport team had been happy with me when i had been in as a agency driver and basically told me i was getting the job.
Worked a few places as a agency driver and have been offered full time positions, but never taken them up mainly because of commitments i have which means i can’t be that flexable work wise.
Don’t know about other agencies but Driver Hire used to charge some type of fee which i believe was quite a bit of money if an agency driver left DH to go work full time for a company they had been suppling drivers to. Don’t know how legally binding that was tho.
I know of other companies you can’t leave the company then go work at the same place with an agency for at least 6 months and supposedly similar if you are applying for a job can’t have been working their agency.
A lot of companies take on the agency driver’s it save’s them getting stuck with a driver that’s no good
I did a temp to perm through an agy. Had to do 13 weeks? IIRC on agy before switching to company. Had the company hired me sooner they’d have had to pay a big agency fee for finding them a staff member.
That’s how I got my current job. I was in there on the agency and they kept offering me a job which I turned down a few times then decided to to take it. Did a shift in there for the agency on a Friday and started my next shift as an employee on the Sunday, that’s the way to start a job, straight in on double time. 
I’d already told the agency I was leaving a week or so before but didn’t do temp to perm or any of that ■■■■■■■■, the agency didn’t own me and I’m not a footballer so they couldn’t transfer me. Best decision I’ve ever made.
Whats the legality, or contract wise deal with some agencies wanting cash off companies who take on their agency staff.
Years ago i was in AAH all the time doing class 1 trunks but also did class 2 work because i knew every run got class 1 money for it, and thought it was really easy and a pretty laid back company to work for.
Was sick of agency chopping and changing where i went, one of the bosses at AAH said they needed class 2 drivers would i be interested even tho i was class 1. I said yeah depending on the cash, cause the way they were working was a few days would be on easy runs could start at 8am finished by 11-12 guareeteed 8 hours, and the other days get some decent overtime 12-15 hour shifts, so thought worked out quite well.
He couldnt promise me anything cause would need to see if higher up management would pay the agency to get me away from them, think he quoted something like £2K-£5K or something insane like that, can’t remember, said they had done it in the past. I said well sick of the agency i,m work we don’t need to tell them, the guy said no we can’t do that agency are in here quite a bit one of them see you, would be trouble. I said can you not just bump them, they said yeah we could kinda but at the time was shortage of drivers and said agency supply us with a lot of drivers last minute, they wouldn’t be so helpfull if we did that to them.
In the end job didn’t materialise because management were unwilling to pay the agency because they had done it in the past and the last guy stayed a month then went got another job.
att:
I know I have, been doing agency work for a few months, driving all sorts and then passed my C+E and the first job I got resonated with me, I enjoyed it immensely, the guy I was doing cover for did not come back, I asked if I could have the job and they said yes!!!I reckon a fair few have done that, because working for an agency enables you to try out a lot of different jobs and trucks and managers…Once you find a place where it all seems to fit into place, that has to be the job to go for??
It happens quite a bit. It’s a good way for companies to recruit 'cos they’ve then some idea of what abloke is like, and, of course it works the same way for the said bloke. It’s what is known as a 'temp-perm contract whereas a driver works for a company oon agency for a certain amount of time, say 6weeks or so, then, if it’s mutually agreeable, the driver goes onto the firm full-time. I know of several companies around here who have that kind of reciprocal arrangement with various agencies.
Had a couple of job offers while working for an agency on class 2, one from a company called Monroe South delivering agricultural products and the other from Travis Perkins, turned them down because i was getting paid more on the agency and didnt want to get tied down to a job when i was going for my class 1.
This was a couple of years ago though so in the current climate i may have taken them up on their offer.
how many drivers DONT want perm work?
im on agency and i work when i want not when im told which suits me fine…not sure i could stand the pay cut involved either?
xamtex:
how many drivers DONT want perm work?
im on agency and i work when i want not when im told which suits me fine…not sure i could stand the pay cut involved either?
i agree but i am seriously rethinking it now. im getting 5 days a week again but i have heard drivers of other agencies say they are only getting a couple of days a week and this is a busy time. the end of the year is rapidly approaching and im thinking it might be worth losing a couple of grand a year to secure an income after christmas. it just happens that this week i am covering a job after a guy walked out last wednesday. if they offered i would probably take it. trunking to carlisle, tipping a double decker, kipping for 3 hours, reload and back to livingston for business post/uk mail isnt the hardest job ever and its night work. depends on the money though. they offered me the day run a few years ago but it was only £19k.
To answer Kenny’s question; things might have changed a bit in the seven or eight years since I last worked as a consultant but basically, the agency reserves the right when it signs a deal with a client, to charge the client an Introduction Fee which can be set up in a number of ways; either on a sliding scale or a one-off basis.
When a driver goes TTP as it’s known in the business (temp to perm obviously) then normally the agency will cut a deal with the client for the driver to stay on the agency’s books for X number of weeks, then being taken on by the cliuent full-time. For management placements the one-off fee is more common.
A number of factors tend to be taken into account; the amount of business (current and future) the client does with the agency, the number of times it happens, and (usually informally) the value of the driver to the agency. It goes without saying that a decent agency will never stand in the way of a driver going into a permanent job, as they then have an advocate who can still do them some good even though he doesn’t work for them any more; furthermore if it doesn’t work out the driver can then return on good terms and often pick up where he left off rather than starting back at the rear of the queue.
What papermonkey said as well.
If the client tries to go behind the agency’s back and approaches the driver, the fee is usually recoverable in court although if it’s gone that far it usually means the agency’s lost out big time because they’ve fallen out with the client and won’t be getting any more business.