The rate quoted to me was absurdly low, so I asked what the bill rate to the client was. Middle-men I've worked with in the past have disclosed this to me (and the margins are lower than what one might expect), so I didn't think much of it. The recruiter told me that I was arrogant and asked me to leave. You can bet that I'll never refer anybody to his firm.
The irony was that the guy was an idiot. When asked if the quoted rate (to me) was W2 or 1099, he said, "Well, whatever you'd like" and was perplexed when I remarked that I would surely insist the he take on the payroll taxes if the nominal rate was the same. Very odd for a guy who claimed to have been in the business for years. It's too late for me to give this story much justice, but it was genuinely surreal.
My proposed name: ratecruiter
And if it caught on, you can bet the recruiters would have some lower level person on every team who'd be tasked with gaming the site.
Seriously, I have no idea what you're talking about :)
If you need Viagra you go to Pfizer; if you need a job you go to the companies that you wan't to work with, no through some middle men.
In our industry (Information Security) some recruiters are useful and do provide a service for both sides, but there are a lot that are like the ones this guy had to deal with. Thankfully our end of the industry is quite small and the shoddy ones tend to have a reputation that preceeds them.
:)
