| I have recently started working with a technical talent agent for consulting projects I do on the side. He takes 15% of the price of the gig. It is absolutely worth it. His background is in law and sales. Therefore, he can (and has): - Negotiate higher fees than I initially ballpark - Handle all the contractual/legal/financial minutiae that I abhor dealing with For example, the last Rails consulting gig I did went great. He negotiated a fixed-bid fee that was 40% above my initial hourly estimate. The client also had some specific legal requirements (related to patents) and it was nice not having to deal with it. The client was more than pleased and is coming back for more work. So, giving up 15% of that is a no-brainer. Now, your question seems more related to placement of long-term/permanent positions. It's hard to speak to that because I haven't had a "real job" in 10 years. I'm not sure if or how I'd be willing to pay. The key parts, IMO, are negotiating salary and reviewing equity terms. If you could really deliver there, I don't see a problem with giving up 10-15% for the first year or two (can someone tell me if that's similar to what a recruiter takes from the company?). Really, it all comes down to numbers & value. I'll give you X% of my pie if you can make my pie > X% larger. |
I've been consulting for a while as well, I hate dealing with all the negotiations and legal crap. Would be great to just be handed a reasonable contract and not have to constantly "sell" all the stuff they want but don't want to pay for...