Terms and EndearmentThe forum the bean counters hoped would never happen. Your news on pay, rostering, allowances, extras and negotiations where you work - scheduled, charter or contract.
A few years ago I would have given PARC the thumbs up, but. . . . . recent experiences by colleagues would have to suggest they are not too good anymore. Rishworth had a fairly bad reputation on here, but on my current contract (which is through the Swedish office) my Rishworth colleagues are notably more satisfied with their agency than the PARC ones (for the moment )
I have however heard bad vibes about Rishworth NZ, & indeed if you search on here you will find negative comments about all of them (no exceptions I can think of)
At the end of the day, a lot depends on your expectations. None of them will ever fight your corner against a company, even if you are an integral part of the deal, the company is the paymaster. If the company defaults on the payment , you are normally stuffed, as few (if any) take payment up front in advance to cover this scenario (one I knew of & thought always did, let a bunch of guys down when a UK ACMI company went tits up, so even the "safe" ones aren't always) As always it is best to speak to guys actually on a contract you are interested in, to hear the latest on who appears to be doing the best job if several agencies are offering the gig.
Stay away from the agencies if you can, especially PARC. In the past (10 years ago), the few agencies that existed were more or less OK. Now there are a bunch of them that became pretentious sharks.
They don't care about you or your family, it is all about how much you cost and how easy they can take their share.
I've felt confortable dealing with Storm McGinley. Answered my emails immediately, they do not hesitate to take the phone and give you a call for an update whatever it is. And it seems that they're doing their job well.
Forgive my ignorance on the matter, but if you are to be out of work imminently then would it not serve your best interests to be with as many agencies as possible, never mind being picky about which one is best?!
I figure it's always better to have options and discount them than not have them in the first place!
Parc, Rishworth (the stockholm office) has lived up to my expectations. When contracting, you must set your mind on being a contractor...
Aeroprofessional - bad, bad and bad. 15 phone calls and 15 emails from them a day when it comes to securing the contract, making you sign. After that, myself as well as a colleague on the same contract did not receive the first monthly payment. After chasing them for a few days to sort out the problem it turned out that it was their own sloppy routines that caused the mishap. Nothing happened from our "senior consultant" before we talked directly to top management. Not a word after this until an extension of the contract was about to happen - then back to the 15 calls / 15 emails a day from their side. My impression is that they don't give a s**t about you unless you means more or new money.
Won't go into details (there are a couple of threads here & Nordic Forum running already) but Norwegian via Rishworth (in preference to PARC on this particular contract) isn't too bad, although new joiners are being presented with a fairly screwed up approach to tax & social charges AFAIK. The Union is trying to sort everything out, & we are suffering some collateral damage as a result, but, it is one of the better options on the 73 at the moment.
I have to say, the airline that I fly for, is picking up where aeroprofessional is coming short. Maybe the combination bad agency / bad airline is the worst.
All the best to those who are out there, soon to be in the hands of agencies...
I got a Parc contract - the standard are no answers on your emails. Will soon change. Strangely Parc is very quickly answering emails from the company, but not mine. Not recommendable
Know what you are saying guys...but I do have a little time to make sure I spend most of my efforts working with the better agencies. AAt the mo Rishworth and CCL seem to be at the opposite end of the spectrum to Parc.
I can highly recommend Rishworth, some may have some legitimate gripes from the past, but several of the wingers on PPRuNe had no clue of the contract business to begin with, so they go on and on about something that was their own problem.
My experience with RAL has been for the last 9 years, total professionals.
