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This month's Tips is the first of a three-part article that outlines best practices for working with consultants and clients. This month focuses on how to get the best service working with consulting agencies. Next month focuses on tips for working with consultants directly, and the following month provides tips for being a successful consultant.

Selecting a Consulting Agency

Using an agency to find and manage consultants for you can save you time, energy, hassle, and even money. But as with every other service business there are a wide variety of companies to choose from. Here are a few questions you should ask to make sure your agency is one you want to work with:

References—The agency should be able to provide several references from existing clients and consultants to substantiate their reputation.

Screening Procedures—How does the agency select consultants? What is their screening process? Do they check references? How do they validate technical skills? How do they know this individual will fit in your environment? Good agencies do extensive reference checking, skill validation, and personal interviews before sending a resume your way.

Insurance—What coverage does the agency carry. Two million dollars of comprehensive liability and errors and omissions should be your minimum requirements.

Guarantees—If the consultant doesn't work out, what is the agency's replacement policy? Will the agency ensure that the replacement comes up to sped at no charge? Are there other discounts that apply?

Employment Law—Does the agency stay up-to-date with current regulations? How do they make sure that consultants can pass IRS or state employment audits?

Consultant Retention—How does the agency ensure that consultants will stay with the project through completion? How do they foster loyalty? What do they do to make sure consultants are satisfied and productive on assignment?

When you work with a consulting agency, you can be a valued customer whose needs are always attended to first, or someone whose requirements go to the bottom of the pile. So what moves you to the top of the list?

Best Practices when Working with Consultants

If you keep these practices in mind, you will be the ideal client, and therefore get the best consultants.

• Create a Detailed Job Description—The more exactly you can describe the position, the better. What are the specific skills you need? Is this primarily a management or a subordinate job? Do you expect a leader or a follower? What are the tasks this individual must perform, and what would be nice? Do you have educational requirements and if so, does certain business experience also qualify? What about deadlines? When do you need to start?

• Prioritize the Skills You Want—Do you need three years of on-the-job management skills, or will someone with academic credentials and a little business experience qualify? Does the writer need HTML? Or is good writing more important to you than specific tools? What technical skills are essentials, and what skills would be "nice to have?" Prioritizing what's important to you gives a recruiter a broader field to search for what matters most. If you list everything without prioritizing, only a few candidates will be eligible and you might miss the perfect match.

• Specify How Soon You Can Interview and Hire—In today's market, the perfect candidate has many options. If you can't interview for several weeks, you may lose candidates who are interviewing elsewhere. If you don't have hiring authority yet, let the agency know up front. They can prepare the candidate and look for those whose timing matches yours. Being clear up front about when you can interview and when you can hire makes it easier to find candidates who are available when you want them.

• Give Feedback on Resumes—If you receive resumes that aren't right, let the agency know why. What was missing that you wanted to see, what gave you concern? The more detailed your response, the easier it is to find the right candidate. The more responsive you are-both prompt and clear responses, the more likely you are to stay at the top of the list.

• Be as Flexible as You Can—When the demand for skilled workers is strong, flexibility in hours, telecommuting options, benefits and salary are all factors candidates consider in accepting an offer. The more flexible you can be, the more attractive your position is to the candidate you want. Work with an agency that can define for you what's most important to the candidate, and ask for their help to create an offer that works for both you and the candidate.

• Keep in Touch as Things Change—Even the best laid plans change, especially in IT. If your requirements, project dates, resource needs change, let the agency know. They can readjust to be there for you when you're ready.

• Build a Relationship of Trust—Sometimes an agency will find a candidate for you that they know can be successful in your environment. This might be because of their "can do" attitude, their personality, or some essential basic knowledge that will translate for your needs. If the agency stands behind a candidate, interview them even if the skill set isn't an exact fit. Sometimes the right person is more important than the right tool.

Once a candidate is in place, a good agency will continue to work with you to make sure your project is a success. Your expectations of an agency should be high. But to get full value for your consulting dollar, you need to continue to work with the agency after placement:

• Manage the Relationship—Just because you are working with a consultant doesn't mean you can abandon good management techniques. Set clear expectations about deliverables, timelines, status reporting and feedback. Don't let the consultant flounder because they don't have access to basic tools or information. If you are having trouble getting status or feeling comfortable about ongoing performance, get your agency involved.

• Keep in Touch—Everyone is busy. A good agency wants to keep in touch with you after the candidate starts to make sure things are going well. Do you prefer email? A morning phone call every few weeks? Do you want to be paged? Let the agency know the best way to work with you so that you get their ongoing participation and avoid problems. If you don't want to be bothered unless there's a problem, there's more likely to be one-so try to devise a method that lets the agency keep its part of the bargain.

• Be Frank—The agency wants to make sure your needs are being met. They want to hear about any concerns as soon as you have them. Is the candidate meeting deadlines? Is their work meeting your standards? Is anything going on we need to know about?

• If There's a Problem, Call—As soon as anything goes wrong, let the agency know. They can work with the consultant and keep small problems from turning into showstoppers. If the problem is with the agency itself, let the folks know what you don't like or what you need that you're not getting. Clients want and expect different levels of service, and different methods of contact. Let your agency know what you like and don't like.

• Don't Bargain on Rates—Don't get into negotiations with consultants. This is the agency's job. If a consultant wants more money, refer them to their agency. In many cases raises are justified: exceptional work, increase in responsibility, consistent, long-term achievement. But a reputable consultant won't try to blackmail you into a raise, or threaten to leave if they don't get one. While rate information should be shared between the parties, one of the services the agency provides is rate negotiation. They are in touch with the market, and should be the consultant's advocate if a raise is in order. If you feel a consultant deserves a raise, let the agency know so they can figure the tax burden and actual dollar amount and discuss this with the consultant. Remember that a rate increase often means a tax increase, and this needs to be calculated without raising unrealistic expectations.

• If You Receive Value, Repay with Loyalty—If your agency is doing a consistently excellent job, and then has one bad apple, remember that to err is human. Everyone should have one-second chance. Be clear about what went wrong and what you expect in the future. If you feel it's justified, ask for some compensation-a discount or some free hours to make up for the problem, but give the agency a chance to prove they deserve your business.

• Provide Information about Your Company—A good agency wants to know not just about your project, but your company's future direction. Share information with them that can help them prepare for your next project, or someone's project down the hall. We're not talking about proprietary information, of course, but remember, we all have a lot to keep up with. While your technology direction may be clear to you, anything you can provide to make it clear to the agency will pay off in the future.

• Be Willing to Act as a Reference—If your agency has provided excellent service, your reference is their biggest asset. If your company policy allows it, be willing to tell others they've done a good job, or to write a letter they can use in their portfolio.