Working through agencies and recruiters

Working through an agency or recruiter brings access to clients and projects, while adding another party's fees, expectations and control over communication to the freelance relationship.

Access to work and its costs

Recruitment agencies can prospect for freelance clients, know where opportunities are and supply a stream of work that reduces gaps between projects. ¹ Some companies use agencies for all their talent requirements and do not engage freelance contractors directly. ¹ An agency relationship can also offer regular work, reliable income, team membership and opportunities to develop a portfolio. ^{2, 3}

The intermediary's fee can reach the writer in different ways: recruitment agents may charge the client commission on top of the writer's fee, while agencies may take a percentage of the original fee; either arrangement can mean a lower rate than direct work. ^{1, 4, 5} Fewer gaps between assignments can nevertheless make an agency route more profitable overall. ¹ Contracts for defined periods are available through pharmaceutical companies, contract research organisations (CROs), medical writing agencies and recruiters, but an onsite or full-time contract may prevent the writer from accepting other clients' work during it. ⁴

Direct pharmaceutical and biotechnology work can bring closer contact with the people involved, access to in-house experts, generally higher rates and a stronger sense of involvement in the process. ⁵ Agency work can put a barrier between the writer and the person holding information they need, even when the obstruction is unintentional. ^{6, 7, 5} Some agencies restrict direct client contact for fear of losing the writer to the client, seek noncompete agreements alongside confidentiality agreements, or ask writers to wait for payment until the agency has been paid. ⁵ A medical writing supplier's preference for direct pharmaceutical clients does not necessarily extend to translation, where agencies supply substantial work. ^{6, 7}

The agency's expectations

An agency has to serve its own client while managing its freelancers, and some clients are reluctant to work with new writers, particularly freelancers. ⁸ The agency's client often fixes the project fee, limiting the hourly rate and hours the agency can offer the freelance writer. ^{9, 10}

The benefits an agency weighs when using freelancers are:

• Lower overhead.
• Relatively quick addition, removal or replacement of writers.
• Savings, depending on writing efficiency.
• Therapeutic expertise.
• Availability when writers are needed.
• Partnership.

¹¹

The last four benefits vary with the individual writer. ¹¹

Its concerns are:

• Long-term commitment versus project length.
• Guaranteed confidentiality.
• Variable local processes and standard operating procedures requiring continuing training.
• The cost of changing writers during development.
• Added time pressure on the agency's medical staff.
• Time spent contracting freelancers.
• Variability in estimates of costs and timelines.
• Skill levels.

¹²

The client needs behind those concerns are:

• Personnel stability.
• Minimal investment of time and resources.
• Efficiency, with minimal editing and review.
• Greater depth of publication-practice knowledge within agencies.

¹³

The goals and constraints that can conflict are:

• A long-term relationship.
• Therapeutic conflicts.
• Clients defining the kinds of work the agency may do.
• Agencies relying on teamwork for efficient processing.
• Uneven workloads requiring extra hours at short notice.

⁹

For regulatory agency work, desirable freelance qualities are:

• Enough experience to work independently.
• A client-oriented approach.
• The ability to let go and work within a team.
• Willingness to commit to a group.

¹⁴

One regulatory agency had successful freelance relationships lasting more than 17 years. ¹⁴

An agency's selection questions extend beyond technical competence:

1. Has the writer made their availability known?
2. Have they called for work and shown interest in the agency?
3. Have they backed out of ongoing projects?
4. Do they prefer short-term or long-term projects?
5. Do they need too much handholding, or do they disappear?
6. How well do they interact with clients and represent the agency in public?

⁹

An agency's four Cs provide another framework for engagement:

1. Capability: subject expertise, relevant experience—at least four to five years of domain-specific writing in this framework—and independent work with little or no supervision.
2. Capacity: support when internal resources cannot meet a client deadline, or when medical emergencies, sudden departures or unplanned absences leave gaps.
3. Cost: project profitability alongside client satisfaction, hourly or per-deliverable costs, fair market value informed by the writer's country or region, and a detailed scope and exceptions laid out and communicated at the start.
4. Conflicts of interest: discussion in the initial agreement of current employment and contracts with other companies or agencies, particularly for part-time freelancers.

^{15, 16}

Selection and working relationships

Agencies may refer to freelancers as consultants, part-time writers, self-employed medical writers or medical writing specialists. ¹⁷

An agency may find writers through freelance networks or LinkedIn, request samples, and use a technical or writing test followed by an individual interview. ¹⁶ Assessments may be paid if the agency intends to use the test material, with those details disclosed before the assignment. ¹⁶ Screening can include qualifications, experience, referrals, current engagements and a confidentiality agreement; capability and expertise carry equal weight with independent feedback or referrals validating the work. ¹⁸ Onboarding may require bank, tax, address and alternative emergency-contact details, while payment for the project or its milestones should be settled at the outset. ¹⁶

Agency outsourcing policies and procedures can differ between retainers and individual projects. ¹⁶

A freelance writer can make the agency's job easier by stating their availability and how they can meet its needs, recommending a qualified alternative when unavailable, and delivering on time, on target and within budget. ¹⁹ Mutual understanding, trust and communication support the relationship. ^{19, 10}

Agency clients need problems solved, deadlines and budgets met, high-quality products and work that makes them look good. ²⁰

The following priorities run from lowest to highest:

1. Be ready to work.
2. Know why clients need you.
3. Know why clients do not want to hire you.
4. Know where you sit in the contracting chain.
5. Know what you want.
6. Know what clients need.
7. Know what you know.
8. Know what you do not know.
9. Recognise that your reputation precedes you, for good or ill.
10. Treat clients' success as your success.

¹⁹

Seven practices for working with agencies are:

1. Select projects that fit your experience and interests.
2. Evaluate your capacity and say no when unsure you can finish on time.
3. Manage your time and deliver on schedule.
4. Communicate clearly and transparently.
5. Ask clients for feedback, review your performance and accept feedback constructively.
6. Ask when in doubt rather than assume.
7. Deliver the best-quality work, own mistakes and rectify them.

¹⁶

Subcontracting through a CRO

Freelancers should settle five questions before working through a CRO:

1. How will the client understand your status? You are the CRO's subcontractor, and some end clients do not want subcontractors used. Ask whether the CRO will disclose your independent status rather than expect you to appear to be an employee; small specialist firms that openly describe their use of qualified subcontractors can handle this well.
2. What is your place in the team? Establish your authority and autonomy, inclusion in important meetings, input into decisions and timelines, your principal CRO contact, and whether you may contact sponsor representatives directly with the CRO copied.
3. When and how will you be paid? Establish payment on the contractual timetable without dependence on the CRO receiving its own payment, particularly with smaller CROs, and understand time-reporting and invoicing requirements.
4. How will your documents and communication be handled? If the CRO wants an editable CV for house formatting or company letterhead, ask to review the final version and to be told each time it goes to a prospective client. A CRO email account may introduce technical difficulties and another account to monitor.
5. What happens to proposal work? Agree either payment for your contribution or an understanding, verbal or written, that you will write the project if awarded. After an award, request the final proposal or its medical writing section, check that its hours and fees match your estimates, and seek justification for reductions.

²¹

Some CROs find freelancers through recruitment agencies and others through internal recruiters, so identifying the right contact helps avoid a generic email going unanswered. ²² CRO demand fluctuates with workload and tight deadlines, and specialist knowledge of particular document types or conditions may fill gaps in their internal expertise. ²³ Maintaining contact can bring later opportunities, although there is no clear ideal interval between approaches. ²³

Recruiter relationships

Corporate recruiters serve one company as employees or contractors and receive salary or hourly pay; third-party recruiters generally serve several companies through agencies and place permanent staff, contract staff or both. ²⁴ Some third-party recruiters also place freelancers with their own businesses, including in part-time roles with companies the writers might not otherwise find. ²⁵

Recruiters may uncover projects a writer would not otherwise hear about, but they can also consume substantial time without results; deciding how to deal with them is a matter of individual judgement. ^{26, 27} Writers should check recruiters’ knowledge of their field, ask about their specialism and clients, and expect questions about their own suitability in return. ^{28, 29, 30} Company arrangements differ: a recruiter described vendor-management-system jobs involving more than 50 recruiting firms, where speed of submission mattered, and positions handled by only three to five firms. ³⁰ When several recruiters approach a writer about the same position, the writer should choose one who understands how to present their experience effectively. ³⁰

An agent works in a competitive sales market and may ask about other clients or interviews to obtain leads; writers should give only the information needed to win the project rather than their wider professional network. ¹ Writers should learn about a project before permitting submission of their details, research and register with several agencies, meet them, return calls promptly and follow up projects for which they are put forward. ¹ The recruiter should remain the contact during hiring, without the writer approaching the hiring manager or human resources around them. ^{25, 31}

The recruiter's recommended conduct is:

• Collaborate.
• Be honest.
• Follow up.

³¹

The corresponding behaviours to avoid are:

• Being pushy.
• Going around the recruiter.
• Being difficult to work with.
• Disappearing at the interview or offer stage.

³¹

Relationships with a few good recruiters should continue between searches. ^{32, 33}