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I've heard that most of them these days are flooded with poorly qualified applicants who will take any job for minimum wage, so it's hard to get results unless you stand out. For example, somebody who has a useless degree and hasn't held a long-term job will be ignored whereas somebody with steady work history and impressive credentials will get placed fast.
My experience with them (which was about 15 years ago) was that they'd have work for you pretty quickly, possibly even sending you to a job the next day, but they'd often misrepresent the job & duties. If you can stick it out through the first few lousy assignments they give you, though, it gets better and you can work towards better assignments.
I worked in the staffing industry for seven years (clerical/professional placement and marketing). Some staffing companies are better than others. I was fortunate to work with a very good one that has an excellent reputation in most markets.
Go to a staffing company that has a good reputation in the field you're interested in. For example, some staffing companies specialize in industrial placement. Some specialize in clerical or medical office placement. Some specialize in professional placement. A good way to gauge their "specialty" is to look around the waiting room at the various applicants to get a feel for the quality of workers they attract.
Another way to gauge this is to read the ads for the positions they're offering.
Dress very professionally when you interview. This alone will make you stand out, since for some weird reason, many people don't dress professionally when they're interviewing with a staffing company - as if it's not a "real" interview.
STAY IN TOUCH WITH THE PERSON WHO INTERVIEWS YOU at the staffing company. This is THE most important piece of advice I can give you. Often these people interview 8-10 people per day. Somewhere along the way, they are going to tell you to "call in" regularly, but for some reason people interviewing often miss this cue. They think that once they've interviewed and turned in their app/resume they are at the forefront of the company's mind. NOT TRUE. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Call or email your interviewer several times a week to remind them, "I'm ready and eager to go to work - SEND ME, SEND ME!"
If it's a temp to hire position, then make damn sure that the "temp time" status is clearly defined.
So true. I've had a lot of experience with staffing agencies over a 32 year period, both good and bad. I've had a couple of assignments which were temp to permanent, and I was hired within the allotted time. Others where I was just strung along with empty promises of being hired and then unceremoniously let go when the project was over. Lately, now that I'd just be interested in very short term temporary assignments, there aren't any. I work for a school district and am off for 12 weeks during the summer and wanted such work during my time off, like filling in for employees' vacations. Customers don't seem to want you unless you can give long term or indefinite availability.
One place they sent me to interview was the local county career center (where they "assist" people who are unemployed). The staffing agency tested me throughly, then sent the results to the career center, where I then went to interview. It went very well, but they were very ambiguous about the length of the assignment, the hours per week (they said anywhere from 0 to 32), and they couldn't even descrobe the duties or when it was to start. Hint: the position was to be funded by the Obama stimulus. No, I did NOT make a face or roll my eyes when they told me that.
I got home, and there was a message that the career center wanted me in the next day to test. Okay, I went in, and they administered me almost the EXACT SAME TEST that the staffing agency had. The job never materialized anyway. I guess the Obama stimulus didn't come through with the funding.
Yea, Skeff. ..these gov't career centers e.g., Workforce, Goodwill, all of them...they just test you, do all the crazy paperwork and then you never get ANY job via them. They play the "let's fill that quota" game. That's why they string you along. They get paid to B.S. with us but we waste time and money..and get our hopes up for nothing.
I've heard that most of them these days are flooded with poorly qualified applicants who will take any job for minimum wage, so it's hard to get results unless you stand out. For example, somebody who has a useless degree and hasn't held a long-term job will be ignored whereas somebody with steady work history and impressive credentials will get placed fast.
This is true.
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