What is your experience with staffing agencies? (employment, applying, interview)
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I know that I can google this or search these forums but I want to know what everyones experience is with staffing agencies. They seem perfect, but I am sure they aren't
I'm a fan of them, but you have to make sure the right one to pick and make sure their jobs match with your talents.
I used a recent staffing agency specifically for one job I was interested in. They did nothing, and just pumped me to use my reference contacts to pitch to. That was not a good situation.
They are sleazeballs and them and their bigger sleazeball clients are destroying my profession.
They post fake jobs.
They waste your time calling you in for interviews when they have nothing on the table for you. They pump you for supervisory contacts, where you have been applying for their sales dept. They even burn your references when they have nothing for you.
They pay 30-50% less than direct hire companies, offer no or joke benefits, tell you a job is temp to hire when only 27% of workers in such jobs are ever hired.
Thanks to them it is getting harder to find competent experienced analytical chemists as most of the better and more experienced chemists have given up on the field as it has become a waste of a life.
Every experience I have had with staffing agencies has been a horrible one. The recruiter at the agency either:
1. Demeans my experience
2. Has absolutely no understanding of the skills that the job they are headhunting for requires
3. Tries to bring me in at a salary/rate lower than what I am currently making
4. Attempts to fish other companies/contacts off of my resume while advertising a job that doesn't actually exist
5. Completely misrepresents the job to me and makes me look like a complete idiot when I interview with their client
6. Completely ignores me and leaves me in outer space regarding where I stand in their hiring process
Maybe you will have better luck. You'll need to find a recruiter whose true life's calling is matching candidates with positions. But those are few and far between.
They are sleazeballs and them and their bigger sleazeball clients are destroying my profession.
They post fake jobs.
They waste your time calling you in for interviews when they have nothing on the table for you. They pump you for supervisory contacts, where you have been applying for their sales dept. They even burn your references when they have nothing for you.
They pay 30-50% less than direct hire companies, offer no or joke benefits, tell you a job is temp to hire when only 27% of workers in such jobs are ever hired.
Thanks to them it is getting harder to find competent experienced analytical chemists as most of the better and more experienced chemists have given up on the field as it has become a waste of a life.
Add the above^ to my post as well. MSchemist80 is spot on.
In my younger days when I didn't know any better, I was amazed that I got an "interview" every single time I applied with a staffing agency. All they did was hit me up for a list of references, talk with me about some jobs they may or may not have had, and that was it. I later found out they were bugging the hell out of my references, so I stopped using them.
You cannot get around them now. They are ubiquitous on the job search boards. Most companies use them to hire talent. I once hated them. Now I took the attitude "if you can't beat them join them".
A word of warning about some unscrupulous recruiters: Avoid giving them your references before a face to face with an actual hiring manager. Avoid giving them your Social Security/Date of Birth. I was asked 3 times for that during this past job search. Avoid telling them where you interviewed. Some ask for that information in order to use you to find out where the good watering holes are. More often than not if a job is a fantastic perfect fit for you they will hit you up for one of these three pieces of information. Don't fall for it. Don't be rude. Politely reject. Some will push to get this information. Then you can be rude
When I say some recruiters do this. I would guess about 5%-8%. Most do not.
I used one once. Never, ever again. The job ended through no fault of my own so I began calling every day. My contact person told me to stop calling and that when a position came up they would call me. Even though this violated their own rules I complied. After all they were my employers. About a month later I get a letter from the state saying I quit because I hadn't called and they wanted me to pay back my unemployment. I challenged this in a telephone interview with the state and the imbecile with the state agreed with them, Irregardless of the fact I was following instructions from them. Naturally I contested this as well. I had to hire an attorney which cost $800.00 that I didn't have. I had to have three in person hearings with an adjudicator and won all of them. The company appealed the first two decisions. The third was a committee of adjudicators that held up the decision of the original in person adjudicator. The reason they lost was due to the fact they decided the day I quit was the day before they granted me my unemployment benefits. My attorney, who specializes in this type of law, told me that staffing agencies hate to pay unemployment and will stop at nothing to get out of it. They lie and its perfectly legal for them to do so. He also said while all staffing agencies do this, some do it more than others. Staffing agencies are not to be trusted. I never will again.
I didn't like my experience. I'm trying to move to Michigan, but I compromised with my mom saying I'd find temp work in Pennsylvania while applying in Michigan. I have a PT job, so it would be extra money. Three nationwide temp agencies didn't want to work with me... a local temp agency in PA did. We talked and she liked my experiences (the relocation came up, but I said summer... she asked where I have been looking for employment, which I thought was odd). She said internships since I would be relocating and wasn't looking for permanent employment here. She found me a job, but she lied to me about the job. She said it was office work where I'd be working with international people at a tennis court. Well, it was at a tennis court... but in the back of a tennis court with a slum lord. The slum lord wanted me to answer calls from section 8 people who found him through Craig's List, and he didn't want to talk to them. A lot of tenants were calling because he never repaired homes. Then bills were piled up from 6 months, so I guess he didn't have someone there for 6 months. I thought it was going okay, I made a mistake or two, but one client got really upset and wanted to talk to him. The guy left the office for three hours, so I called him. After the day ended, he didn't want me back. The temp agency said they'd keep me in the loop - haven't heard from them in 4 months and I'm glad. I am just focusing on Michigan. I have my library job and I applied as a summer tutor (I have to call), then just focus on the move and getting employed in Michigan.
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