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I know this has been discussed many times and usually people have nothing good to say about staffing agencies, but I will always say it depends on the type of staffing agency you choose to work with and that determines your success with the agency. But here is my latest story on staffing agencies....
Three months ago, I landed a role through a staffing agency that is known to place individuals into very high-end companies. I left a full-time job to go to this full-time temp job as I knew if I were to ever get hired on, I would be blessed, as it's extremely competitive to get into this said company (for instance, someone that applied back in July just started a week ago).
I want all of you negative Nancy's to know that I was just offered a full-time position with great benefits. This company is rated as one of the top 20 places to work for in the state. Yes, many temp agencies are sketchy, but there are some that truly are out there to help you find a career. So for those people that are stuck in a rut, research local agencies and see what ones are good. There is no harm in giving them your resume. I wasn't even looking to change careers when this temp agency called me (they had my resume on file) and this move ended up changing my life.
So who else had had success with staffing agencies?
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
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I've temped three occasions, twice for Ranstad, once for Manpower. None were "perm to temp", but in two of the three situations I was offered F/T permanent employment. Once I took it. At orgs I've worked at we've hired a many many entry level works from the ranks of our temps... that was especially true when I worked in higher ed.
I'm a senior-level finance person and my experience with temp firms has been mixed. I had much better experiences with them when I was at the junior level. However, I think the challenge is finding a good agency to land with. For a number of reasons, I prefer to not work with agencies. But, I've not ruled them out entirely because they do offer a good service to most who are actively looking for a role.
are staffing agencies the same things as recruiters?
i used a recruiter to get my last job. i thought it was great. he coached me on how to answer interview questions and even helped me write my thank you letters after the interview. he also worked as the intermediary when scheduling the interview and finding out if they liked me and everything. i think its good for employers too because the recruiter has most likely already met the candidate and can weed out bad seeds ahead of time for the employer.
but if a recruiter is something different than a staffing agency, i have no idea!
I'm currently a research administrator at a large science/health nonprofit with a mid-five-figure salary, great insurance and a good retirement plan, generous vacation, good work-life balance and a terrific working environment, and I landed a job here through a temp agency.
I was hired on permanently ten years ago, so it was perhaps a different economic climate, and I'm quite aware my experience may be quite different from the norm, but since you asked...
Recruiters work for staffing agencies such as Manpower, Robert Half, etc. Headhunters, often referred to as recruiters are retained by employers to perform an exclusive search on local and/or national level. Executive level people like Directors, VP's usually benefit the most from using headhunters.
If the job is permanent/full time right out the gate then yes but you have to be careful with temp to hire jobs through staffing agencies.
In my honest opinion, temp to hire is a joke in most cases. 70-80% of companies that hire temps through a staffing agency are only looking for a warm body to do their b***h work and string that candidate along for several months or even years.
With temp to hire you are most likely just going to become a permatemp at best.
I worked a so called temp to hire job right after college as an associate chemist and asked if I was going to be hired on permanently after the initial 6 months that allows the company to bring me on permanently and they said "I currently don't have a full time position in my department but you can apply to jobs on our career site that fit your background" after that I knew that job was going nowhere so dusted off the resume and applied to permanent/full time chemist jobs all over the country and got an interview for a chemist position in WV. 2-3 weeks the interview I was offered the position and I packed in moved and have been working my new job for 3 weeks.
Don't get me wrong a temp job is better than no job but don't put all your faith into thinking it will turn perm. While you are working that temp job continue to apply to permanent jobs both in and out of state (look for jobs that will cover your relocation expenses for out of state jobs). If you land a permanent job before your contract is up leave the temp job.
No. If you are looking for a job with competitive pay and benefits at a company that is good to work for you are barking up the wrong tree dealing with staffing agencies. They are lying sleazy dirtbags and cater to lousy sleazy dirtbag clients. Only deal with them as a last resort and never believe the temp-to-hire nonsense they float to try and lure you to take their underpaying crapo temp jobs.
Research done by the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research found that only 27% of temp to hire jobs actually turn permanent and only 18% of temp jobs overall.
My answer is probably irrelevant since it happened 37 years ago, and it doesn't necessarily answer the question. It just brings back a memory of a "what if".
After my senior year in high school I had my name into an agency. My Dad was also trying to see if he could get me a job at Raytheon where he worked. I interviewed at Raytheon and did the agency paperwork. One morning Raytheon calls me up and offers me a $10/hr job, which back in 1978 wasn't too shabby. They gave me a couple of days to respond. Not even an hour later the temp agency calls me. Although I was looking for something in accounting, they had a strange job for me - limo driver for the top guy at Honeywell computers Natick, MA location. It was $9.50/hr. I took Raytheon for the $.50.
In hindsight, I always wonder about the limo driving job. The Raytheon job was a summer project doing a budget for a plant expansion. I was given the summer to complete it. It took me 3 days. I twiddled my thumbs the rest of the summer and got paid for it as they had nothing else for me to do. SInce I was already a technology geek, I dream if I took the limo job I would have somehow hit it off with the Honeywell guy and maybe found something successful then.
No. If you are looking for a job with competitive pay and benefits at a company that is good to work for you are barking up the wrong tree dealing with staffing agencies. They are lying sleazy dirtbags and cater to lousy sleazy dirtbag clients. Only deal with them as a last resort and never believe the temp-to-hire nonsense they float to try and lure you to take their underpaying crapo temp jobs.
Research done by the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research found that only 27% of temp to hire jobs actually turn permanent and only 18% of temp jobs overall.
Additionally, the markup rate they charge the employers is ridiculous. For instance, recently I was in a position that was paying $45 hrly. Before starting the job, I tried negotiating a higher rate, but was told that's the best they could do. But, I later learned they were charging the company $85 hrly for my services. So apparently NOT the best they could do. Anyway, it left a bad taste in my mouth and I refuse to work with that particular agency again. It was just the principle of the matter.
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So apparently NOT the best they could do. Anyway, it left a bad taste in my mouth and I refuse to work with that particular agency again. It was just the principle of the matter.
