Questions About Using a Staffing Agency (employed, highest, apply, tips)

[Poinsettia2016]

Hello,

I’m located in NYC and am thinking of using a staffing agency to find a job. I’ve never used one before and have some general questions below. Thank you in advance for any replies.

For my first time contacting the staffing agency, would it better to go to the office in person, submit my resume online, or apply online to a particular job advertised by the agency and hope to be called? If going in person, what do I need to bring (resume, ID, reference list, etc.)?

What is the timeline of when everything happens (filling out application, submitting my paper work, background/reference/drug checks (if applicable?), signing contract to work with the agency, interviews, testing etc.) For example, should I expect to fill out an application or contract on the first day I go to meet with the agency or would I have a chance to have an initial meeting to see if the agency and I are a good match first?

How are agency recruiters assigned to job seekers? Is it just based on who is at the staffing agency on the day I go, or can I select the recruiter I want to work with?

For how long do the contracts usually last? Once a contract ends, does that mean I’m no longer employed by that staffing agency? Any general tips regarding the contract? Anything to be on the lookout for before I sign any documents with a staffing agency?

Aside from an application and contract, are there any other forms I'd need to fill out? Would these need to be filled out just once or would I need to fill these out every time the agency sends me out to an interview?

At what point do I have to commit to working with the agency? Would this only happen once I sign a contract? In other words, even if an agency is sending me out on interviews, can I stop working with them at any time as long as I haven't signed a contract? And if so, would I just need to inform my recruiter or is there a specific way to go about this?

What happens if I don’t like a job I’m sent out to? And what happens if I start a job and get fired or if I accept the job, but want to quit before my contract expires?

How does health insurance and other benefits work with staffing agencies? What are the requirements to receive these benefits? Can a job seeker opt out of receiving such benefits through the staffing agencies?

Thanks!

[Chyvan]

You need to keep your stuff together. There's implications with your UI situation when you use a staffing agency. While on UI, you look for a job about as good or better than you had before, and you do it yourself. Don't get someone else involved in your work search, or you might find that they start hitting the "fraud" link on the UI website because you cost them a commission because you turned down a job that paid 50% less than what you were making before for job duties not using your highest skill set, that you specifically told the up front you weren't interested, or they can put you on the payroll and report you to the new hire database in direct violation of the instructions in preparation for sending to a job that you haven't even started yet, trigger an investigation by the UI people that suspends your benefits and creates a cashflow nightmare.

When your UI benefits are running out, then you can think about using them. When on UI, the way you look for work is different than when you have no job at all. Your work search needs to be done in such a way to protect your UI benefits and not do anything that can disrupt them if you need the money. When you have no UI, you can do whatever you want because obtaining some money is better than no money, but not always better than losing your UI.

You need to move this to the UI forum. You need advice from people on UI looking for work, not people that have no UI or those that already have jobs looking to trade up.

[Poinsettia2016]

This is really helpful. Thank you Chyvan.

[MSchemist80]

I agree with chyvan staffing agency recruiters are liars and slimeballs and won't hesitate to waste your time, use your UI to extort you into taking whatever lousy job they want to shoe horn you into. I would avoid them unless you are very desperate.