Staffing agencies can be a joke

[Carnoobie]

Ive had some good experiences with a couple but also a couple that just wasted my time. Oh, and I hate nothing more than people, companies, employers wasting my time!

Not only is it annoying having to do 458 different tests - typing, word, excel, outlook, powerpoint, math, reading comprehension, matching, counting your toes, hopscotch, ABC for dummies tests over and over again. You go to 4 different agenices, guess what you get to do the whole set of 3-4hrs tests 4 times! Its too bad you cant just print your results and bring it in to show them, but nooo you have to do the exact same tests all over again uhhh.

They take like 3 hours minumum! I just did another set for another agency and I just spent over an hour answering over 200 questions asking about filing alphabetical order. Are you kidding me? 200 questions! I was getting [censored] off! 200 of the exact same [censored] thing is just ridiculous. Sorry but someone like myself, doesnt graduate from college with a diploma without knowing their ABCs.

The only good thing is a lot of them allow you to now do the tests at home and not have to sit in their office for 3hrs using their outdated computers from the 90s.

The sad thing is Big businesses now rely on temp agencies, it saves the company time and money from going out themselves to hire someone. Otherwise i wouldnt bother with any of them.

But like last year I went to this one agency, stupid staff said you have to do all the tests there using their outdated stiff keyboard computers. So it took me like 3 hours, then after I had to watch stupid WHMIS videos (which was another hour) and do these stupid fill in tests for it. And wait another 20mins to meet up with one of the recruiters, only for her to tell me I was 2% under their standards for one of their tests. And that I can either re-do the test at a later time or she has to turn down the app.

I was like you wouldnt believe. Wasted a trip 45mins across the city, pay for parking, spend 5hrs there, my entire day almost! only to tell her Im not qualified cause of 2%. So I was like her, its her loss. I just walked out.

 

[andyd]

I hate temp agencies. They make about the same amount as you do. They bill the companies about 2x what they pay you. For what? Making a few calls. Get hooked up with a headhunter instead.

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

headhunters aren't all that much better. Most of them get paid by the call/contact, not necessarily by the placement.

Yeah, it's a joke.

 

[JustinH]

Companies are bringing in more and more staff through temporary agencies. It's sad really these people have zero benefits, zero health insurance, and can be fired at the drop of a hat for any reason. I see these people on a daily basis, and feel for some of them.

 

[andyd]

I got a well paid 2 month job from a guy who cold called me and I quoted him the hourly wage from my last real job. He didnt blink. About 2 yrs later, in '06, my sister , who has nothing to do with my line of work, got a job offer from a group of headhunters and Mary passed it along to me. The job was 'zactly what I needed and I was licensed in the trade. At 56, I felt lucky after being laid off in '04 from the phone company. Odd jobbing isn't for me. I need steady employment

 

[dparm]

The term headhunter is an archaism, methinks.

 

[BobsArmory]

So you failed the cut off by 2% and you had a bad attitude. The interviewer probably saw that and you wonder why you weren't hired? Take a deep breath, relax, study up and retake the test with an upbeat attitude.

 

[Carnoobie]

Originally Posted By: BobsArmory
So you failed the cut off by 2% and you had a bad attitude. The interviewer probably saw that and you wonder why you weren't hired? Take a deep breath, relax, study up and retake the test with an upbeat attitude.


I may have been made about it but i dont show it in person. Trust me.

Originally Posted By: andyd
I hate temp agencies. They make about the same amount as you do. They bill the companies about 2x what they pay you. For what? Making a few calls. Get hooked up with a headhunter instead.


I dont think they make that much. I knew a girl who worked as a recruiter and she said for a job that pays the worker $16/hr, they bill the company only $1-2/hr more. Bill company $17-18/hr, pay staff $16/hr. So in a full day, they make $8-16/ person.

 

[Mr Nice]

What type of job would you like to find?

Any specialized job skills or training?

 

[Kruse]

I used to date a girl that worked at a staffing agency. I know that the companies themselves are pathetic and they treat everybody like trash, but it works both ways. I do remember that there were a few people on parole or probation that worked for her company.
Anyway, she had a assignment one time for about a dozen people to work an Octoberfest type of celebration that a city put on. Of the dozen people who promised to show, only about 2-3 people made it. Because of her begging and pleading, her sister and I filled in some of the vacancy spots by serving brats and draft beer in front of thousands of people. About every 30 minutes we had to do the "Chicken dance" in front of these thousands of people to their amusement.
It was a very humbling day, but was quite fun. The beer obviously dulled our senses.

 

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: JustinH
Companies are bringing in more and more staff through temporary agencies. It's sad really these people have zero benefits, zero health insurance, and can be fired at the drop of a hat for any reason. I see these people on a daily basis, and feel for some of them.


This is why staffing agencies exist today. It turns employees into a consumable commodity. Don't need them any more? Costing the company too much? Just fire them without benefits as long as they are still under contract with the staffing agency. Sometimes the staffing agency will offer benefits, but the job is in no way guaranteed. I thought I had landed a great job through a staffing company, passed every test they threw at me without a problem, then had some bean counter pull it out from under me when the employer decided the position was no longer in the budget.

Some staffing agencies really are just looking for warm bodies that can show up and lift things for $8/hour or less. They will often hire anyone without much testing..."fill out these forms, can you be at the warehouse at 7 AM tomorrow?"

I definitely would not rely on staffing agencies alone. Most of the jobs I have had I found on Craigslist of all places. Yes, you have to wade through the scams and dead ends, but once in a while there are real, decent jobs on there.

It's a rough job market, good luck.

 

[daves87rs]

Temp place are the future...trust me on that.


Places have already cut wages/benefits to the bone, and this is the next step in cheap labor..

 

[Mr Nice]

At my old job they needed $100K in contract revenue to hire a new employee at $50K + benefits, pension, various insurances, PTO, paid training, voluntary pension, floating holidays, travel expenses...etc.

A $25/hr employee costs the company a lot more than their pay. Now this company hires interns and keeps the good ones and boots the bad ones.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Back at the end of 2010 I found myself looking for a job.

I lived near Utica, NY and was looking for a job in Syracuse, NY. I got hooked up with a staffing agency in Syracuse. They wanted me to come in for a "great paying" job interview for a job they said was in Syracuse.

I was unemployed, money was tight.

I drove 150 miles round trip to the interview. When I got there, she told me that the job interview was for a part time, minimum wage job in Utica.

To say the least, I was pretty upset to waste that much gas for a part time, minimum wage job in a city I didn't want to be in.

 

[eljefino]

My roommate temped for a summer. He got $7, the agency $8.

He was a human winch; they were demolishing a parking garage and he had a 5 gal bucket on the end of a rope that he would lower down an elevator shaft, they'd put concrete chunks in it, then he'd haul it back up.

Someone somewhere didn't think that plan through. Or their own employees promised riots.

 

[mechanicx]

I guess he was cheaper or more productive than using a mechanical winch.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Remember, the cost of an employee isn't just what they are paying to the employee.

There's a hefty employment tax they're paying, unemployment tax and probably a few others I don't know about. They are missing a lot of taxes by hiring temps from an agency.

 

[addyguy]

Man, don't remind me of this....

I got laid-off at the end of March, and I've taken a couple of months break...I'm just about to start the search again, and this will be part of it....oh well....

 

[OtisBlkR1]

Originally Posted By: Carnoobie


I was like you wouldnt believe. Wasted a trip 45mins across the city, pay for parking, spend 5hrs there, my entire day almost! only to tell her Im not qualified cause of 2%. So I was like her, its her loss. I just walked out.



Im not making fun of you, but how is it there loss at this point ? there are a million just like me, and just like you out there waiting for you to mess up so they can pounce on that job.. you spent your time, energy, money, and patience only to let 2% get to you at the end and walk out.. Other than a small moment of gratification you lost everything on this day.. your going home jobless, with less money in your pocket, all becouse of a small moment that could have been corrected and you could be back in the game.

Im not going to tell you i feel sorry for you, becouse its clear you messed up on this day, but its ok, we all mess up once in awhile, just learn from this mistake and move on.
Best of luck to you with your continued search for gainfull employment.

For the record it took me 6 year's of patience and working up to the job position i have today, i jumped through a Ton of Red Tape and OJT experiences, went and had to get more experience with more departments.. bla,bla,bla, 6 years, but in 6 years i doubled my salary and im still moving up..

patience my friend..

 

[2002 Maxima SE]

Ugh, I deal with contract/consulting agencies every now and then to get gigs. Companies will not do direct 1099 contracts with the consultant do to liabilities, so you are forced (if you are not FTE) to go with an agency. Some are good, really good and it is mainly representative of the person/agent. Same company once that agent is gone can be horrible.

My experience:

Lunches with agents to shake me down for names inside the company (leads) to harass for more work.

Agents insisting I come into the office to interview for a job they do not own. That's right. Come in, agency has some requirements...blah blah blah...2 hours later no job. I have learned that if you have to come by the agencies office, they do not have a job. 100% of my jobs have been onsite interviews and then a job offer, no direct contact with the agent other than him introducing me as the candidate to the client at the site.

Agents wanting to talk to you about a job for XYZ which appears no where on your resume. They did not even read it, just took a shotgun approach to finding a candidate.

As I said, not always the case, sometimes there are good ones out there but they are few and far between. I hold onto them in my contacts list like gold and use them exclusively even if they do not have a relationship with the customer.