I met a woman that works for "Xpress Pros" in rocky mount the other day and she said she was going to setup me with a job and all this blahblah.

Anyway, just wondering on everyone's experiences with temp agencies and what to watch out for.

I don't want to get caught up in a big contact in case i get another job offer sometime down the road.

10/17/2008 1:57:24 PM

Quote :

"I don't want to get caught up in a big contact in case i get another job offer sometime down the road."

don't worry about it. treat it like you would any other part time job.

thing is with temp agencies, never take their first offer. they all try to lowball the hell out of you. you have lots of room to negotiate. make sure you know what the avg. pay is for the job.

don't be afraid to say no. don't be a chump, unless you are so desperate for $.

10/17/2008 2:01:23 PM

Hi, I worked once with a temp. agency when I was between jobs and it wasn't so bad. The little "tests" they make you take before they even look for jobs for you are kind of silly, but they might set you up with somewhere decent. If not, just be honest and let them know it isn't working for you. Good luck!

10/20/2008 5:49:28 PM

^ actually, it is the client that requests those tests to be given. Trust me, if it were up to the agencies, they wouldn't test at all if they could get away with it. And a lot of the shittier agencies don't. It costs the agency money to give those tests. Shit, they would prefer to not even drug test if the client doesn't request it.

Each client is different and has different qualifications they are looking for in employees. If a client didn't care about the quality of the employees they were getting, then why would they use an agency to staff their company? If they had low standards they would just post the shit on CareerBuilder themselves. On top of that, those "little tests" are what guarantee you a higher pay rate and a better fit for a job, rather than just blindly answering an ad in the newspaper.

[Edited on October 20, 2008 at 6:03 PM. Reason : a]

10/20/2008 6:00:45 PM

Oh, well I meant you take the "tests" before the staffing agency even interviews you for any positions. That is all I meant, but I see your point.

10/20/2008 6:02:37 PM

^ they give the tests before you interview because they arleady have clients in mind that they want to place you with, and they know the qualifications those clients are looking for. If you aren't qualified for any of the agency's clients, then why bother interviewing you?

10/20/2008 6:04:34 PM

^Ok True. Point taken. Only did the temp. thing once.

10/20/2008 6:10:13 PM

Just trying to drop some knowledge. Staffing Agencies get a bad rap, and that is probably because there are a ton of bad ones out there. I am a sales rep for one of the good ones here in Greensboro (meaning, I am the guy that brings in new clients to use us to staff their companies), and it amazes me how some of the bad ones stay in business.

10/20/2008 6:11:49 PM

Oh really? That's interesting. I think I worked with Quality Staffing in Cary. They were cool, but then again, never worked with any other agencies ever.

10/20/2008 6:13:20 PM

Yeah, picking an agency is like a crap shoot these days. There are just so fucking many of them.

10/20/2008 6:21:47 PM

I had a temp agency promise to give me a science related job after I had been working with them a bit.

I did three horribly boring clerical jobs. Fourth job rolled around and they told me that I had to go work for some publisher that was EXTREMELY shady in the way they got their mailing information. I called them the second day and they just kinda said, "suck it up, next job will be science related."

Finally, I just couldn't take it anymore and called them and told them to fuck off.

10/20/2008 6:32:21 PM

yeah, I don't think I would trust an agency that does both clerical and science related jobs. With most of the upper level type placements (science, engineering, IT, etc), you are best to go through an agency that only specializes in those fields.

10/20/2008 6:37:07 PM

I went and talked with them today.

You guys are right about the little tests. Extremely annoying. Anyway I talked with her about the job and we both realized I wasn't happy with the travel (20+ miles there, 20+ miles back) at 13 an hour, wasn't worth it for me.

We ended on a good note and they said they would keep me in their database if anything new came up that was closer.

10/20/2008 8:25:41 PM

Can anyone recommend a fairly reliable company to go with? I haven't decided on clerical or science based yet, so whatever works. I've looked up some agencies websites for here in Wilmington, but the sites are so overdone that aside from location I can't find out anything about them!

10/20/2008 8:33:12 PM

Can't help you in Wilmington. Other than 2 or 3 national firms, staffing agencies are pretty well localized.

10/20/2008 9:48:14 PM

^^ I worked for ABC Personal in Wilmington a few summers ago. They are in the grey complex behind Amy's. It worked out well for me.

10/20/2008 10:38:23 PM

Quote :

"Hi, I worked once with a temp. agency when I was between jobs and it wasn't so bad."

i'd say so.

10/21/2008 9:10:51 AM

I know somebody who did this and there seemed to be a lot of bs involved, but it did occasionally land the individual some jobs.

10/21/2008 9:41:44 AM

i went through Adecco (formerly Olsten Staffing), they did an excellent job placing me and now i have a fulltime position and there was absolutely no trouble rolling my from the temp employment straight to my fulltime position with the company.

Adecco is a good choice for the science and biotech fields it seems, though im not sure of their breadth of their scope it seems the specialize in the sciences

[Edited on October 21, 2008 at 10:53 AM. Reason : s]

10/21/2008 10:52:44 AM

^^^LOL. You'd say it wasn't so bad or it was bad?

But seriously, I think Quality Staffing of Cary was all right. I'd work with them again if I absolutely had to.

10/21/2008 4:36:09 PM

^^ yeah, Adecco is one of the few national firms that seems to do a really good job. They have a wide variety of specialties.

10/22/2008 8:57:34 AM

Quote :

"You'd say it wasn't so bad or it was bad"

lol, i would say it was pretty good

10/22/2008 9:02:48 AM

Hahaha. Yes yes, I'd say it was pretty good myself.

10/22/2008 10:19:15 AM

10/22/2008 10:36:18 AM

That totally made me LOL. hahaha. I'm being silly today.

10/22/2008 3:27:31 PM

that made you KIK? its a nice day to be silly

10/22/2008 3:45:23 PM

*Ahem* excuse me, I meant KIK. ahahaha. It's a lovely day to be Silly. That's just meeeee.

10/22/2008 3:46:49 PM

get a room you two

10/22/2008 3:48:49 PM

^LOL. Sorry. I suppose I'm a "newbie" as people would say.

10/22/2008 3:53:37 PM

lol@DJE - she and i know each other IRL

10/22/2008 3:54:36 PM

^This is true. And we didn't meet through Tee-Dub, we met at the Temp. agency. That is why this is all so funny/silly.

10/22/2008 3:56:44 PM

you are catching on to the lingo pretty quick

10/22/2008 3:59:17 PM

^hahaha. Thanks. I am trying. But ppl will prolly laugh @ me and make fun anyhow.

10/22/2008 4:00:29 PM

im sure, thats how TWW rolls

10/22/2008 4:03:26 PM

you should post pics--that way they won't make fun of you i promise

10/22/2008 4:05:14 PM

^^haha true true. I'll accept this one day.

Post pics...? uh oh......

[Edited on October 22, 2008 at 4:05 PM. Reason : I could maybe post one]

[Edited on October 22, 2008 at 4:06 PM. Reason : a]

10/22/2008 4:05:17 PM

Too bad TWW has gotten all Nazi with the bandwidth and won't allow any more pictures to be uploaded

10/23/2008 9:07:18 AM

so can someone explain the temp agency process? i have a full time now but i need a real job... do i just walk in my my resume and scream help?

11/12/2008 12:02:42 AM

you can walk in with your resume or submit it online (i feel its easier to submit online since they will call you to let u know when u should come in), theyll get back to you and the temp agency will do an interview and will detail what you will be paid based on your resume. This "interview" has two parts. The first is some extensive computer questionnaire, and once thats done theyll do a face to face interview based on the answers you submit. if its all good, theyll hire you into the temp agenc and theyll propose a rate and a contract length, etc. of course you can negotiate. Youll get new hire stuff and forms to fill out and what not and youre out the door.

in the mean time theyll start placing you based on the location you prefer and the type of job you want and when they find something for you theyll give your resumeto that company and if that company is interested youll get a call back through the temp agency and theyll set up an interview, giving you a time, place, and name of the interviewer. After the interview with the employer if they like you and you accept the contract will begin upon your first day on site. you cant get company benefits, but the temp agency will have its own benefits plans and remember all issues such as if u are gonna miss a day, complaints, vacations etc you have to go through the temp agency first because technically they are your employer and thats actually important to remember

11/12/2008 9:10:13 AM

I got released from my job last Monday. I was doing document scanning at Rosen Law Firm. I've talked with a few agencies and applied for a few perm positions but nothing yet. I'm very

[Edited on November 17, 2008 at 6:22 PM. Reason : ..]

11/17/2008 6:21:54 PM