Can anyone tell me a lil more about staffing agencies? I really have no clue bout them, if going to work full time permanent placement, what are the contracts like?
I am of the understanding that benefits are usually quite a bit less than actually working for the company, anyone with any knowledge or that have signed contracts with any, I would love to hear details.
Thanks

I never signed a contract with one but I have known people who ahve done so. Never asked much about the cost of benefits but i am sure someone will shed some light on that.

What I was told was that most staffing agencies obviously pay under what the job is truly worth. However, for someone new to the shores of the US.. I think it is a good start. Let's face it... I am a US citizen by birth and even I have a tough time finding decent jobs. I now it will be tough getting a go at it for a "foreign born."

My fiance and I have talked about her going this route. She is Russian and obviously all her experience and schooling was overseas. Thus the problem of a resume. Employers nowadays like to check people out. Going with a staffinf agency may be a way around this until experience is gained in the US.

Sorry for the ramble but I just ate 4 peanut butter cups!

Ok, you didnt ramble at all compared to me. Has anyone actually had ANY experience with getting hired by a company FIRSt, then being told they had to go a staffing agency first...?

This is just what happened to my honey, its kinda long, bear with me and I got irate and he probably lost a good job opportunity...

I posted in another forum...

Guys, I have a dilemma and want your input on it. Ok, I told you Lake had an interview Friday. Ok they then sent him for a medical on Monday, which he passed. They called him later that afternoon, and offered him the job. The company HR is the one that interviewed him. Ok...now, he accepted and was to start tomorrow. Ok, now the HR resource gal told me that we would get a call from another gal and we were to sign some papers there, and get all the details and she would see him on Thursday. Ok, happy day, things are good. Ok, the next gal calls us, and sets up an for appointment today, right? Its a staffing agency...
Ok here is where things get weird. I guess the company itself was hiring up until right around this time, and now they have switched over to a staffing agency/temp company, and so...this lady said its just a formality and all we had to bring was 2 forms of I.D and SSN. Well we get there, and they want us to fill out a whole new app as if we had gone thru THEM. That and the pay is reduced by 1.00 an hour. I was definitately getting a baaaaad feeling about this, cuz this is a company where there is heavy lifting and hot metals and industrial stuff and so its no cake walk, they pay fairly well, but it can be very hazardous, so ....anyone know anything about electroplating???? Also, I saw a guy coming out that passed the safety video test and they were making him sign contracts with them, the staffing agency. I have no idea what kind, but that REALLY made me on edge.
Anyhow, they call Lake back in and I guess he has to watch a safety video and then pass a brief test on. She never told us jack about a test or passing it to work. Well, they grade the test, and she calls us both back into a room and proceeds to tell us that he failed the test and you cant retake it for another 3 months.. She said he answered the hard ones correctly which is what everyone misses, so it was obvious he knew his stuff, but on the first question they asked to answer what safety equipment could cover...and had a whole bunch of check marks. Well he thot they wanted ONE answer, and so instead of checking every box, only checked one he thot most appropriate. But that question was counted wrong for every box not checked, and there were like 9 or more of them. So it made him miss like 8 just on the one question. She even told us it was obvious that he just misunderstood how to answer it. Sorry but they couldnt place him and they wouldnt allow exceptions bucuz then they would have to do that for everybody. (The girl really had an attitude) Lake was hot, he told me never said anything about having to pass, they just threw the video in and she gave him the paper and said "here, fill this out" and left the room.
Well here is where it gets good. This lady called back at 3:45 and told me...well...she had talked it over with the other staff and since it was obvious he had just misunderstood the question, well..they would allow him to watch the video again and retake the test. Could getting there before 5 to do this, be convenient?
Now I was pretty irritated myself bout this whole thing, but asked Lake and he said ok....whatever.
THEN ...I was having SUCH a bad feelin bout the whole damn thing, my sis walked in the door and I was telling her bout the whole situation and she said to HELL with that, and my nephew things I am crazy letting him work at dangerous job (poor Lake, all this while he was getting dressed, for the 4th time today) and so he comes up and I tell him how I feel. I say its up to him, but I DONT have a good feeling and usually staffing agency's mean little to no benefits, or greatly reduced anyway. He says he doesnt wanna die young working with acids and boiling metals either, sooo, I decide to call the staffing agency lady back and tell her forget it, we were pretty irritated with the treatment, and he had another job interview next week anyway.
She said, VERY snidely "WELL, we were just offering that as a COURTESY, we dont normally ever do that, so...we were doing HIM a favor by allowing it"...then "if he changes his mind, let us know"....YEA like I will let THAT happen. Now, I didnt even get the dirt on what kind of contract he would have had to sign, or what benefits he would have gotten. You guys think I did the right thing? I feel so badly for him, like I pulled the rug out from under his feet. He WAS so looking forward to starting work tomorrow.
I just want allyour input. That stupid lady acted like she was doing an immigrant a favor. I HATE that attitude. The company HR person herself (the one that actually interviewed him) was really sweet, I dont know what happened with getting hired directly by the company, which we THOUGHT was happening, but somehow we got in right at transitional to staffing agencies. I thot staffing places were in charge of finding workers, how come they hired him, THEN sent him there? Crazy!

Anyone have any thoughts? I didnt find OUT the benefits, becuz it looked to be a done deal that he was NOT gonna get the job. First it was on, then off, then on again. Its really no way to start off, I swear!

thndrdancr,

Two months ago, I signed up with a staffing agency here in Indianapolis called Temporary Avenue.

After taking the typical office tests (Word, Excel, and Powerpoint) and completing paperwork, my agent told me she would start looking for assignments for me right away.

A week later, I got a one-day assignment. Pay was $12 an hour.

Four days after this assignment, my agent called to say a company needed someone for data entry right away, and it was an open-ended assignment. I accepted immediately because money is money. Pay: $11 an hour.

I am now into my 2nd month of the assignment. My agent e-mailed last week to say my supervisor has been very happy with my work, which is encouraging. I am hoping and hoping they will keep extending my assignment until they are comfortable enough to hire me permanently. One colleague in our department also came from Temporary Avenue and had temped for almost 6 months before she was hired.

I think most agencies won't find you permanent jobs immediately, especially if you are new to the country. Before I came to the US, I had already known I'd pretty much have to start from scratch job-wise. I had also read it is a bit easier to create US work history with temporary and/or part-time work and slowly progress from there.

Hope this helps.

I got my last job in Canada through a staffing agency. I started off as a temp - 6 month assignment. The pay was less than what the job was worth, but that was the price of getting your foot in the door (and the agency needs to take its cut of what you're making, too - in my case I belive the agency was paid $6/hour) - the company only hired on a temp to permanent basis (excluding upper management, and PhD-level scientists). No benefits, but I don't think that you can expect that from a temp agency anyways. After 6 months I was hired on permanent by the company.

Interviewing for the assignment was just like interviewing for a regular job - the agency recommended me, then the HR dept. and my supervisor @ the company I was to be placed at interviewed me.

John's job was a temp-to-hire position and he had to go through an agency... I was very worried about whether he'd be taken on permanently or whether it was just a scam and they'd let him go at the end of the 6 months... but with this particular company almost everyone gets taken on - it's pretty obvious if they're making the grade or not. The worst thing about it was trying to get his expenses paid - there was a huge mess about was the agency paying it or the company directly and in the end he lost almost half of what they were supposed to give him because they screwed him around too long... and the agency's benefits were non-existent so if anything had gone wrong in the six months we would have been up the creek without a paddle. But it was worth it in the end because now he has a job that should last as long as he wants it to.

So no one has heard of getting hired by the company FIRST, THEN having to change over to a staffing agency afterwards? What the staffing lady told me, is they changed just this week, as the company was hiring so many new employees, we never even WENT to the staffing company first, thats the weird thing. As they changed over right as he was being hired, he THEN had to go sign up AFTER the company hired him, so he is endind up getting a dollar less an hour than advertised/interviewed for, as well as whatever benefits they mite cut.
So THAT is what is grinding on my nerves. If he had started last week, then he would not have had to go thru the staffing agency, but I guess they signed a contract somewhere between here and there.
Has ANYONE heard of this?

I know staffing agencies have their place, but this seems like a real switch to me.

I've never heard of anything like that...

It would definitely irk me!

Sorry - I didn't read the whole post as it was so long, but did your SO actually sign a contract with the company and was then asked to sign another, different contract with the agency?

If that's the case I would check with employment law as to the legality of that. It would seem that if the company never stated before he signed the initial contract that this was taking place they deliberately misled him. Employment law is very strict as to what employers can and can't do so do some homework. I know in California all employment is basically at will so they can hire and fire as much as they want, but even within that they have to be very careful not to do anything which could be constituted misleading or a material change in contract without the consent of the employee.

Incidentally, I thought when I moved here I would start working with agencies as a good way to "feel out" the current job market and get some US experience before committing myself to a permanent job. I did this in a few assignments for 6 months and then got the opportunity of a temp to hire through an agency. The temp part was supposed to be for 3 months but after one month the company was so pleased they hired me - for $60K a year salary - so I firmly believe if you choose the right agency they will work with you and for you. Don't be fooled though, not all agencies have your best interests at heart!

I am working through the temp agency and I don't have negative feelings about them. The only thing that seems weird to me is that they will not call me if they have a job, they will give it to the person who walks in the door at the right moment. So I have to call in every day and check if they have anything.
Other than that it's ok.
Oh, and I think that it's obvious that they always pay less. I guess the company who uses them offers an hourly rate and they cut their commission off it.


Ana

Yea, I apologize for the length of the post, I just didnt know how else to explain it properly.

He didnt sign a contract with the company, but HR FROM the company are the ones that interviewed AND hired him, pending the physical. He passed the physical. Nothing was signed at that time, they just called him and offered him a job, but at that TIME, said we were to get a call from another lady that knew the details. We were not told it was a stafffing.
We WERE told by the staffing that the company HAD been hiring, thats why he was interviewed directly by the HR staff, but that the company had been hiring so many people, that they had just changed over to staffing agency so ...apparently we got caught in an interrim thing?

So, first, Your hired, then...your screwed I guess. I thought it was VERY odd.

Maybe it's a temp to hire then...when I was first interviewed for this job I'm in now I was interviewed by the company itself not the agency. I had a telephone interview, then an in person interview with three people from the company and only then did I sign paperwork with the agency who had put me forward for the job.

Is there not anyone at the agency, his reporting supervisor or someone that he can ask directly about it?

I appreciate all your responses, it really helps. I want to thank you all for your input.

Perfect, when you did the temp to hire tho, did you KNOW it was thru a staffing, they gave you the heads up, right? Maybe this is normal and I am just "out of the loop" That could sure be.

I work for a staffing agency and have been very impressed with them so far. I contacted one of their recruiters who arranged a face to face interview at their office to determine my previous employment background and what kind of work I was looking for. I specified that I wanted long term contract or contract-to-hire positions so that is what they set about looking for on my behalf.

Within 2 weeks they had identified a contract-to-hire position and the recruiter called me to outline the position and check that it was something I was interested in. When I said it was, an initial telephone interview was arranged between myself and the hiring manager at the company I'd be working for. After that I was called for a second face to face interview at the job site. That job fell through but about another 2-3 weeks later the agency contacted me again about another contract-to-hire position. The same process followed with a telephone interview followed by a face to face interview. That is the position that I'm now working in.

I'm on a 6 month contract-to-hire contract which will end in July. My recruiter has assured me that in 6 years he's only seen 2 contract-to-hire workers not get offered permanent jobs and that was due to problems with the contratcors, not because the employer decided not to offer a permanent contract.

I currently take medical and vision insurance through the agency. My wife is also covered on the vision insurance and I think it costs about $30 a week for the two of us. I'm not entitled to any paid days off for the duration of my work with the agency which is really the only downside of me working for them. However, the perks of my job and the experiences I'm gaining kind of outweigh the lack of paid holiday.

Mark

Call me crazy, but in Australia, I expect to get paid more, on a per hour basis, when contracting through a temp agency, to make up for the fact that you are not getting the holiday and sick leave benefits of being a permanent employee. Looks like I'm going to have to adjust my expectations!

It depends on the agency wether paid holiday is offered or not. I know that a co-worker started with a temp agency with whom he accrued 1 days paid vacation for every pay period (I beleive every month) he worked. I'm not sure if he was paid more / less because of that or not.

In the UK I was paid more than a regular employee AND had paid vacation as well.

Mark