After almost a year of post-college job searching, I decided to try a temp agency. Even though I have a degree, four years experience in food and retail, two years experience as a supervisor, and some office/administrative experience, it seems I can’t find an entry level office job to save my life. So why not let an agency do it for me?
I selected AppleOne, because they staff the types of jobs I’ve been looking for and they do temporary and permanent placements. I don’t know anyone who’s ever tried working through any agencies near me, but word of mouth advice would have been very helpful. If I had heard how ineffective this agency is, I wouldn’t have wasted my time.
I interviewed with AppleOne five weeks ago. They have two different versions of my resume, both are current and detailed. I’ve also done some typing tests, and 45 wpm seems to be good enough for most jobs. Aside from that, nothing has come of my partnership with AppleOne.
I did not expect them to find me a job right away, but after five weeks they have not even landed me an interview anywhere. Despite the fact the representative I’ve been working with says he sends my resume out each week, and that I’ll take temp or permanent placement, I have to wonder how effective AppleOne really is. When you job hunt on your own, you usually get an interview within a five week period if you are aggressive. How aggressively is AppleOne representing me?
Now, if you’ve enrolled with AppleOne, do not expect your representative to answer your questions. I’ve asked several, and each time was given an answer that contained such circular logic you can hardly understand it, and the answer doesn’t even begin to address the question at hand.
For example, I asked what the current average time has been for someone to find employment through AppleOne. The response I received from my representative was that it varies from week to week, and depends on weather and holidays. In the past five weeks, there has not been severe weather, and the only major holiday was Easter. So I do not see how weather and holidays are relevant. And what’s this week to week business supposed to mean? One week it will take someone two weeks to find a job, another week it will take someone eight weeks?
These email responses raise further doubts about my AppleOne representative. Almost all emails I receive from them contain glaring grammatical and/or spelling errors, run-on sentences or incomplete sentences. There are usually punctuation errors too. Maybe this guy is busy, but if he’s supposed to be a professional can’t he take one minute to run spell and grammar check?
I wondered whether my experience with AppleOne was unique, so I posted a question on Yahoo Answers. So far, others have had similar experiences: No attention (or minimal attention) from the agency/representative, and pretty much no indication that the agency is finding them jobs. So I suppose the moral of the story is, don’t expect AppleOne to do much or do anything quickly. They won’t. Consider registering with one, but continue an aggressive job hunt solo if you want real results.
