I'm rating this a star higher than it really deserves because the 2-star rating signifies, "Meh…read more I've experienced better," and I don't know that I really have. If it sounds as if I'm damning this place with faint praise...that's pretty accurate.
(Long-winded life story to follow...go to the last paragraph or 2 if you're really interested in what I have to say about "Express Employment Professionals.")
When I graduated college in the 1980's (to today's students, I say, in all humility-- focus, and go for that Masters; a BA doesn't really cut it anymore), I was going through a sort of delayed adolescence, and drinking and partying were higher on my priority list than acting responsibly and seeking work. Still, the parties weren't going to pay for themselves, so "temp" work seemed at the time like a reasonable transition from college life to the responsibility and commitment of a full-time "real" job.
At the time, places like Kelly Services (I think it was "Kelly Girls" back in those unenlightened days) and Pomerantz (which assuredly no longer exists) offered jobs for those seeking work. They were usually "temporary," with the possibility of the job becoming "permanent" dangled in front of the prospective employee like a carrot dangled before the eyes of a bewildered jackass. I signed up with Pomerantz. The jobs they found for me were tedious, full of numbing monotony, offered low pay, no benefits. It was exploitation, pure and simple, but I was less than politically aware back then, and even if I had been politically aware, I was too detached/nihilistic in my outlook to really attempt to do anything on my own about it. If I could afford the booze and...uh...other "incidentals," life was good. One "temp" job was at AT&T, and I actually liked it. The people I worked with seemed to like me. I attempted to make it permanent, but AT&T was going through massive, Stalin-esque layoffs at the time, and it wasn't to be. Finally, I was able to secure an actual, permanent job through my own efforts.
Permanent, of course, is relative. I lasted 23 years before my entire department was laid off. I like to think I had matured over those 23 years, but I was middle-aged now, without specialized or especially marketable job skills, and suddenly I was jobless. Also, the whole nature of applying for jobs had changed radically from the days of my callow youth. Back then, you sent out letters to prospective employers. You either received a phone call indicating "Come in for an interview" or a polite letter back with the message "Thanks, but no thanks." Now you posted on Monster or Indeed. I didn't even have a computer. I panicked.
An alcoholic, drug-addicted friend who had lost his own "head-hunting" service recommended a colleague. I never got past the "colleague's" secretary and he never bothered returning any of my phone calls. I get it that it's a cold, hard world out there but...thanks, dude. For nothing.
The first agency I used was Apple One in Edison. A pleasant young woman with discolored teeth interviewed me. She talked with me for what seemed like a long time, and I was reasonably hopeful, but I never heard back from them. In retrospect, I think their focus was more on white-collar jobs (I'm not exactly blue collar, but not really white collar either-- is there such a classification as "gray collar?"). It would have been nice if they had told me that up front, maybe steered me in the right direction instead of wasting my time and theirs. Then again, I hadn't paid them anything, so maybe I was expecting too much.
Next try was "Express Employment." I ended up interviewing at 3 of their locations-- Hackettstown, Fairfield, and Parsippany. Hackettstown and Fairfield cost me a tank of gas, a ride out to northern NJ, and the loss of hours from my life that I'll never recover. Parsippany? The young lady I interviewed with was humorless, not exactly one to inspire confidence, but she was the only person I interacted with who sent me some leads. I wish I could remember her name; I wish her well, wherever she is now. Hopefully she's moved on from Express Employment. She at least tried. I didn't follow up on those leads, as I was actually able to get another job on my own (actually, through the help of a friend-- nepotism is much more effective than using a "head-hunter" or an employment agency, at least in my experience). But in my depressing history with employment agencies, Express Employment Professionals in Parsippany were the only ones who ever did ANYTHING for me in my frustrating, fruitless job search. They didn't do much, but it was something, as opposed to nothing.
If you have a friend (a clean and sober one, that is) or a relative who knows somebody who maybe knows somebody...that's the route I'd recommend. It's the one that worked for me.
If you go the employment agency route, hopefully your experience will be less frustrating and futile than mine was. I wish you luck. I think you'll need it.
