I got a vague email about working in the game industry from careerbuilder I think? Normally I would…read morehave ignored it, because it seemed kind of, I don't know, spammy? On impulse I replied though. BEST decision of my life. It turns out they got me a job working technical support for literally my favorite game developer, who's arguably one of the top gaming/media companies on the planet. Every time I dealt with a Kelly Services Rep, they were super friendly, very professional, and an all around pleasure to work with. I'm hoping soon to get directly hired by the company, as a temp-to-hire, and couldn't be more pleased.

Well, it's been months now and I have yet to receive a call back from any of the five times they…read moresaid I would receive a call back. I'm looking for a bookkeeper and am having much better results on Craig's List. The staff is courteous enough but there is follow through with much prodding and then after all these months, I've yet to have one candidate sent to me for an interview. They said it's because candidates are looking for part-time hours or regular 9-5pm hours, and I can understand that, but why can't they return a call when they say they will? Needless to say, after many months of trying to go through them, I will stick with Craig's List. If they could say definitely that they cannot, then I would understand, but to never have my calls returned is rather disappointing.

This review is for the Maryland branch, specifically my recruiter, Brittany. She has truly gone…read moreabove and beyond in helping me secure a job. Brittany is incredibly responsive and proactive, always making sure I'm informed and supported at every step. I recently interviewed and was placed in a position, and she has been consistently checking in through email, text, and even phone calls. Yes, she actually calls to ensure everything is going smoothly! Brittany is also very accommodating. I had an interview scheduled for October 9th but had to reschedule due to illness. Without hesitation, she took care of it for me. On top of that, she sent me a detailed email to help me prepare for the interview, including tips on what questions to ask, how to use the STAR method for answering questions, and even links to my interviewer's LinkedIn profile and the job posting to review. Unlike other recruiting agencies that often leave you to handle everything on your own, Adecco--and Brittany in particular--have been there for me throughout the entire process. I highly recommend both her and Adecco to anyone looking for a job.

The staff at Adecco Staffing is 5-Star. They work very hard with my organization to place job…read moreseekers in the optimal position to be successful. Adecco has been an amazing employment partner for my organization. J.S. is the best recruiter, a workforce development professional like myself could ask for.

Someone by the name of Gaby texted me out the blue saying that I attended an interview, which I am…read more200% certain that I didn't. I called for confirmation and she really tried to sell me on the fact that I interviewed with them. So like anyone who does not close doors on opportunities I asked for the job posting, and the rep could not provide one. She couldn't even recall my name. So why would you text me and ask for sensitive documents? I'm sure they are getting people employed, but imagine what the process is like if situations like this happen? If I was vulnerable I would have sent them all my sensitive documents with no job lined up.

This is the first time I used the Express Employment branch in Columbia, MD and this will also be…read morethe last time. I needed two temporary workers for a job fair event I was having at the BWI Four Points by Sheraton. I emailed the owner, Jim Craig, Wednesday evening to set someone up for the following Monday morning (5-days notice) The following morning at around 11am I contacted the office because I never heard back from anyone. Jim answered the phone and said "he was just about to send me an email" He told me Jessica is the person I want to speak with to set up the temps for Monday morning and that he'd forward my email to her so she'd have my information. The conversation with Jim was strange in that he seemed more concerned with making sure I have a billing account set up with Express rather than wondering what my needs were. Approximately 2pm, about 3 hours later, I called and spoke w/ Jessica. Jim had failed to send her the email so I forwarded her a copy. She said my temps would be no problem and asked if she could contact me the following morning to finalize. I said "yes." Friday afternoon came and I never heard back from Jessica so I called her. She said she "was just about to email me the temps info" and she would do it in 5 minutes. I ended up getting the email at 2:54pm, the end of the day Friday. Jessica had set up my two temp workers for Monday and emailed me their contact info so I could touch base with them. I called the first temp to confirm and was very unimpressed. He seemed completely void of social-functionality and I could barely hold a conversation with him regarding the logistics on Monday. The second person I tried calling didn't answer her phone, the call went to voicemail, which of course the voicemail box was full and I couldn't leave a message. I called her two times Friday afternoon / evening with no luck and also sent her a text. I emailed Jessica in hopes of having her help me get a hold of the temp with the full voicemail box. Jessica offered to try calling her from her phone. I asked Jessica for her personal cell phone # in case I have any emergency's with the temps over the weekend, ie...they cancel on me, etc...She did not reply to my email so I assume she doesn't want me to contact her. My event is on Monday morning and the workers need to be there at 10am. At this point I'm feeling extremely uncomfortable with the people that were chosen for my fair and uncomfortable with the fact that I'm not able to contact one of the workers, nor my Express Employment contact for that matter. My company hosts 16 job fairs per year in the Northeastern United States. I mainly use Express Employment for each of my job job fairs and have always had wonderful results with them, until now. In hindsight, I would have definitely chosen to go with a different staffing agency and saved myself the headache. My recommendation...skip past Express Employment in Columbia, MD and choose to contact a different staffing agency. I ended up calling OfficeTeam on Pratt Street in Baltimore on Saturday afternoon and they were able to help me with no problem! If you have any questions regarding my experience or would like a recommendation on other staffing agencies in the area, feel free to contact me directly. Steve Faulk steve@premiumjobfairs.com

The staffing agency was really helpful and made the process easy. Carol was especially great--she…read morestayed in touch, answered all my questions, and really made everything smooth. They found me something pretty quickly too. Overall a good experience, I'd recommend them.

I found out about Ultimate Staffing while job seeking on the internet. I must admit that I was…read moresceptical at first about using a Temp Agency, concerned that my needs wouldn't be meet. However, from the start of meeting the staff I was pleased. All the right questions were asked to assure that they would do there best to meet my needs for employment. I appreciated the constant updates of possible employment availability. Thanks to Ultimate Staffing I'm now back employed within a short period of time. I would refer them to anyone that is seeking employment and want the professionalism of a caring and friendly staff as well. Thanks you to the awesome Staff members at Ultimate Staffing for helping me get back in the workforce!! K. Thomison

Beacon Staffing has been there for my son and daughter. They were able to put my college age…read more children to work after they graduated high school. We looked for different are jobs that would have them making money to support themselves to at least live at home and have their own money. But, there are none out there for them, so we heard about Beacon Staffing and tried them. My children have gotten experiences that they would not get at fast food places. They took care of them, gave them a chance where they got hired on with in months of starting. Thanks Beacon.

Very rude staff- Called about not receiving W2 Year End Tax Statements. Was told they would be…read moremailed out on Jan 31st. Never received so called back. Now I am told I must either come and pick it up or send a self addressed stamped envelope for them to resend. I do not believe for a second the original was ever sent. DIRTY BUSINESS TRYING TO SAVE MONEY ON POSTAGE.

There is no way this place gets 5 stars. I tried to use them twice, they call you and get you…read moreexcited by dropping names of awesome companies that they allegedly work with and tell you that you'd be a great fit for a position they're working on. You come in to the office, take degrading tests to make sure you're not an idiot and then they tell you that the only positions they have are $8 an hour jobs. Like I said, this happened to me twice and on my second visit, I heard them giving the exact same speech to another poor soul that signed up too "Well we understand you were making $65k at your last position but would you consider this $10 an hour gig?"

Let me start of by saying thank you!! You guys hooked me up and i am grateful!! Keepers are…read moreprofessional and genuinely have your interest at heart. Very professional at what they do and well connected to several organizations.

Update: 2 years…read moreafter writing my review, I received a response from the new marketing person (I've also attached a screenshot of what he wrote to me). Feel free to read my last review and see the photos I've attached before reading on. There are many issues with his response, so I'll state them below: 1. If you are not happy with a customer's review, the last thing you should do is threaten them that you'll write a public response as if anything they could say would make it better. While I appreciate the effort to respond to me, 2 years is a little late, and especially if you want to make excuses rather than just apologize (yes, he apologized on behalf of the company, but it doesn't really hold much weight when you choose to do so only after criticizing someone who just plainly didn't have a great experience. And isn't that the point of Yelp, to write about your experience whether good or bad?). I think if you want to respectfully represent your company and respond to a poor review, then the right approach would've been to apologize, state that while I wasn't satisfied you have had many customers who have gotten great job offers thanks to them, etc. You can still try to make yourself sound better even though you have a bad review. But threatening the person who wrote it isn't going to convince the person to take the review down. Speaking of which, how I felt at the time doesn't change, no matter the circumstances, so my review still holds true and I will not take it down. 2. This new employee who wrote the response was not there at the time, so he cannot be sure what happened. I don't know what happened behind the scenes that day and I don't know if he's even sure. I wrote my review a year after meeting Barb because I was enjoying my new job and realized I never wrote about the terrible experience I had while searching for one, so I decided to write my review. So whether he's basing the excuse on when I actually met her, or when I wrote this review, I'm not sure. Barb and I did not talk much, and for it being 3 years since I've met her, I find it hard to believe she remembers me and what was going on at that time. Unless either a) that's how slow business is for them, or b) she can only recall one person who she tried to set up an interview for when the person deserved better. And to his point of maybe they didn't have many great jobs available for me at the time, if that's true, please do not waste my time and try to get me into interviews for low-paying jobs. Find someone who's fresh out of college who needs the experience. Don't waste the time of someone who you know has more experience. And especially don't tell them they can't make their desired salary. That's the thing that really bugged. Both jobs I got an offer for offered above my desired salary, and Barb made me feel as though my expectations were unrealistic and I wasn't worth that. 3. All recruiting agencies are free service for those looking for employment, it does not need to be emphasized. But just because you're free doesn't mean everyone you encounter will like the service you offer them; your free customers still have a right to their opinion. 4. I have sympathy for Barb if that is what she was going through when I emailed her about my job offer. But I find it an odd coincidence that we were corresponding the whole week or two after I met her and she was very quick to respond, but once I emailed her I got a job, she all of a sudden was too busy and possibly lost the email among other emails (when according to him, she was busy the whole time dealing with her loss). I'm not saying it's not true her bother passed. That is probably very much true, and again I sympathize for her, but if she was so busy, then why was she responding quickly when it came to the interview she wanted to set up for me and then she completely disappeared when I responded that I found a job? Seems a little fishy to me and he probably shouldn't have included that in his list of excuses for the poor communication I received. All in all, I'm sure they may have some great jobs either for individuals fresh out of school with no experience, or if you're an individual with specialized skills. But they did not work for me and their response to unhappy clients on Yelp isn't favorable. You can read my reviews and still take a chance on them if you'd like.

I am not normally one to whinge. I had attended a job fair in Towson, and had a nice conversation…read morewith the rep from Nancy Adams. I felt good, after my interview. The recruiter sent me links to take a competency test/appraisal regarding MS Office. The test was "glitchy" in that some of the answers just weren't correct. Additionally, no follow-up ever occurred, at all. A month has gone by, and no one has gotten back to me. Fortunately I have received a better job offer.

I've work for various staffing agencies and they don't compare to my experience here. I enjoyed…read moreworking for Level One! For me communication is key and the communication between myself and Courtney was A-1. Always professional and polite! If there was a question I was given an answer. They even sent a signed birthday card for every birthday:-) I ended up going permanent after my temp assignment and if ever needed I will definitely reach out to them again! I will also refer those I know. Thank you helping me jumpstart my career. I Will surely miss working with you all!!!