The Red Guide to Temp Agencies

Review of Wall St. Services

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, NY

Total time with agency:
several months

Wait for first assignment:

Average wait between assignments:

Last five jobs:

Job Title	Length	Client	Hourly Wage	Typical of agency?
				Y
				Y
				Y
				Y
				Y

Tests given:
typing, verbal, math, spelling

Payroll policies:
On-site time sheet pickup:
Direct deposit of payroll checks:
Free check cashing at agency's bank:

Benefits:
Medical insurance:
Dental insurance:
Paid vacation:
Transportation allowance:
Entertainment allowance:
Matching contributions:

Comments:
I had a very bad experience in spring 2002 with Wall St. Services.

I'm a technical writer with 3 years of corporate experience, fluent HTML and two college degrees. I called WSS looking for clerical temp work to tide me over in this tech-economy dry spell. I submitted my resume via email and got a call the next morning from a WSS recruiter named Susan. She said they could "definitely" meet my requested hourly rate, assuming I was "willing to be flexible" about the type of assignment, and that the agency had "lots of jobs right now." These are direct quotations that I transcribed from her phone message.

I went in the following day, spending over 3 hours testing; they said my scores were "great" and my typing tested at 49 WPM. I had an interview with an agent who said she was talking to me because Susan wasn't there. She said I was "definitely qualified for administrative work" and that she would be happy to notify me of future open positions, but they had none open at the moment (!) because the economy had been so slow.

That session was on a Friday. On the following Monday I called again, asking to speak to Susan (hoping she might have more info than her colleagues about the promised "lots of jobs right now"). The person who answered said Susan was out and he would not let me leave a voice mail message for her; he said Susan would call me. She didn't call. I waited 5 business days and then called to politely say that I hadn't heard from Susan and to ask again if I could leave a message for her. This time no one even pretended to take a message.

So it's clear that at least the agent Susan is not above -- to put it kindly -- exaggeration. She purposely exaggerated the number of positions available in order to get me to go through the 3-hour registration process, just in case they had a future opening for which they could use me. In my experience, Wall St. Services was a waste of my time and energy, with at least one agent who is either totally uninformed about what's going on in her office or, more likely, unethical -- and other agents who aren't much more helpful.

Reporter:

Email:

Date:
Sun May 19 06:31:47 GMT 2002

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The Red Guide to Temp Agencies is copyright 1994-2004 by Angus B. Grieve-Smith.
It may be reproduced in its entirety, but may not be sold for profit or reproduced in part without written permission of the Editor.

Feel free to email me with questions or comments. Please do NOT email me your resume. I am not an employer, and I cannot get you a job. If you send me your resume anyway, I will report it to your internet provider. My email address is grvsmth@panix.com.