Why do so many people hate employment agencies?

My experience with employment agencies has been mostly positive. Positive more often than not.

I've never gotten a job by filling out a job application. Most of my work experience has been through employment agencies. Most agencies seem to place people for temporary, temporary-to-hire, or permanent jobs.

I think many people use employment agencies wrong, or they are just repeating what some guy who had a bad experience with job agencies said.

Here's the deal. There are many employment agencies. They list the industries they fill on their website (retail, warehouse, office, administrative, etc). They show on their website if they fill temporary, temporary-to-hire, or permanent jobs.

If you're having a bad experience with job agencies... you must've applied to one that doesn't match your needs, or you don't apply to enough job agencies. In theory, if you apply to several agencies that match your needs, they should be able to get you work. That's just common sense. If an agency isn't giving you work, then something must fundamentally be wrong.

I don't get why job agencies are so hated. Like I said, my experience has been positive. Employment agencies actually give you work, unlike sending resumes online. Why do people say they hate agencies? Employment agencies are the best way to get a job.

Yeah, even though most employment agencies have done nothing for me in the past. I feel as if the people I've known that have used them are just generally lazy and want to be picky about what job they're handed. You know, pick and choose kind of thing. That's just my opinion though.

Ive used agencies a lot over the last few years since I passed my HGV.

Most are decent, there are some who are bad who will cancel work on you, and piss about with your pay.

When my Banking contract expired I was left without work for two months and difficulty finding work in the finance industry even with four years experience. I swallowed my pride and joined a employment agency and worked at the airport unloading cargo planes. I actually did not mind the manual labour I was able to make some money and pay the bills, eventually I found another job at a bank while I still work with the employment agency on weekends.

The thing is, to an employer a worker hired on directly is more of an asset than a worker hired through a temp agency.

It's not necessarily a big deal. As long as you are a good worker you will probably be kept. But know that you will have an edge if you can get in at the ground level, through the company.

My company has had nothing but negative experiences with temp agencies. Outside of the occasional diamond in the rough (a hard worker, someone with half a brain, etc), the people I've supervised from temp agencies are lazy, and have incredibly poor attitudes. I mean most of them are acting like they are forced to work; swear to god, if slavery was anything like this, I would have abolished it too :P

With that said, I understand I am generalizing based on my [years] of experience with temp agencies, and not everyone in the system is like that. I graduated college at the height of the recession in 2008 and instead of spending seven months looking for a job, I kind of wish I had signed up with one while looking for something more permanent.

I am also thankful, no matter their attitude, for when my company hires them for manual labor I simply just don't want to do :D

Tl;DR: they're a necessary evil, I guess. It's good to have that workforce available, just wish they were of higher quality.

They are like unions, necessary, but how they are ran can really determine the outcome of the results. There are horrible ones, and there are pretty good ones. Most fall in the middle like a typical bell curve.

I find that paying a temp agency $15 an hour for the employee, and the employee gets only half of it a bit greedy. Though not nearly as greedy as work release programs.

At the company, where I am employed, most of the temp workers are lazy, and don't want to work... That said it really isn't any different with our employees hired direct. LOL

I've only had one experience with a job agency, and it was unintentional. I applied to a credit card processor who ended up hiring me, but they were in the process of being bought out by a larger bank so instead of adding me to their payroll directly, they hired me through a temp agency. I was earning far less in benefits as opposed to a permanent employee, which actually saved me from being let go when they made cuts. Of course, because of my temporary status, I couldn't get access to certain accounts when services got consolidated so I left on my own accord shortly after.

They sure have their place for people that like to get cash as they work. I've also known professional's that use them to search regions not just local positions.

I can somewhat relate. The temp workers I've dealt with generally were of good nature, motivated, and happy to be there. But the quality of work definitely is hit or miss, more so than traditional hiring.

Our biggest hang-up with temps is having them show up for an interview.