Hey, there! Log in / Register

Depressed? Maybe a temp job would help

Depressed?

At the Tufts Medical Center stop on the Orange Line.

Neighborhoods: 
Topics: 


Ad:


Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Comments

"I think you and I can help one another. I don't think you need a psychiatrist or a support group, pills..."

"What do I need?"

"You need a purpose. More specifically, you need a job."

up
Voting closed 0

Had to look up your quote.

To save people time, it's from "Person of Interest", the TV show.

Also, from my psychiatrist.

up
Voting closed 0

Ha! They should have switched the order of those two posters! You WANT depression, PSG will hook you up. Screw them, they are the absolute worst temp. agency in Boston.

up
Voting closed 0

I had heard that (and read their many 1-star reviews), but saw their ads and needed a job, so I went ahead and set up a meeting with them anyway. Beautiful office, friendly employees, and they seemed to take a real interest; they gave me weekly enthusiastic check-in calls to run general types of positions by me to see if I'd be keen on that sort of work (to all of which, I said I was). I had assumed that most of the poor reviews were from relatively unqualified people put on the bottom of PSG's pile, while I had a Master's in biology and a lot of IT experience, so therefore could probably fare better.

In over six months, they never had even one position to offer to me. Scam? I doubt it, as I never paid them anything! Just wasted a little bit of my time, which is indeed kind of annoying.

up
Voting closed 0

maybe not a scam per se, let's call it a racket instead, eh?

Practically 100% of the ads they run on Craigslist are fake - FACT. If you respond to one, know that this is the case. Be sure to ask them over the phone whether the position you are interested in actually exists. If you don't, they'll bring you in, put you through tests, etc. etc. and then at the end let you know the position you inquired about doesn't technically exist. Bait and switch.

Or, they'll get you a position and when you get to your assignment, you find it to be different then the job description. Now you're screwed. You can't quit, because you won't qualify for unemployment. So you're stuck at a job you don't want, and you make PSG the same amount of money they pay you. $15/hr for a year, you just made them $30,000. On top of this they make the buy-out price for your services extremely high. Good luck getting a full-time, permanent position. Finally, they place a rider on your contract by where the company they place you at cannot hire you directly for 1.5 years or so after you get laid-off.

What do you get from them? You get BCBS health insurance worth under $300 per month, and awful customer service. Screw them.

up
Voting closed 0

I second this comment about PSG. When I was unemployed last year, they were on me like maple syrup on hot cakes.

Of course they BEG you to come in, and like 99% of the recruiters out there, its a dog and pony show. They don't have any real jobs, but like dangling the wax fruit over your head to think you have one.

I went on TWO interviews from them. Which were a total disasters. Not only was the information wrong that PSG sent me about the job interview. They didn't make it CLEAR to the employer that.. yes they were under contract that if they were interested in me, they had to go thru PSG. BUT the employer proceeded to pressure me for personal information (like my phone and email) because he wanted to usurp PSG to hire me directly.

I refused because.. when you go in initally to PSG, they make you sign an agreement that you're not allowed to accept a job directly if you were sent by PSG.. (this is pretty standard). When I complained to PSG about how the employer pressured me for info, they kinda didn't care. Of course since I refused to cough up info to the employer, I didn't get the job.

The second interview I went on.. was a complete waste of time. I wasn't even remotely qualified for the position, yet was sent anyways, after presure from the recruiter. I totally bombed, and pissed off the employer pretty much because I wasted their time.

Not only that, in the six to eight months I was unemployed, they would call and it was always someone new. I swear I didn't speak to the same person twice. When I would call to ASK for someone, 99% of the time I was told they no longer work there. (now mind you, several of these people had only been there a month or so). There's something to be said about high turnover at these companies.

I know many people in HR and/or who are Hiring Managers, and will not even entertain calls from PSG. They say they are the worst to deal with.

PSG, Winter Wyman, and Atlantic Partners are the WORST staffing agencies in Boston. I really wanna know how PSG keeps winning these "Best of Boston" Awards..

And yes I hate PSG..

up
Voting closed 0

Unfortunately what you say about PSG can be applied to all of the big temp agencies across town. Quota-driven, fake-smile wearing con artists with little concern for the employee who most likely is seriously in need of income.

Years ago I connected with an agency in Cambridge who sent me on an interview for a job I wasn't interested in and knew I had no chance of getting. But they kept pressuring me to go (I assumed so they could reach quota), so I just gave in. Waste of my time and the interviewers time and was quite an embarrassing experience. And after the fact, the agency refused to find jobs for me again. A different time, a different head-hunter did the same thing - sent me to a job interview I was hesitant about and knew was not a good fit. Afterward (and after not getting the job), never heard from the guy again.

I now (as a full time employed person) occasionally get temp staff through another agency in Boston. The account staff are a revolving door of recent 20-something undergrads with irrelevant Business degrees. And yes, your company gets charged $20/hour for a person who only gets paid $12/hour.

These agencies run heavily on quotas - filling a certain number of jobs a month, so they bait the unsuspecting and vulnerable unemployed with embellished job ads that end up being 2 weeks of admin data entry work.

up
Voting closed 0

I've had other success with other agencies, but PSG is the worst out of all them.

I actually had a great recruiter at RHI for many years who placed me in several positions. But the guy I worked with had been there a while, actually was technical himself (to a degree), knew what I was looking for, and always sent me to interviews I was well qualified for.

Sadly he isnt there anymore.. I went back there thinking I'd get the same experience as I did years before. They have since moved and have basically turned into PSG with better office digs. Needless to say I didn't bother going back..

up
Voting closed 0

I love how brain-dead and basic the PSG ads are... Like

U + US = JERB!!!! JA-DURRR!

Especially since they haven't so much as changed the ads in what might be a decade now (besides swapping out stock footage, of course).

up
Voting closed 0

This brings back memories...the good old days of temping circa 1988. Take a typing test and a basic math test then when they ask, do you know....the answer is yes which gives you that night to go learn it. Back then they hired temps to do lots of computer things that overwhelmed people. Like Lotus 123, WordPerfect or, believe it or not "Macs." I was with a temp agency called "MacTemps" for a couple years that kept be busy in summer jobs at $10-12/hr which allowed me to live on my own in Boston. Does anyone else today think about web development as just an extension of "Reveal Codes"?

up
Voting closed 0

I think you just recapped my entire early employment history from the late 80s-early 90s.

up
Voting closed 0

They asked me to take a skills test on Excel 98 and then asked me why my Excel skills were subpar.

Maybe because it was a computer program that came out when I was in 7th grade.

up
Voting closed 0

Unfortunitly, 90% if the jobs posted by PSG don't even exist!

"All PSG job postings are either actual positions we had available at the time of posting and/or are representative of positions we typically fill or expect to fill."

Talk about depressing!!

up
Voting closed 0

I can't think of anything more depressing than being between jobs and waiting for a temp agency placement. PSG is by far the worst staffing agency in the Boston area I dealt with.

I worked with a few good to marginal ones that offerred temp-to-perm jobs but that's ultimately a lot of BS since the companies have to pay the temp agencies a sizable "finders fee". And there's just some places where I worked where they cycle through temps for a reason -- seasonal needs or insane bosses, neither of which were particularly desirable. The whole practice is really scummy.

up
Voting closed 0

Ah yes, the old fake business smile. Always be chirpy, bright eyed, and enthusiastic. And don't forget the fake smile and your business voice. Remember, you're part of a family at [fill in the blank], until of course they decide to dump you. Then those fake smiles drop from their faces real fast. It takes a special person to work in HR or a temp agency.

I truly feel for anyone job hunting, especially now.

up
Voting closed 0