Worst/ Best Recruitment & Employment Agency in Singapore, as per the Job Seeker Feedback Awards 2011

During conversations with friends, family and clients I am frequently asked which recruitment/employment agency I recommend and which agencies should be avoided. While I do have certain impressions & views on the topic, I thought it would be good to get a feel from people in the trenches. So I searched several forums & websites to gather comments, mostly from job seekers, who have dealt with recruitment/employment agencies in Singapore. I went back to around the end of 2009 and think I managed to put together all comments available on the internet, which provide feedback on a particular recruitment firm.

So here they are…..

Achieve Career Consultant

“worst experience is with: achieve”

“today I received my first call from a new agency (for me), Achieve Careers. OMG! The way the agent talk is like “take it or leave it”. I was actually interested in the job offer but her attitude really turned me off. Plus she suddenly started to speak in Mandarin halfway. Its actually ok with me but isnt it kinda unprofessional?”

“Achieve has long list of singaporean blacklisted”

Recruit Express Pte Ltd (Singapore)

“i had a bad experience with recruit express a couple of years ago. i got a part-time job as a promoter through them, but on my first day of work, the supermarket i turned up at wasn’t even expecting me! i had no choice but to go back home through no fault of my own.”

“i think RE requires people to sign contract and you have to pay quite a lot if you break their contract. i dont really like RE, most of the time they just totally dont bother helping me find a job at all.”

“Yes, I do agree with many of you who have posted negative comments relating to Recruit Express. I had several interactions with more than a handful of agencies but Recruit Express was the worse I have encountered. ”

“I consider Recruit Express’ consultants as unprofessional even though they may be dressed in business suits; their actions, their language and their attitude was a total disgrace; they seemed too $$$-focused and overlooked the importance of sustaining future sales and have been having bad reputations which all explained by their substandard service quality (to companies and to candidates). It’s quite helpless to rely on them, seriously.”

“Alright I wanna let you guys know that i’m now currently working at RE whoever knows it, I have to admit that i might not be competent enough to do this job. But i just think that its unethical to cheat/ lie or give people a false hope, AN EXTREME false hope especially now during the recession. I’m being forced to hit quotas like meeting 10 candidates a day, send 10 resumes to client and 3 candidate interviews with client.”

“Alright i’ve just received letter from RE upon breaching the contract in which i’m rather confused but, i guess i’ll just ignore it. and they ask me to pay 879$ after deducting the working days. that’s total blood sucking, and stated they won’t hesitate to take legal actions.”

“Anyway what i know from them is that if I get a job from them, we need to pay $50 by cash or money order. Then must work at least 3 month otherwise we need to pay 80% of yr 1 month expected salary.”

“i am currently under contract with RE. One thing i can say is that this agency is delaying my pay. Supposed i shall receive by the end of April. But while my colleagues from other agencies got the pay, i am still like calling up the agency for my pay. Firstly, the first excuse they give me is the payroll officer is on leave”

“when i first graduated from junior college, waiting for my university to start, i tried job hunting to direct employers..but without prior work experience, i had to seek help from employment agencies and my friend introduced RE.. i tot the service wasnt too bad as my agent improved on my resume, found me a suitable job. however, my friend who also got her job through RE happened to read the email that was sent from RE to her employer about the salary payment/transaction. temp/contract staff like me and my friends were paid $6/hour (the lucky ones got it at $7/hour), but in fact, according to the email correspondse between my friend’s employer and RE was that her salary is in fact $9/hour…meaning RE is ‘eating up’ $3/hour as agency fee..too ridiculous to me.”

“Strangely, didnt have that bad experieences wit recruit express…”

“I’m a Senior HR professional wkg for various MNCs for about 8 years…Sad to say its true that many recruitment agencies in Singapore r substandard..u will realise that the better recruiters are caucasians notably aussies..they r courteous, professional and will always try to follow up if possible. My opinion is that the worst agency in Singapore is Recruit Express. The only reason they r doing well is they know how to provide good account management to companies but they show a different facet to candidates.”

Adecco Singapore

“I have taken up numerous job assignments from Adecco and from my experience, I did not see a cut in my salary and neither did they require a fee for using their service.”

“If you are looking for a job, go for the reputable ones such as Adecco, Kelly Services and Manpower. Agencies that are in the Global Fortune 500 are even more trusted.”

“I do have a personal friend who got a job through Adecco agency and very happy with her current job with good pay and no need to work long hours too.”

“Although they are my competitors, i must say that they do have a very good reputation and till now i’m impressed with their service.”

“I have good experience with Adecco. Few years back, I got a job with a US MNC through Adecco recommendation and my pay is the same as those who were recruited directly by the MNC”

“Adecco and Kelly Services not bad”

“i have been to Kelly, Adecco & GMP. All 3 provide good service to me.”

“The person who spoke to me is well-mannered and explained patiently to me”

“Adecco is much better.”

Kelly Services

“If you are looking for a job, go for the reputable ones such as Adecco, Kelly Services and Manpower. Agencies that are in the Global Fortune 500 are even more trusted.”

“I feel that Kelly Services is not a bad choice.”

“Kelly services seems quite reputable and reliable”

“Adecco and Kelly Services not bad”

“I’ve gotten a job (worked for an established logistic co.) before from Kelly Services. The consultant even came down to the my workplace to check up on my friend & i and also some of my other colleagues, who apparently gotten the job through KS too. Anyways, there weren’t any processing fees whatsoever but just the same ‘no termination within 3 months’ thingy.”

“Kelly Services for me. had a bad experience with them once.”

“i have been to Kelly, Adecco & GMP. All 3 provide good service to me.”

“Kelly Service didn’t give me good impression when their consultant called me, so i let them fly kite”

“Some weird agent asked me go to her office keep on calling my given name as my surname! told her not to release my CV unless she tell me what company she got pissed off and became very rude! I was like WTF!”

SG Recruiters

“Sgrecruitment is the worst”

JAC Recruiters Singapore

“I considered JAC recruitment as the best recruitment agency thus far. They are sincere with their service, very professionally and ethical. Their business operation standard has far exceeded beyond other agencies that still use paper+pen for registration and have you to fill up few pages”

“JAC is good while recruit express is crap.”

Mullan Schwartz

“I have just get a job here in Singapore with Goldman Sachs but secured my position through a Hong Kong based search firm called Mullan Schwartz. They were very professional and concentrate on mainly the investment banking sector.”

Global Sage

“I also managed to secure a number of interviews through another firm called HK firm called Global Sage. The firm is staffed by people that really understand investment banking and who have great contacts in the market.”

Manpower Singapore

“If you are looking for a job, go for the reputable ones such as Adecco, Kelly Services and Manpower. Agencies that are in the Global Fortune 500 are even more trusted.”

“Best experience with: manpower”

“For IT jobs, try Manpower Staffing. May not be the most responsive but definitely worth your time. Me & friends - all IT folks got our jobs from there. Consultants very friendly and always willing to lend a helping hand. They fight for our salary as well.”

“In terms of more junior positions, they r one of the better agencies together with Randstad. No doubt about it. Everyone knows they r the master vendor for IBM. In other words, you wan a more credible agency you can use Manpower.”

Axis Manpower

“Axis Manpower is the worst agency”

Global Manpower Professionals (GMP) Group

“GMP is quite good too as there is CPF contribution from employer part too. I was working as temp IT position then. I seldom see CPF contribution from recruitment agency before for temp position, correct me if I am wrong.”

“i have been to Kelly, Adecco & GMP. All 3 provide good service to me.”

“remember a REALLY bad experience with GMP Recruitment Service. They turned their noses up at me and said I lacked drive and ambition and would remain a failure in life.”

Unilite Recruitment Services

“I called to enquire about a job before sending in my resume since it is stated in their ad that applicants can call for a confidential chat. Twice, I was rebuffed by an impatient lady who keep saying to send in my resume so that they can KIV my profile if there are no suitable openings. ”

Thomas J Consulting Services

“I went there for interview and the interviewer keep yawning during the interview and even handed me, not his, but another consultant’s namecard!”

Robert Walters Singapore

“This manager is also impatient. Did not want to talk too much to me and she rudely cut me off.”

TBC HR Consulting

“TBC is commonly recognised as one of the worst agencies in Singapore.”

“Agree with you should forget about TBC. This company blacklisted by many candidates and companies. They last time always delay payment to their staff and promoters until a lot left.”

Search Network

“Agencies that charges a fee are purely BS, man! Search Network is another case.”

“Search Network are dishonest with payment of salary . You’ll always get $50++ lesser then your actual pay and when u call up the consultants to clarify . COINCIDENTALLY , they’re not there ALL THE TIME .”

“Search Network not bad. got my current job.”

Ace Recruiters

“1. I send in my resume on Monday, they called me on Tues morning and I was offered a job on Tues afternoon and went down to their office to sign the contract

2. the staffs are very polite. Every call they make, they always start with “Hi, is this XXX? i am YYY from Ace Recruiters.” Everytime i call them, they will start with the standard greeting of “hi, XXX company, i am YYY”

3. And while i was at their office signing the contract, they are really busy, keep making phone calls and doing job matches. i also listen to the way they speak, thus i know that they are not acting but really polite and very friendly as well.

4. The staff also went through the contract with me in detail and was very patient with all sorts of questions that i asked (i still didnt trust them 100% though) and they are very transparent in terms of how the money will be process, submission of timesheets etc. all these are explained clearly

the only thing is that they only have 3 staff, so they are really super busy. sometimes the staff might forget so you must take the initiative to check out details”

Raffles Agency

“The Worst Recruitment Agency EVER in SINGAPORE is RAFFLES AGENCY..I hope Jobseekers never approach this agency..they will fix and change your CREDENTIALS”

BGC Group

“Not that bad, no tricks unlike RE”

Randstad

“They r one of the better agencies together with Randstad.”

People Search Singapore

“Recruit Express and Peoplesearch are related. Peoplesearch is a sister company of a search firm called HR Net One. The owner of RE is the sibling of the owner of HR Net One. Thats why their philosophy and way of doing biz is similar”

Ambition

“Amibition is a search firm which means they only handle positions above 4k normally. Yes their consultants are quite professional. But then search consultants normally are more experienced and professional”

“Recently got a job through Ambition. I think they specialize in operations in the finance industry. The consultant was quite good. Before the interview, he asked me down to his office to prep me for the interview and gave me more info of the hiring managers, which i found very useful. After that, he kept updating me with the results, so ya lor.. I think overall experience is good”

As one person pointed out, the experience with a recruitment agency could be different from an employer and job seeker point of view. That might explain why in the HR Vendors of the Year Awards (by Human Resources Magazine, surveys companies), Recruit Express emerged as the No. 1 Recruitment Company of the Year 2009, 2008 & 2007. Overall, they topped the list as the Best Recruitment Vendor for roles below S$5,000 monthly. In addition, they were also the Preferred Recruitment Firm for such positions in the Financial Services and IT/Telecommunications Industry.

As far as the Job Seeker Comment/Feedback Awards 2011 are concerned, Adecco seems to be the Best Recruitment Company overall and Recruit Express the worst.

Topics: Recruitment Agency, Employment Agency, Job Agency, Recruitment Agencies, Employment Agencies, Job Agencies