Office Angels

I was recommended Office Angels by a colleague of mine who found them very helpful and found her the job she was in. I think things may have changed rather a lot since she last used the firm. Despite applying for jobs I ticked all the right boxes for, I heard nothing back from Office Angels. And despite contacting them asking for feedback as to why I wasn’t hearing back from them for jobs I had the relevant experience and qualifications for, I heard nothing back, rude!

If you can get past the sickly sweet title (you’ll be forgiven if you can’t), Office Angels are actually quite good. As you’ve probably gathered, the agency specialises in office based work but get other positions coming in too. I was once offered a job as one of Santa’s Elf’s at a department store, which I politely declined (hindsight is a beautiful thing) and have also been offered a temporary position as a makeup assistant in Boots. This confused me somewhat, due to my total lack of experience in this field. But apparently, I’d be fine as long as I went in wearing ‘a fair bit of makeup’.
Staff here are friendly, and are brilliant at keeping clients informed with suitable (or not so suitable) positions. Prepare yourselves to be woken at the crack of dawn by the Angels when a position comes in that fits your requirements. And you’d be wise not to turn it down — they soon lose patience with slackers..

Don’t know why I bothered going into this place. I walked in, filled out all of the obligatory forms, had an «interview» for 20 minutes, then an office word test for half an hour, an excel test for another half an hour, then a speed typing test for another half an hour. Baring in mind I’m not the best at any of these things and during my interview I told them I just wanted something really dull like data entry work, all of this was a complete waste of time.
This ordeal was made no better when despite claiming they would call me once a week with work, I didn’t here anything from them.
Run by girls for girls predominantly. The staff here seems far more interested in chatting amongst themselves than actually finding any work or even doing any work themselves.

Office Angels, extremely girlie in mentality, were another agency in the city unable to offer me a position. They were friendly and organised, with a bubbly and personal receptionist but as I was waiting for my turn at the desk, I had the sense that I was probably the twentieth person to come in that day asking for work. Also as she was giving me her standard response («we don’t have very much at the moment, but if something comes in we’ll give you a call…») I was more distracted by the glaring pink wall behind her.
I reckon this agency is great if you’re a few more years experienced than myself, but not ideal for those wanting to move into an office environment from scratch.