Atrium Staffing

The office is beautiful, but when you take into consideration everything else, it’s not worth the time. The girl I met with at first was great, but next, I interacted with a manager named Jill who was miserable to deal with. Sadly, the review in which the man was harassed at work and Jill was angry that he had complained (from the review here on Unilocal) seems to sum her up. She does not care about your success, but only about her own, and it shows from the way in which she interacts with people. I hope that anyone thinking of signing up will go to an agency where they treat you with more respect.

The only reason this place gets one star is because the office is really nice, other than that, it was a complete waste of my time and turned out to be an aweful experience. I was told that I would be working in a role that was similar to a role that I previously had, but not so much, in that I would be busier and have more opportunities to do learn/​do new things. My recruiter, Ashley, sent me over to the interview, which I received a ride to, and all was great. I started the next week. After my initial attendance, I realized that this was not the place for me for several reasons, one of them being that it took me nearly three hours to get there by T and three hours to get home. The second being, it was EXACTLY like the previous position I had taken on, which I informed my specialist at the time that I did not enjoy because it was boring.
Needless to say I left my assignment and told my recruiter, who then sent me a scathing email accusing me of being dishonest about where I lived –which I hadn’t because all of the paper work I filled out had my address on it. Told me I didn’t give the place a chance and how someone else who worked there stayed for a long time-​I am not that person– so not sure why that was a factor. She also told me she would no longer work with me in the future. Interesting. All of this in a very long drawn out email. I was not only shocked, but a little amused about how the email went on about my not being up front and yadda yadda yadda, when, wait a minute, isn’t it true that when you initially apply for a position (like I did) that you expect to be called in for that position and not some random one that they choose for you? Hmmmmm… wonder who wasn’t being up front now.
Bottom line, I had an aweful experience, with Atrium, Ashley in particular and wished to God that I had worked with Megan instead.
Either way, I will not be going through ANY more recruitment agencies if this is what I will get in the future.

This place has a reputation for unprofessionalism (not calling people back or following up) but I decided to use them as an additional resource after about a month of job searching.
I went in for an interview with a very nice recruiter and her boss, just going over my experience. They were both kind and accommodating and mentioned a few different positions I’d be a fit for. They informed me I had to do a «45 minute» assessment, and sent me home to complete it since their computers weren’t working-​I could not believe they actually have people complete this.
It took me 2 hours, and it tested Excel, Powerpoint, Word, etc-​I was honestly baffled. I have a degree and 3 years experience-​stop wasting my time. (I did not go through any of this with the other Staffing company).
After an interview and completing the lengthy assessment at home, I sent various emails-​I never heard back from the girl I met with. After all that work, I would not recommend any friends to this place. To drop the ball and not even respond with an email or a follow-​up is rude and not a company I would endorse.
All in all, it worked out because I ended up being VERY happy with a recruiting firm in Faneuil Hall and landing a great position – which I would recommend to anyone.

Not a great place for job searching. I took time to go in there and took tests. NOT ONE call back. Yet, they post on craigs list jobs all the time

If you’re reading this review, you most likely understand the aweful feeling of being unemployed. As someone seeking a job, you also have to realize that it won’t happen in a day; these things take time, patience, and a lot of job hunting/​applying on your own part.
I despise having to write negative reviews, but as a Unilocaler, I’m required to be honest. I reached out to Atrium staffing several months ago, and they quickly responded and set up a meeting. I came into the office, which was fairly nice and the people were very friendly. We sat down and the job recruiter gathered a ton of information, and had me perform a computerized test to determine my computer proficiency. All-​in-​all I spent about 2 hours there.
Before I left, the recruiter told me she may have a temporary position available for me as a receptionist/​assistant at an Architect firm and she would see what she could do, and that she’d get back to me. It’s been several months now, and I never once received any correspondence about the position, nor have I been contacted about any other opportunities. In such a large city, I know for sure that this staffing agency gets leads on temporary positions. The fact that they failed to provide me the assistance I sought from them shows me a certain level of unprofessionalism and has me questioning their services.
They failed to meet their promise in helping me. But I guess like my profile says, «Promises and pie crusts were made to be broken.» Like Alice Deejay once said «[I was] Better Off [finding a job] Alone.»

One star is too much for this agency. I went there a couple of months ago in search of a job. I moved to Boston from Europe with a degree in English language and was searching for a temp admin position. The elderly woman I talked to (I cannot remember her name) told me that they cannot help me because I have no experience in admin. The whole time I was there she was rude, the atmosphere was uncomfortable, she was looking at my shoes instead of my eyes (as you should when talking with somebody), awful awful experience. I went home and I cried because after speaking with her, I had a feeling I would never ever find a job in the States. Two weeks later I found a job on Craigslist as an Administrative Assistant with no «experience». Come on people, seriously do you think you need 4 years of education to learn how to copy, print and file things? After a month I was fluent in Excel and now I am in search of another job while still working, because I don’t find the job intellectually stimulating. It’s administration, you don’t need to be a genius to do it!
Don’t go there! A waste of precious time. Look for a job on your own, at least in that way you will get a full salary instead of working for ⁹⁄₁₀ $ per hour so that this awful woman and this disgusting agency could put 5 $ per your hour in their pockets.

I met Megan at Atrium Boston – actually, Megan was a terrific person with whom to interview. She was professional and yet easy-​going and seemed encouraging about my prospects. I was ready to leave the building, confident that Megan and I had reached an understanding with regards to my skillsets and hopes for my next job. However, Megan insisted I meet her associate.
Megan’s associate didn’t even introduce herself before criticizing (not critiquing) my resume – which she hadn’t even glanced at prior to our introduction. She laughed in my face at two separate times, insinuating I had little to no experience in my field of interest, when, in fact, evidence of my experience is stated at the top and bottom of my resume. Her tone, needless to say, was giggly condescending, entirely unprofessional, and her whole demeanor was girlishly off-​putting. This is inappropriate for any office environment and I think especially so in what is, after all, a service setting.
Perhaps also needless to mention was that I spent two hours meeting these ladies and they have done nothing productive to help in my job search. I’ve read other reviews on this Atrium branch and how the interview process is long and fruitless and I can do nothing but agree and feel relieved that I have found a permanent position, no thanks to Atrium.

With a degree in the arts, I had a lot of trouble getting Boston’s temp agencies to bite during my first year and a half in Boston. I was asked by two agencies why I didn’t have a corporate internship on my resume to demonstrate that I, too can perform a mail merge in Word or answer the phone in a professional manner. I was told by one agency, «We’ll call you if something comes up related to your field,» as if it was not worth their time to market someone with a flexible skill set seeking to work outside their perceived niche.
During my interviews with Atrium, it was clear that they «got» the idea that people with flexible skill sets exist. They asked me what I liked in a job, and I told them that ideally, I looked for three things: Autonomy (the urge to direct our own lives), Mastery (the desire to get better and better at something that matters), and Purpose (the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves) [1]. I also said that I did not, of course, expect any agency to match me up with a job that could provide me with those three things.
Within a week, they matched me up with a two day gig. It was a pretty good gig, even if it was only two days. Over the last six months, I have returned to the same organization through Atrium in a series of contract positions, and I have found all three things at the organization. I never expected an agency to pair me with work that satisfied me and was near where I lived, but it happened with Atrium.
Lest you think that my review is disingenuous, I will qualify that like any temp agency, Atrium is not an answer to your prayers or a panacea to unemployment during this tricky recession. I get the sense that a roll of the dice deserves a portion of the responsibility for my experience, which has not been without moments of insecurity. After the first two-​day gig, I did not hear from them for some time, and I had abandoned my expectations of finding further employment through them when they called suddenly me for my second gig, which began the day after that call. I feel the need to counteract a few of the unfairly harsh reviews that have been posted on them, so I am actually rounding up from from what I feel is a 4.2 Unilocal rating to 5 stars.
Atrium is a shrewd, professional, yet personal business: if you represent Atrium in such a way that host employers want more of what Atrium has, then you will be a valuable commodity to them, and they will let you know it. A few weeks ago, I took some friends to see Verdi’s Falstaff (an opera) with a performance-​based bonus I got from them. Like any agency, though, a period of high unemployment does not present them with the economic wiggle-​room to mess around with people who pose a risk to their business. Who in their right mind has the audacity to confront host company CEOs as a temp employee in a recession, as B D. states he did in his scathing reveiew? That is not what a temp employee does — B D. easily could have put Atrium’s relationship with the host company in jeopardy. I have to say that if I were a manager, I too would have had a hard time investing more in an employee that tried to short-​circuit the delicate balance between host company and employment agency.
Atrium is a great boutique staffing firm, and I have been satisfied with the experience I have had there.
EDIT: I’m disappointed that my review has been classified with the spam beneath Unilocal’s filter. Boo! I’m not new at Unilocal,my reviews have been voted «cool» or «useful, and I’m not unbalanced here. This is the last time I write a review on Unilocal that is longer than 140 words.
[1] See «Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us» by Dan Pink

Awful agency.
They did place me in a great place «Rue La La» …
…I took the job in SHIPPING (i needed the money/gig/I’m putting myself through school) and busted my hump.
My insecure, immature, 40-​yr-​old VERY blue collar «manager» wouldn’t stop harassing me. He would tell others that he was trying to «get a rise out of me»
I ended up quitting after 4+ months. I couldn’t take the manager anymore.
When I was physically walking out, the CFO (who’s a great guy) asked me to talk to HR before I left. So I did.
Then as I was leaving, the CEO of the company was leaving and was also upset how I was leaving and asked me to write him an email and gave me his card.
«That was good. It was good that you stopped me. Really good» he said. He was sincere.
I went into Atrium to meet with Jill, the President, and she was more upset that I spoke with the CFO and CEO of the company, rather than the fact that I’d been harassed enough to leave such a great place.
Even though it was a direct request from the CFO and CEO who seemed to really want my feedback and liked me — Jill from Atrium still decided to cut ties between myself & Atrium. Why is that?
Jill & Atrium Staffing don’t stand by their employees. …Even when the company they placed them at DOES. Sad.
bye bye Atrium — Remember: Without us, there is no you.

I submitted my resume to Atrium Staffing, and about a week later, I called to see if they had received it. They had, but apparently hadn’t sent an email saying so. The woman I spoke to was not helpful at all. She basically said that because I don’t have any typical administrative experience, they wouldn’t be able to help me. I was a manager at a business for two years, and the typical administrative stuff was included in that, but she didn’t want to hear any of it. For an agency that is supposed to help me get work, they were the opposite of helpful.

If you are reading this review, you probably know how miserable being unemployed is. However, Atrium Staffing was like the rainbow after a storm. (with a paycheck at the end!!!) not a pot of gold, but just what I needed to get by.
I was called in after submitting my resume for a temp position.
This was one of four staffing agencies in Boston I worked with.
Here is the 5 Star Breakdown…
Star 1: Communication — They will call/​email/​text you with opportunities if you want. I mean, who wouldn’t want to get a text with information about a job the next day?!
Star 2: Honesty — I didn’t feel like they were trying to shove me into a mold for a job they wanted filled. They listened to me and seemed to really want to make a match that would be a good fit for both their clients and me.
Star 3: Flexibility — this was the only staffing agency where they gave me the option to be tested on Windows 07 rather than 03, which is pretty foreign to me. (it would have been nice to have a MAC option for testing as that is all I’ve worked on in the last four years both personally and professionally, but most places still operate on PC so that’s understandable.)
Star 4: Presentation — their office was spotless, there were mini water bottles and candy for job seekers. And trust me, while sitting through a solid hour and a half of testing my comp skills, I was grateful for a piece of chocolate.
Star 5: They got me a JOB!
I will tell all of my friends that if they are looking for a job they should go to Atrium Staffing 1^st… hopefully they won’t even have to deal with another agency!

I’ve been so happy with Atrium. Their staff really cares about their temps and making sure they understand exactly what you’re looking for, either right now or in the long run. They’re very nice and professional and they are genuinely interested in really knowing their temps and keeping great relationships with businesses in the Boston community. Sure, they’re not the biggest, but that’s why I like them. It’s been great.

After trying to find temp work in the Boston area over the past several months, Atrium delivered. I met with Jill and Liz who were both great. They sat down with me and listened to what I was looking for in terms of career goals as well as what I need right now in terms of paying rent and bills. This may sound like a typical staffing agency experience but the difference was that they were actually engaging me in a real conversation. They weren’t rushing me out the door like some other places and the office atmosphere wasn’t one of a meat grinder, churning out 100 people a day. Liz and Jill were also very honest with me, letting me know that they couldn’t guarantee anything in this economy but would hit the pavement and try.
Two days later I got a call from Liz. Knowing that my main concern right now was paying rent, bills, etc., she told me about a long term temp assignment that was available which offered a fair wage and flexible schedule so I could continue job hunting and interviewing for a permanent position. Long story short, I got the temp assignment and it has been a great match so far. It’s exactly the kind of temp work I have been looking for for the past 5 months. My only regret is that I didn’t go to Atrium earlier!
Believe me, I was at my wits end as far as staffing agencies go. But if you’re willing to give one more place a shot I definitely recommend Atrium. They were the first staffing agency to listen to my needs and deliver on a job.

Atrium was a waste of my time. I spoke with a young woman there on the phone at first. I had e-​mailed in my resume and she said that based on my education and experience, she should easily be able to place me somewhere. I scheduled a time with the young woman and went down to meet her. She gave me some pointers for my resume and asked me to re-​write a few things on it and e-​mail it to her again. I made the revisions and e-​mailed it back, she asked me to change a few more things so I did. I e-​mailed her the final version that day and never heard from her again.
That was more than a month ago. Nobody from Atrium ever got back in touch with me, but since I’m on their mailing list now, I still get occasional generic e-​mails from them.

I had never worked with a staffing agency before but had heard uninspiring things about most of them. A friend referred me to Atrium and I was hesitant at first, but they were nothing but great. I worked with Liz D., who’s wonderful, but as someone earlier mentioned the whole office works as a team. I was worried they’d view me as some disposable loser, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth. Everyone from the president of the Boston office on down always treated me with respect and kindness. They didn’t have many jobs in the fields I was looking for, but worked to find things that would fit both me and an employer well. I ended up with a permanent job that I love through connections I made through Atrium. If you’re looking for a staffing agency, go here first.