LA is one of those cities where people want to move to. It’s like NYC in that way, it attracts millions of people from all across the country. And this doesn’t even take into account the millions of people who are born there and live there. So, as you can tell finding work—or finding staff to hire—in LA can be incredibly hard.
The main draw to LA for many people is the entertainment industry. This is a separate type if industry from most and so we won’t be covering any industries. There is a whole other process of finding work in the entertainment business –it mostly involves connections aka “who you know”.
This article is geared towards people looking for work (and again, agencies looking to find workers) in the Los Angeles area. The roles are in the general arena, not specially any one niche. You can find business orientated work, medical staffing, as well as more professional work such as office managers, executive roles, and analyst type work.
Some of these staffing agencies also specialize in data entry, filing, and basic clerk type administrative work.
In order to avoid scam jobs, it’s a good idea to go with a reputable agecny that has a long track record.
- Robert Half :Anytime you talk about staffing agencies, you’re going to come across Robert Half. They are a national organization that has locations in most major cities. If you’re looking for a staffing agency, and you do a cursory look online, then you’ll come across Robert Half. Mileage will vary depending on who you work with, as well as your experience. It’s important to recognize that when you’re working with a giant company you might not have the same experience as someone else. However, it’s still a wise idea to go and read reviews. The two most popular review sites are Yelp and Google. Check them out and see what you think.
- AppleOne Employment Services: This employment service company is well known for clerical and administrative work. It’s one of the longer lasting firms in the LA area. This is important especially since there are so many fly by night organizations in cities such as Los Angeles. You can read reviews about them online and see if they are a good fit.
- Career Group Companies: This is another well known agency in the LA area. And again, it’s one that has been around for decades. Which, as I always mention, is important whenever you are dealing with staffing agencies and employment firms. You want a company that has good reviews, a well known reputation, and a background so that there is less risk when working with them.
- Ajilon: Like many staffing firms, this one has re-branded, and is now known as LHH. The firm has a multi-state presence and you can review the jobs that they list on their website. They have four different locations in the California region, including Los Angeles. The jobs include role such as remote medical biller, HR specialist, and QA roles. They are a major player in staffing and as such will come up over and over when searching for a good source of work.
- Insight Global: A leader in staffing for several years, with a huge reach nationwide, this firm has a well maintained website—something not all staffing firms can claim. You can review all the job openings and then submit resumes online. The jobs include everything from Veterinarians to Administrative Assistants. If you’re in the L.A. region, then this would be a great asset to use.
In addition to these agencies, there are many other sources of work in L.A. However, if you’re intersted in the entertainment industry, or working for the city, then staffing firms are not the best approach. In fact, a recent editorial in the L.A. Times discusses the difficulty involved in finding city jobs in Los Angeles.
What I would always suggest you do is read the reviews online. The website can give you a good Idea about what the Staffing firm handles, but if you want to read what others have to say and learn what they’ve experienced, then you shoudl read Google reviews, Yelp reviews, and Glassdoor. While some of these reviews are likely to be paid for and written by outsourced reputation management firms, not all of them wil be fake.
The better agencies will have good reviews. More specifically, the better recrutiers and personell working at the agency will have reviews.
Another way to check out the agency is to vet the recruitrs and staff working there. You can and should try and connect with them on LinkedIn. If you message a recruiter on LinkedIn, then you can tell if they are someone who is responsive or someone who does not have work for you (this is normally indicated by their lack of response).
Hey I’m Chris . 20+ years in the industry. I’ve worked every role from Executive recrutier to Agency founder and consultant. If you want to learn more or reach me,vist the about page or use my contact form.