Beacon Hill Staffing Group

Bait and switch jobs. They advertise high paying jobs only to bring you into their office to interview for jobs at $ 10−12/hour as if they didn’t know what you were looking for. I checked in with them post interview anyway. No response. Wasted my time.

I am very disappointed with this agency. Like others here in Chicago you come in for a interview and that’s it. I was contacted by this company in 2014 by a recruiter (name withheld for professional reasons) and she informed me that she would like to meet with me and will get back with me for an interview. Of course I never heard back from anyone at the company. I sent out countless emails to the recruiter and never heard back from her.
It wasn’t until June 3 of this year that I heard back from the recruiter (I called again) I spoke with last year. She told me that she wanted to bring me in for an interview (didn’t even recall speaking with me nor did she recall any of my qualification) of course I agreed and I’m giving them the benefit of the because it is a company and sometimes information tends to falls through cracks.
When I arrived to the office I was very disappointed that there wasn’t anyone there to inform my recruiter that I had arrived nor did anyone know that I was even in the office. After about 5 minutes the front desk assistant finally arrived and asked if my recruiter knew I had arrived (how was she to know if there isn’t anyone at the desk to inform her?)
The interview went well (as do most at temp company’s) she informed me that if she has work for me that she will contact me and that i should check in with her weekly. It’s now September and i just received my first email from her since June and it has no other information expect for the positions that I applied for that aren’t in her area. Would that have been so hard to say in June or July or August? I had to wait util September to get a response.
Now I understand why this company is getting bad reviews. It’s because of the communication with this company. If you bring someone in to your company and want them to work for you and other clients then you should communicate with them in the time that you set. Communication is an important part of every company and if you don’t have that your company will fail.
I would gladly change my review if the company changes their ways. I can see why Chicago get’s such a bad Reputation for a temp agencies.

This company’s submission process is abysmal, at best.
First off, you have to possess talent in order to evaluate talent. I see no evidence that this is or has ever occurred at Beacon Hill Staffing Group (as well as a host of other firms). I love it when staffing agencies say, «It’s so hard to find good talent out there», and they’ve ignored all candidates who don’t fit a cookie cutter profile that’s been data-​mined for key words and phrases. I’ve been in Chicago for over 15 years and have applied for jobs thru agencies 200+ times. I’ve rec’d numerous call backs, a handful of firm interviews, and one actual interview with a prospective employer. As the saying goes, if you’re incompetent in everything you do, we’ll stick you HR.
Here’s the kicker! I come from a family of academics. My brother is a tenured prof @ George Washington University. I took the route of being a F/​T Musician for 10+ years, and that resume glitch has been killing my opportunities ever since.
Quite frankly, none of these agencies have a clue into how to evaluate talent. They’re more worried about one of their clients having a fit should a candidate not be an exact fit.
I have officially given up on Beacon Hill Staffing Group. Fool me 40+ times…
Please read the one star * reviews below. Beacon Hill has a consistent history of either a) not giving a crap or b) lack of professionalism, c) lack of follow-​up, or d) all of the above. Good luck with that business model!

From 2013 – 2014 I was very upset with other agencies. Mindspring, Addison Group, Larko, LaSalle, SNI, Advanced Resources, and Kelly really let me down with countless interviews that went absolutely nowhere or assignments that ended up lasting for a week or being terminated earlier. I was depressed, and felt hopeless that I would never find a full time office job that I wanted. I decided as a last resort to go on craigslist and apply for jobs. Sure… why not? One of those was to work through Beacon Hill… Believe it or not, the next day I was contacted by Chrissie who asked me to come in and meet with her. I went in with an open mind, and sure enough she called to tell me the next day someone had resigned from a position and I looked like a good fit for the client. Beacon Hill you are a godsend. On Administrative Professionals Day, a rep from Beacon Hill even came in to deliver us Starbucks cards and other nice goodies. It made me feel very welcome to work for them. Beacon Hill gives you that independence working for a client, rather than hounding non stop to see how things are going. I have only been on my assignment for a month so far, and I really would like to stay at the location I am working at. I’ve been temping for about a year and by far, Beacon Hill is the most professional.

I worked with Beacon Hill back in June 2012 and was placed with my current company within a couple weeks of first meeting them. They found a position at a company that I never would have found on my own, and I have been with the same organization ever since. After a few months I transitioned to a full time role and have since been promoted within the organization. All staff I worked with were professional and responsive.
I find the negative reviews really surprising and probably more indicative of the candidate than the company. If you are actively applying for jobs and turn to social media to bad mouth a prospective employer, I can’t imagine that is a good sign.

I’m looking for additional opportunities since I’ve been working at my current position.
A recruiter cold called me and I explained my situation. There is no opportunity for growth at my current company. The recruiter started speaking to me in a condescending way.
First off, that’s pretty unprofessional. Second, that’s the last way you want to try and bring in professionals. We scheduled an interview. I didn’t bother showing up because unprofessional behavior it’s not worth my time.

Caution: Your expended efforts will likely be a waste of time and resources if you choose to attempt collaborating with this agency, Lack luster pedestrians at best.
As a current job seeker I have my resume and cover letter out there on the web on most of the major job seeker web sites trafficked by employers and recruiters. This is how I was found by an associate, (I cant even call her a recruiter because she far from makes the mark of a professional recruiter) by the name of Brittany Blackman who reached out to me by calling me to let me know she saw my updated resume online and that she has a couple of opportunities that I am quite qualified for and she would like to meet with me to discuss the opportunities and get a feel for which may be best. Great. Sounds good. So I made my appointment to meet with Brittany.
Now, I can only image some of the types of people that these agencies encounter and they may feel as though some people need a little more guidance than others, but the email I received from Brittany to confirm our appointment was flat out condescending. There is no other way to describe it, other than maybe juvenile, or junior. That more accurately describes her skill level of communication.
So I told myself: «Hey, its ok, She’s young and this is probably her first job outside of school, she is clearly learning, keep an open mind, this may lead to employment.»
So I ignored the email communication other than to note the date and time I was to arrive.
I arrive on time, early in fact, and was greeted by a young girl at the front desk who was friendly-​ish but not very engaging for an initial point of contact upon entering the agency. Oh well, «It’s Show Time Synergy» I said to myself and waited to meet Brittany.
The plus side to this was I was not waiting long, but it was 9:30 a.m. and I was likely the first candidate/​applicant to be seen that day.
My exchange with Brittany seemed to go very well, and it was an informative dialogue that we had and as our meeting wrapped up we went over expectations (key thing here is to have none) in regards to each parties role in the placement process, etc.
I am full well aware of how these operations work, and it is a responsibility of the job seeker to follow up, etc. So that is what I have been doing ever since our meeting back in October. The issue is that Brittany never followed up, has yet to follow up and provide any information regarding the opportunities we spoke about. Nada, Zip, Zilch. Complete lack of professionalism. Now, I also understand that once a face to face meeting occurs that it may be determined that someone is not potentially the right fit for their client, that’s life; but have the professional courtesy to let an individual know one way or another. I don’t deem it to be acceptable or professional to simply not return a phone call or email. The last email correspondence I sent to Brittany was a few days ago, and it will obviously be my last as she clearly has no interest in assisting me with my job search. Which ultimately is ok, because I don’t want to assist a company like this by providing my hard work and knowledge to make them look good and earn them money. They simply are not deserving,
I’m constantly gobsmacked by these types of agencies who reach out to job seekers after finding them else where and then they turn around and either drop the ball, treat them poorly, or simply just stop all correspondence. Keep in mind, professional courtesy is that if you are the one to initiate contact, the percentage of responsibility to follow up, even if to bear bad news, is higher on you, not the approached party. And further, if the approached party does their due diligence to follow up, don’t ignore them. Be an adult and have a conversation and invite dialogue.
I also suspect that in situations such as mine where I am clearly a qualified and experienced individual that it must be somewhat intimidating to someone who has less skills, knowledge and talent than you, and this probably affects their decision making as to how they are, or are not, going to represent you. Its not exactly an upstanding way to behave professionally, but it does happen. Seemingly more so in this type of industry/​profession of recruitment. Just don’t let it happen to you.
If you are a true professional, with years of experience and find yourself looking for new work, my input to you is to go elsewhere.
Someone else said it an review on here and I agree with them, I’m not certain how this place really stays in business and if the clients they serve operate anything like they do, its a blessing to not be called for an interview or hired.
The upside to all of this is that it, like all things presented before me in life, is looked at as a valuable learning experience. Patterns and trends within an industry tend to reveal themselves through experience, and this experience has illuminated a notion as fact which has been elevated to my truth. All the best.

Fortunately, I’ve had a great experience with Beacon Hill Staffing. I met with Chrissie (and have interacted with three or so other Beacon ladies), and I loved how positive she was and that she treated me like a respectable working person and not an idiot (side note: one staffing company called me before an interview and pysched me out with a total high school version of what to do and say in interviews; it was bizarre). A lot of other staffing companies whom-​shall-​not-​be-​named made me feel like a either dime a dozen or overqualified (talk about confusing). One week after meeting with Chrissie, I am in a really great position at a great company (after being rejected by another position!).
Follow-​up is important with Beacon Hill, but I feel like that’s normal. If you want something, ask politely for it. You are essentially asking these staffing companies to get you a job free of charge. Sure they get paid by clients, but BH is paid to place the best candidate in the position. You never know who your fellow job seeker competition is. Keep going, friends!
EDIT (4÷16÷15): Beacon Hill placed me a company that hired me on permanently. I cannot be happier with the experience. They also let me know about a many jobs, which I passed on to my friends. I am so pleased and thankful.

I can only guess Beacon Hill is better when you happen to be referred to them from a job application to a particular client company, rather than if you have approached them direct, because contra many of the reviews I found them very helpful. Having applied for a job through craigslist (my 7,345^th that day, most likely) Beacon Hill got in touch through Chrissie, who put in a good word on my behalf for the position I had applied for. As it happened I didn’t get that job, but they kept me in my mind for other positions and within a month they had set me up with two temp jobs I sorely needed, which seems to me is how it should work.

I really don’t know what they do at this downtown location. I have been in contact with a few gals but many seem to leave the company, which now reading all the posts I can see why. They never return calls unless there is a threat at some point to get some answers. Seems like everyone has had the same bad experience. Chicago has much better agencies, I’d stay away from this one unless you like to waste your time. They love to make it seem like they got there stuff together but it is all a joke. I hope companies think twice about asking for help from them also. Trust me there are tons of other better options then this place. Plus they don’t even dress professional. I felt over dressed for my interview cause the girl that met with me wore a very simple outfit that didn’t scream professional works here. Advice: get it together and hire more people to return phone calls. You are in the business to help others to find work, you sure don’t do that.

Everyone I have dealt with at this company has been exceedingly unprofessional (likely because the entire place is staffed with twentysomethings).
I signed on with a girl named Samantha who promised me «next month it’s going to get really busy.» I would email her weekly – usually with no response – and I didn’t get a job for over a month (the job was only for a week). One day, after not getting any response from Sam, I came to found out that Sam up and quit her job without any notification to her clients. Now I am working with another twentysomething female who keeps promising «next month is going to be really busy» and isn’t responding to my emails.
These guys are just not worth the trouble. I don’t know if all temp agencies in Chicago are this unprofessional, but I don’t know how these people stay in business.

I registered with this place a year ago, and if I never called them I’d never have any communication whatsoever with them, and they don’t always answer emails. You get the usual non-​responsive answer when you ask what, exactly, they’re doing for you. A complete waste of time and energy.

This place was absolutely terrible. I went through Beacon Hill hoping to find a job quickly because I was hoping to relocate to Chicago. The girl who interviewed me (Chrissie) was wearing Hunter boots and the entire office was very unprofessional. What made me the most upset was that Chrissie adamantly promised me that she would keep in touch both over phone and email, she did neither. I even sent an e-​mail the day after our interview thanking her for seeing me and I got no response. This place is a complete joke and I regret wasting the time and gas money it took to get there.

In early January 2014, I began applying for jobs. I received a call from Alicia Strout at Beacon Hill right away. She was very friendly and we scheduled a time for a Skype interview. The following day, Alicia interviewed me over Skype. It went very well, and we clicked right away (or so I thought). She told me that she thought my credentials were great, and that she would be back to me in a day or so with a position that she thought would be a great fit. Well, it’s March 1^st now, I never heard from her again. I called her dozens of times, left voicemail after voicemail («Hi Alicia, it’s Becky… are we still working together? I haven’t heard from you, please call me back.») and I emailed her a dozens times as well. NEVER heard back from the girl; she literally disappeared from the face of the Earth. I suspected that she might’ve quit, so I looked her up on LinkedIn… nope, she definitely still works there. After spending weeks trying to hunt her down via phone and email without a single response, I gave up. I’m working with two other staffing firms now, and Beacon Hill is now a distant –and lousy– memory. I would not recommend this firm; they are unprofessional and undependable.

ZERO STARS!!! Ditto what Susan posted about Sam Hirsch, below. This was not my first time being baited into meeting a recruiter at Beacon Hill, only to learn the position they’d contacted me about had «just been filled». Furthermore, neither of the previous recruiters is with Beacon Hill anymore, and after my meetings with the previous two staffers, I was never contacted for even a one day assignment. I explained my wariness of their practices to Sam when she contacted me recently, explaining that I didn’t want to waste my time on coming in if the position wasn’t viable. She assured me that the job she called me about was real. Within the first few minutes, she asked me where I used to work and why I was no longer there. (Um, you found my resume on Careerbuilder, spoke with me over the phone about it two days ago, and my resume is right in front of your nose…) but anyway. She asked me what my salary expectations were, then said they don’t often get anything at my level and would I accept something $ 10 an hour less. Seriously? Then she continued asking me questions like what my perfect job would look like and what sort of computer skills I have (which is the first paragraph on my resume — highly advanced in the entire Microsoft Suite and various CRM software programs, etc.). After 10 minutes of rhetorical interview questions, I asked her to tell me about the position she’d contacted me about. Well, you guessed it: «Oh, I’m sorry but that job was just filled this morning.» Sheesh, it would have been nice of her to let me know this before I slogged through slush and snow to Beacon Hill! Oh, that’s right, the position doesn’t exist! I was just being «pipelined» in case they actually get a real job order from a client. My advice? Don’t waste your time with Beacon Hill!

I met with an annoyingly perky and immature «recruiter» named Sam (antha) Hirsch last Friday. At the beginning of our meeting, I told her what my bottom line in salary is and a bit later she asked, «Would you take x (less)?» Totally taken aback as I know what my market worth is… wow. Then things got increasingly weird. I was sipping on water during the interview and she gave me an odd look every time I did it like she never saw someone drink before. Then she mentioned that I would need to do some testing (remotely) in Word, Excel and PowerPoint which was to be expected. I told her I had a Mac sans Microsoft Office and asked if that would be compatible with their testing and she acted like she didn’t know it would work using Firefox and said something about going to the library to use their computer to do the testing. Whaaaat?!? I was left with such a bad taste in my mouth that I did a little research on her and the company afterwards. Seems she has only been with the company 3 months — has zero experience as a recruiter. No big surprise there. Further, it seems Beacon Hill has been known to place fake ads on Craigslist to lure you into thinking they have numerous jobs to offer (which I’m sure they don’t evidenced by their rinky dink office). Needless to say, I would skip this place. I have worked with recruiters for YEARS and this experience was the most peculiar and an utter waste of time.