Jemstone Associates

Just a bizarre experience and has definitely taught me to read reviews before I go to an «interview» at a staffing agency.
I have never worked with an agency before so I was unaware of the whole posting fake jobs to get resumes thing. Was contacted by Russell who seemed nice in person and talked about all of these jobs he had for me and how I can ask him for anything. I left feeling good about it.
A week later, nothing. So I emailed him asking what the next step was or if there were any other jobs I should be applying for. He said that he would look and that was the last message I received.
I don’t really know what staffing agencies do but in general this just seems like a colossal waste of time and I would suggest seeking jobs elsewhere.

If your recruiter can’t even spell and use proper punctuation, take a hint and stay far, far away!!! I had the great misfortune of wasting my time with Russell, who talks a great game of all his leads and all the wonderful companies he has in his wings. After going for two interviews with the company and him dropping massive hints to me that I was the top-​runner for the job, he suddenly went radio silent on me after the second interview despite him saying that I aced it.
Disgustingly untrustworthy people. He clearly doesn’t care about you at all. If I went for two interviews, I have invested such a great amount of time and effort into that I do believe I deserve a response from you at the very least, not cold silence. The company I interviewed with was extremely sketchy, misogynistic and old-​fashioned to the point of painful — women in the company were only allowed to wear skirts! No pants or trousers. Welcome to the wonderful world of Jemstone job leads! I guess you are the company you keep, after all (pun fully intended).
Not only did he ignore me completely for two whole months, he even messaged me on LinkedIn asking if I knew anyone interested in two jobs that he was trying to fill — all the while ignoring the job that I interviewed twice for. Really? Really? You really think I’m going to forget what you did so easily? Really dishonest and sketchy character and company — run far, far away from them and don’t even think about talking to them!

Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Went to another agency and had 8 interviews lined up in 2 weeks with well-​known top firms in New York. 6 job offers. Was working in a month at a company rated one of the best to work for in NY by Fortune Magazine. Never heard from these guys. Guess I just wasn’t qualified for any of the jobs that came across their desk in the last… oh…4 months :)

I like the rest of the Unilocalers applied to an ad on Craigslist and received an e-​mail from Russell asking me to come in. I read the reviews and thought why not give it a chance. I met with him for about ten minutes and he seemed nice enough, told me he was going to forward my resume to two different jobs.
I didn’t hear back from him for about a week so I e-​mailed him and he stated he had no news for me. That was it.
It was a little weird but I guess if the jobs they contact are just not interested there is nothing they can do. I was disappointed and felt like it was a waste of time honestly.

I applied for a job that I saw on Craigslist and Russell sent me a very short email asking, «When can you come in?»
I decided to reply with a few dates during which I was available, and we kept going back and forth for a few days because he could not confirm that he can meet me.
I decided to call him to ask if I can meet another one of his associates who has more time & availability, and he responded by saying that they only have 4 people working and 2 of them are recruiters, 1 of the 2 being away from the office. He was rude and unprofessional and I am definitely not wasting anymore time interacting with Russell, and I don’t recommend you do either!

He harassed me to take off my review, long story short… This agency is very sketchy and typical agency — all they care about how much money they can make off of you.
I’m not sure why Unilocal even allows Jeff to harass people here.

Russell and Jeff are GREAT at what they do!
They separate the good candidates from the bad, clearly the people that have written poor reviews on this agency were not fit for the jobs they were applying for.
Jemstone got me my first job in New York city almost four years ago. They coached me all throughout the whole interview process and really tried to work with me based on my schedule. They even helped to proof my thank you notes and gave me great pointers.
Recently, Jemstone has helped to get me my second job and I couldn’t be happier with my experience with them!
The whole process was seamless and I interviewed with four people in one week, they kindly rearranged the interview times to accommodate my work schedule.
So happy with my experience with Jemstone!

The only reason why I am reviewing is because some of the other reviews somewhat surprise me… butttt maybe I can understand where they are coming from.
When I was job searching May 2010 (the month I was expected to graduate with my undergrad) I applied to numerous jobs on craigslist (since then, I know never to look for jobs on there– you will submit 100 resumes and not get one response back) The only response I got back was from Jeff Katz. I did not find out he was a headhunter until the day of the interview… but I still thought, why not give it a shot. So I went in. It was very casual. like other reviewers said, I met with Jeff one of the partners of the company. He was not dressed in business attire, but a button down tee. Still– that doesn’t bother me. He interviewed me and asked me about two jobs he had (one in advertising-​which I graduated with, and the other, administrative) I was set up with an interview with the company and within a week I had a job. (Was a temp to perm position) Needless to say, I still have the job today and its been about 2 and a half years.
Within those few years I have referred some of my friends to Jeff Katz were some of them had similar experiences as me, and others, similar to the reviewers with negative feedback. I truly think that Jeff might be a little too laid back for some of the reviewers. Without a doubt, you need to call Jeff back. I am not sure if he is just too busy, or isn’t great with getting back… Yes, this is not a great look for a business, but if you want a job bad enough– you aren’t going to sit around waiting for him to call back. Its called being proactive people. Go out and get it done. The city will eat you up if you just wait for things to happen.
Well that’s my experience. I would say all and all it was a good experience– but seeing friends experiences … I can understand why some people have some negative reviews. I would still try Jeff Katz. It’s pretty easy to get an interview, and he always has a lot of jobs (mostly in administrative work) but just be a go getter!

Another bland, standard, ordinary staffing agency that do not produce results. Upon meeting with the partner, yes partner no account executive for me to be pawn off to, it appeared promising and rewarding for me to attain good leads for interviews. Fast forward. Days later I contacted this partner and received the most vile yet callous response: «we have NO positions for you!» followed by an abrupt hangup. To be shunned out by blind eyes, closed door policy, and a closed heart without an opportunity to prove my worth is downright rude.
There are no gems here at this staffing agency.

I recently had the privilege of working with Jeff Katz, owner of Jemstone, as a candidate. He is certainly the best agent I’ve ever worked with. Given the fact I’ve been an admin pro for 20 years, have lived in South Florida, Los Angeles and NYC and have dealt with numerous staffing agents in all 3 major metro areas as a candidate and employer, I can say with confidence that he must be among the best in the country, period.
I found Jeff to be honest, direct, strictly no b.s. He wasted no time in letting me know what he could do for me and what he couldn’t. What struck me most is that he got me right away. He took one look at me and one look at my CV — which most recruiters didn’t know what to do with since I’m not a traditional admin — and he wasted no time in letting me know he understood me and was going to get me work. He got that my unusual background didn’t need to be an obstacle but that it would be an asset for the right employer. (I knew that all along but trying to convince other agents of that? And in this market? Forget it! I had to dumb down my CV for every single agent I met with — not Jeff.)
So what did Jeff Katz do for me? He found me work, just like he was certain he could. Not only did he find me work, but he fought for my interests when it came time to negotiate my salary (an enviable one, I might add!), he heard me out on any and every concern I had and he was totally willing for me to not take the job if I wasn’t 1000% comfortable with it.
Frankly, even if Jeff had not found me work, or even if I’d not taken the job he presented, I’d highly recommend him anyway. Why? Because he’s *there* and he’s *real*. If you understand what I mean by that, you’ll appreciate him, and I encourage you to trust your livelihood to him.

Too bad most of the recent reviews are on
. Maybe Russell was better before 2010. If I had read Merchant Circle earlier, I would never have bothered to go in! I’ve received no help. He said he would forward my resume but never did, and his email replies to me was short one-​liners, exactly like what previous reviewer L.O. said. DON’T BOTHER WITH JEMSTONE!

My experience began probably as everyone else’s…showed up, met a nice receptionist, filled out the paperwork (redundant, waste of time), then went back to Russell Katulak’s shared office. When I entered, there was another man sitting there who proceeded to bring in another candidate to «interview.» (Rude) Mr. Katulak had no interest in getting to know me at all and I question whether he actually LOOKED at my resume prior to my appointment. Considering their website says «Our experienced staffing consultants will make you feel welcome, extremely comfortable and most importantly a priority,» I felt the exact opposite. I felt quite insulted by the fact that I responded to a job he posted, yet in our meeting he basically said that I wouldn’t be considered for that job, but MAYBE some of the other less-​paying jobs he had. This was surprising to me considering that I have a masters degree and 4 years of professional administrative experience. Regardless, if they know someone is not what they are looking for, why waste their time and bring them in? I could’ve emailed a picture if that’s what they wanted… very annoying.
The entire interaction lasted a whopping 2 minutes. COMPLETE WASTE OF MY TIME AND TRAIN FARE! Don’t waste yours…

I’ve been seeing a zillion employment agencies, and quite frankly I didn’t expect much coming into Jemstone. The moment I met Russell I felt that I can rely on him to help me out. The «interview» was more like a friendly conversation. I didn’t have to fill out a ton of paperwork and take a ton of computer tests like other agencies. I didn’t know exactly what kind of job I was looking for, but somehow I left feeling as if Russell knew my personality well enough to gauge what positions would be good for me.
And true to his word, I heard from him by the end of the week. He helped me set up an interview with an amazing company for an awesome position. And truth be told, I wouldn’t have been able to get this position myself. I wished I could have known about Jemstone sooner instead of wasting my time writing and sending out a ton of resumes and cover letters to companies and wasting my time meeting with other employment agencies who do not care.
Thank you so much, Russell!
On a side note: Russell’s messages is a bit less formal than most, but it’s because he works all the time (he called me in the evening, when I was free, even though he sounded so sick!). Most of my e-​mails from him are sent via blackberry, and thus they are shorter, and yes, there might be an incorrect spelling. If you use a blackberry like I do, and is as busy as he is, you would totally understand.

I honestly can’t believe what I’m reading. My experience with Jemstone is the best experience I’ve had with any recruiting agency to date and i’ve been in the business for about 15 years.
I posted my resume on Monster and within days Russell and Jeff contacted me via email about my resume and asked if I could come into the agency. I came in the next day and went through the usual process. I was greeted by a very nice and professional receptionist. I filled out the appropriate paperwork and read more «was then greeted by Russell not ten minutes later.
Both Jeff and Russell made copies of my resume — I was dressed in a business suit and sent me out on my first interview within the hour. They were both pleasant and easy to work with, kept me informed on what their clientele thought of me, where I could improve during an interview, etc.
Within two weeks — I had the exact job I was looking for with a substantial increase in pay (which was their idea and both Jeff and Russell negotiated my salary for me. Two years later I’m still here and still keep in touch with both Jeff and Russell in case God forbid I need their help again. I completely recommend this agency with every confidence. The only thing I would suggest for any potential candidate is that you put your best foot forward when meeting any recruiter. Have a great resume, splurge a little on a great fitting suit, take time with your makeup application and hair and maintain a positive attitude. You’d be amazed at how far that will take you. You do this and Jeff and Russell will move mountains to get you the position of your dreams — I kid you NOT!

I personally had a horrible experience with Jeff Katz. He was very aggressive with me on the phone. First he wanted to know about some of my legal experience and then when he found out that I had already been submitted for the position he called be about he became irate that my other agency was working on the position too. I ended up getting the job but NOT through Jemstone!

So, I apply to a position I see posted on the internet and
e-​mails me the next day and says «Thanks for your resume, when can you come Iin?», yes spelled wrong.
I think it is strange to not call me personally or at least e-​mail me in a more formal way but I respond «Hello, I can come in tomorrow at noon if you like. Is this good for you?». The next morning at 11 am rkatulak responds «noon is fine». No address to report to, nothing. This is very unacceptable. I mean did this person think that when I received their email the next day that I’d be able to come into an unknown address 1 hour from the time I received the e-​mail? For christ’s sake I don’t even know this persons name!
I have never seen such an unprofessional agency and I have been to many. I bet that they never found a job for the person who reviewed them and gave them 3 stars above me. Getting recruiters to see you is easy, getting them to find you a job is another story.

Three stars for accomodating me on such short notice. I was referred to Jemstone Associates, Inc. by word of mouth and I literally walked into the Jemstone office 20 minutes later.
The receptionist was friendly and helpful and the recruiter was pretty efficient. I was able to present my resume, express my interests, and defend my qualifications in record time. Three interviews in a row made it a very productive day and Rachel not a dull candidate.