Vantaggi
AppleOne found me a contract job that wasn't great but got me into a company that I love so I accepted. In the beginning, before my contract began, my agent was very friendly and seemed to be putting a lot of effort into finding contract positions for me.
Svantaggi
As soon as I signed the contract, I never heard from my agent again unless I emailed and called multiple times first. Even when I did finally get ahold of her it usually led to a game of telephone and unanswered questions. Before my contract began, I asked my agent upfront if they would be taking money out of my paychecks and the answer was a resounding "no"--an answer that I later found out was an outright lie as I found out they are currently taking four dollars out of the hourly rate my company pays me for the work that I do. Lastly, and possibly most frustrating, AppleOne does not advocate for raises for its employees. I have seen multiple raises for contractors from agencies including The Mergis Group and Kelly Mitchell for contractors working alongside me in identical contracts who are not being reviewed on performance, simply receiving raises for getting their contracts extended. When I called AppleOne to inquire about this difference in agencies, the only response I was given was that it is not "their policy" to ask for raises--even after my contract had been extended. They then tried to scare me out of speaking up to my supervisor at my job and turned the blame on me saying that I must not be working hard enough (which is not true according to my supervisor and also unrelated due to the fact that the company I work for has a flat rate across the board with contractors so the raise is dependent on the descretion of AppleOne). When I asked for documentation proving that my company had not raised the flat rate for contractors to find out whether or not AppleOne had just been pocketing the difference, I was told that it was again "not their policy" to share that information. Being a contractor can be a great learning experience, but do your research before signing on with an agency like AppleOne or you might find yourself boxed into a immobile position like the one I am battling now. My advice is to know the facts and bring up these hard questions in your initial interview.