Vander Houwen & Associates

Great people, awesome service delivery! They truly care about their clients, candidates and internal employees!

I was first hired for a role through Vanderhouwen several years ago, and they are still an important part of my career success in 2022. They legit care about you, and your future. This became apparent after several years out of state. After asking for help with references and some documentation, they went above and beyond to help - providing documentation and references, even with no financial incentive to do so. These guys will find you a great job in the short term, and will support you in the years that follow. A great career partner, for sure!

They can be useful to point you in the right direction of a job they are recruiting but you can apply for directly and cut out the insane employer fee if you go through this employment company. That fee the employer has to pay the middleman which is huge could be part of your salary if you apply and are hired directly through the employer.

You are going to staff me someone with down-syndrome? Really I asked for a capable receptionist

Health insurance at VanderHowen is very expensive. Once placed, they tend to forget about you. They reply to the review with concern and promise to follow up, but don't. Worst staffing agency I have worked for in a 20 year career.

Worked with Geoff and they placed me at two IT jobs that treated me decently and paid well for a fresh college grad. They seemed to be good people and I wish this agency the best of luck!

To be up-front, I've been trying to contact these folks for regarding help with finding employment since last year. I am not sure if it's SOP for the staffing industry, but I have never received a response from these folks despite having even used the in-site message prompt AND directly emailing them AND calling them. (And yss, I've checked my spam folder.) While I do understand that we're in the middle of an economic rut due to the pandemic, I feel like the least these folks can do is send a polite refusal or explanation for why they cannot work with you. Then, I looked them up and realized that they seem to be fairly racially exclusive, and it pretty much clicked for me.

Worked with Michelle Trump who was extremely professional. Would recommend for anyone looking for a new job!

I'm coming up on my 7th anniversary working as a recruiter at VanderHouwen. Amazing and caring teammates. Walks the talk about building relationships with clients and candidates! RESPECT!

Geoff was pleasant. The other recruiter Jenn is a sociopath who seemed treat me as disposable when it was convenient. When the offer got rescinded because of a an issue in the background check, which we explained but afterwards. she was more upset with losing the money on recruitment then everything else. At one point saying I deserved it and she works for the company not the client.

All I asked was there a way to contact the actual company and talk things over. She responded with "They pay us to take care of dirty work.". I wasn't abrasive or demanding and just looking for options. She succeeded in making a horrible day a nightmare.

To anyone entering the Portland job market. VanderHouwen and Associates, Inc. needs to be your first stop. They work hard for you and find the positions that best match your qualifications and get you in the door. This agency got me my first contract job and then a great full time position and I am so pleased with the level of service. The Portland job market is easily the most brutal I have been to yet, but VanderHouwen made navigating it much simpler than if I had done it on my own. Kristin Hunt was the agent I worked with, so be sure you ask for her. Kristin gave me a realistic outlook on job expectations and helped me avoid postings that were a waste of time.

She also told me when I should apply for a position directly myself when the company was not one VanderHouwen worked with. Halfway through my contract job, Kristin immediately began helping me look for full-time roles to transition to while other recruiters in the market told me it was too early and to come back within 4-6 weeks of my contract's end date. Furthermore, she always gave me up to date information on the status of each job I applied to.

I was never in the dark. She cares a lot about her customers and it shows through her actions. I wouldn't take the negative reviews here seriously. Work with VanderHouwen if you go and don't get impatient. Portland is tough and you are going to get many no's before you get a yes. You need connections to have a chance at getting anywhere in the process and that is where VanderHouwen comes in.