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2024

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Best Employment Agencies in Portland, OR

Our Recommended Top 12

We did the research for you!

  • Licensing
  • User Reviews
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Our goal is to connect people with the best local professionals. We scored Portland Employment Agencies on more than 25 variables across five categories, and analyzed the results to give you a hand-picked list of the best.

140Reviewed

88Curated

12Top Picks

Learn about our selection process.

Providers

featured provider = Featured Provider

Tualatin, OR 97062

Expertise.com Rating

Why choose this provider?

A multi-site and national contract search and staffing organization, ICON Staffing Network serves the Portland and surrounding areas. They focus on upholding their award-winning 5 Diamond service model by offering a dedicated and quality-driven team of professionals to help candidates, clients, and providers from beginning to end. They provide staffing solutions for industries that include retail, IT and technical, and healthcare industries. Other services they provide include relocation assistance, temporary employment, career counseling, interview coaching, and more. They are a member of the American Staffing Agency and Staffing Industry Analysts.

5319 Southwest Westgate Drive, Portland, OR 97221

Why choose this provider?

ProSource Network is a Portland-based employment agency that connects employers and employees by finding suitable candidates that fit the companies' goals and objectives. It recruits candidates in the engineering, finance, IT, and accounting industries through interviews, screenings, reference checks, skill tests, and degree verification processes. In addition, its team helps ​companies optimize their contractual, direct hires, or contract-to-hire workforce by matching the employees' work ethics with their company philosophies. ProSource Network also serves California and Washington.

  • Finance
  • Temp
  • IT

1355 NW Everett Street Suite 100, Portland, OR 97209

Expertise.com Rating

Review Sources

Google
5.0 (56)

Why choose this provider?

Nauwork offers its services to clients in Portland. The employment agency matches individuals with tech expertise with companies offering posts in the IT industry. It offers jobs in IT areas that include applications development, networking, telecommunications, security, software development, and support. Nauwork is a private company established in 2018. Utilizing an intuitive system, its approach to employment encourages individuals to work with and for companies with whom they share the same cultural and professional values.

  • IT

5933 NE Win Sivers Dr, Portland, OR 97220

Expertise.com Rating

Review Sources

Google
4.0 (81)

Why choose this provider?

Opti is a staffing solutions provider in the Portland metro. The recruitment firm serves clients from various industries like transportation and warehousing, construction, logistics, and finance. Job seekers can also explore career opportunities in different industries like marketing, sales, and customer service. Co-founder and COO Ron Hansen has been in the staffing industry for almost 30 years and is a Certified Personnel Consultant. Opti was founded in 1999 and now has six locations in Oregon, Washington, and Alaska.

  • Finance
  • Technology
  • Architecture/Engineering

11 SW Gibbs St, Portland, OR 97239

Expertise.com Rating

Review Sources

Google
5.0 (304)

Why choose this provider?

Salesfirst Recruiting is an employment agency that provides services to Portland and the surrounding areas. It specializes in helping local employers find suitable employees whose goals, skills, and needs align with their company's objectives. It also organizes workshops to help entrepreneurs improve their strategic planning, hiring system, and branding to attract candidates. The agency also coaches job seekers to properly represent themselves in interviews and to employers. Salesfirst Recruiting caters to sales and marketing professionals.

  • Marketing

10200 SW Eastridge St, Suite 100, Portland, OR 97225

Expertise.com Rating

Review Sources

Google
4.0 (58)

Why choose this provider?

ProFocus is modern technology staffing and consulting company serving Portland and the surrounding areas. It presents employment positions for job seekers looking for opportunities in the development, deployment, and maintenance of software and infrastructure. It introduces applicants to managers, sets up interviews, prepares candidates for interviews, and if necessary, handles salary negotiations. Available job positions are for long-term contract consulting, direct hire, and contract-to-hire. Its founder, John Boone, uses a business model of making careful introductions of only the right candidates.

  • IT

3708 Northeast 122nd Avenue, Portland, OR 97230

Expertise.com Rating

Review Sources

Yelp
3.5 (8)
Facebook
5.0 (2)

Why choose this provider?

BeginRight Employment Services has been serving the Portland area for over 30 years. It is a direct-hire and temporary staffing agency that connects job seekers and employers. Its founder and CEO, Joanne Bell, started her career in human resources before transitioning to an employment service. Bell and her team offer alternative staffing services and handle candidates with experience in industrial, clerical, and trade. BeginRight Employment Services is a certified member of the Women's Business Enterprise.

  • Marketing
  • Technology

920 SW Sixth Avenue, Suite 100, Portland, OR 97204

Expertise.com Rating

Review Sources

Yelp
3.5 (119)

Why choose this provider?

Boly:Welch serves the communities in and around Portland. This women-owned and women-led employment agency offers four hiring models: executive search, direct hire, temp-to-hire, and contract work. It partners with businesses and helps them find the right candidate by going beyond the resume and understanding the job seeker's goals. It also helps with training and development, on-call HR support, and talent onboarding. Diane Boly and Pat Welch founded the company in 1986, driven by their goal to make connections and match people with opportunities.

  • Marketing
  • Temp
  • Executive

8625 Southwest Cascade Avenue, Beaverton, OR 97008

Expertise.com Rating

Review Sources

Facebook
3.2 (3)

Why choose this provider?

Staffing Partners is an employment agency that caters to clients throughout Portland. The company provides direct-hire, temporary, and temp-to-hire placement services to clients in the administrative, light industrial, and medical industries. It helps clients fill various positions in finance, clerical, clinical, and accounting departments. The company also aids candidates with resume screening services. Staffing Partners is a Minority-Owned Business and is one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For by the Oregon Business magazine in 2011.

  • Finance

610 Southwest Broadway, Portland, OR 97205

Expertise.com Rating

Review Sources

Yelp
4.5 (15)

Why choose this provider?

Staffing Solutions, LLC, is a locally owned and operated employment agency serving clients in Portland. It helps job seekers find work across professional levels, from entry-level positions to senior management roles. The agency provides direct-hire, short- and long-term temporary placements, and contract-to-hire placements in various industries, such as information technology, business services, engineering, and legal. It has been in operation since 1996, and it is committed to building long-term partnerships with both applicants and clients.

  • IT
  • Law

620 SW 5th Ave Suite 1200, Portland, OR 97204

Expertise.com Rating

Review Sources

Google
5.0 (105)

Why choose this provider?

Serving Portland and the surrounding areas, Mac's List is an employment agency with a mission to make the hiring process more human for both employers and applicants. It is also committed to helping job seekers find the work they love. Mac Prichard started Mac’s List in 2001 by sending job openings to his friends and colleagues via email. The company has several community partners, including Bricks Need Mortar, PHRMA, Washington Nonprofits, and Urban League of Portland.

  • Finance

Compare our Top Employment Agencies

NameExpertise RatingAddressPromotionsLearn more
ICON Staffing Network
Tualatin, OR 97062
ProSource Network
5319 Southwest Westgate Drive, Portland, OR 97221
Nauwork
1355 NW Everett Street Suite 100, Portland, OR 97209
Opti
5933 NE Win Sivers Dr, Portland, OR 97220
Salesfirst Recruiting
11 SW Gibbs St, Portland, OR 97239
ProFocus
10200 SW Eastridge St, Suite 100, Portland, OR 97225
Edge Link
5100 S Macadam Ave Suite 525, Portland, OR 97239
BeginRight Employment Services
3708 Northeast 122nd Avenue, Portland, OR 97230
Boly Welch
920 SW Sixth Avenue, Suite 100, Portland, OR 97204
Staffing Partners
8625 Southwest Cascade Avenue, Beaverton, OR 97008
Staffing Solutions, LLC
610 Southwest Broadway, Portland, OR 97205
Mac's List
620 SW 5th Ave Suite 1200, Portland, OR 97204

FAQs

  • Is an employment agency the same as a staffing agency?

    While employment agencies and staffing agencies are similar in that they both connect employers with qualified employees, there are differences in the types of employment they focus on. Employment agencies qualify candidates on behalf of employers for long-term or permanent positions. Staffing agencies, on the other hand, typically provide employers with short-term workers. Some specific types of agencies include:

    • Traditional employment agencies help employers find candidates to fill open long-term jobs.
    • Temp agencies provide employers with workers to fill open jobs on a short-term basis.
    • Industry-specific employment agencies have insider knowledge about the skills an employer needs for positions that require special training, skills, or licensing.
    • Recruitment firms manage the recruiting process to help companies find qualified workers.
  • How do staffing agencies work?

    Employers contact staffing agencies and list qualifications they need in an employee as well as details about the job, including how long they expect to need the worker. The staffing agencies search through the list of available workers, interview candidates on behalf of the company, and send the most qualified ones out to the work site. Staffing agencies also manage the employee paperwork, such as payroll and taxes, as long as the worker is employed through the staffing agency.

  • What is a temp agency?

    A temp agency sends workers with the necessary skills to companies that contact the agency about open, often limited-term, positions. This type of agency manages the paperwork and payroll of the temporary employee while the company pays a contracted fee to the agency to cover the costs of recruiting and managing the HR functions.

  • How much do staffing agencies charge?

    Staffing agencies typically charge employers a fee that starts around 20% of a worker's hourly wage to find candidates and manage HR functions on the company's behalf. Some agencies also charge a fee for recruiting employees based on the worker's expected annual salary.

    • Traditional agencies charge the employer a percentage on top of employee wages, though some agencies charge a fee to workers as well.
    • Temp agencies usually charge the employer the worker's base salary plus 15% to 60% or more to cover the costs of recruiting and maintaining payroll and HR paperwork.
    • Recruiters are sometimes referred to as headhunters and these agencies typically charge the employer between 20% and 30% of the employee's first-year wages.
  • What companies use staffing agencies?

    Companies that struggle to find qualified workers and those that require a large number of workers to keep the company operating use staffing agencies. Businesses with temporary staffing needs during peak times, such as the holiday season, also use temporary staffing agencies.

    Examples of companies that bring on temporary workers through staffing agencies include manufacturing companies with large orders to fulfill, call centers that need people to answer phones and make sales calls, and warehouses that manage large shipping orders, such as Amazon.

  • Do temp agencies provide health insurance?

    Some temp agencies offer health insurance to employees, which provides a benefit for employers who don't want to manage coverage in-house for workers. While it was required under the original Affordable Care Act (ACA), changes to this law have since been enacted. It may now depend on the number of employees the temp service manages or the business decision of the temp agency's management team.

  • What is a medical staffing agency?

    Medical staffing agencies provide clinical professionals for various medical facilities and insurance establishments. Hiring through these agencies ensures facilities have qualified professionals on staff. Some of these agencies specialize in short-term positions, such as traveling nurses. The specific types of jobs filled by medical staffing agencies include nurses, pharmacy technicians, physical and occupational therapists, and massage therapists.

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