I know they are a temporary/contract staffing firm, and they are worldwide. Are they any good? Do they work like any other temp agency, or is it better? Worse?
bump
Anyone? Anyone at all?
Your OP is very broad, in particular since you don’t say where you are and why you want to know. I know Randstad is originally Dutch, and have branched out over the world. Can’t remember ever having heard whether they are significantly worse or better than others.
I used to work as a freelancer in a computer support firm. Every day we carried a bunch of new IBM laptops to Randstad’s office (same building). They paid us a lot, so I guess they are any good. 
Sorry, I haven’t made any experiences myself, but it must be pretty similar to Manpower.
Tusculan,
I am in the US, North Carolina to be exact.
There is a Randstad branch near me.
We are looking at major budget cuts at my workplace this summer and fall, and if I get laid off I want to have a plan in place. I was thinking of possibly applying to Randstand, since they say on their website they contract workers with the kind of skills I have, but I don’t know anything about them or if they would be any better/different than a service I know more about, like Kelly (which I have worked for before).
Is that enough information?
I’m currently working for Randstad on a temp assignment to the state department of education. This is the first time I’ve ever done temp work, but I’ve gotten permanent positions through agencies before and I’d say my experience has been no better or worse than with anyone else. They check in with you regularly and have you take tests (like if you say you’ve used Excel, they verify that with a test) to assess your skills, unlike some agencies I’ve been with. Like any large company I’m sure you’ll find variance from office to office with the different personnel, but there’s nothing bad to say about them. Except that maybe this is the all-time most boring position I’ve ever had. I’m filling in for someone on vacation and all I do each day is field less than 1/2 dozen phone calls and sort one guy’s mail. I spent the other 7 hours online - which is what I was told to do when I had nothing else to do. The pay is crap, but considering what I’m doing, I’m not complaining. Actually if I wasn’t used to a slightly higher standard of living, I probably wouldn’t think the pay’s that crappy either.
Can’t tell much else, since I have no real information on the U.S. front. In The Netherlands it is a major player on the interim job market, and as I said, I haven’t heard anything bad about them, which suggest that they do proper work. Wolfgrrl’s statement seems to support that impresson. I’d say, go for it.
(Dutch companies that have branches elsewhere may try to uphold the same way of operation elsewhere, but if they expanded by taking over a local company standards may well differ. That’s why I cannot give a univocal recommendation).
One thing that I recall, is that Randstad had also started a couple of daughter companies for specialized temp jobs (i.e. for engineers, legal jobs). I’m not sure whether those would operate in the U.S. too.
I hope you won’t need this info, though, since that would mean you can stay where you are (assuming that is what you want). In any case, good luck!
I’ve worked for them on and off for the last year here in the UK.
Good: Friendly staff, interesting assignments, paid on time
Okay: Often late with payslips, returning calls, providing sufficient company background
Bad: Frequent personnel changes, losing my details (often), going months without work
I’ve also worked for Kelly in the US and loved it. Here they were rude, failed to return my calls and didn’t even follow through with the interview they eventually offered. Real professional :rolleyes:
It all depends on what you are looking for and how you get on with the staff.
Good luck 
As an employer, we’ve found Randstad to be very reliable, provide excellent quality people, and to be more inexpensive than other temp agencies in the area. We work exclusively with them at this point.
Thanks for the input - I was interested in them because they seem to offer more than just your typical temp work - i.e. answering phones and stuff. I’d like to actually be able to use my higher-level skills and get into offices where I might have a chance at landing a decent permanent job.
Wolfgrrl, sorry your job is so boring! I worked for Kelly a couple of summers while I was in college, and I remember a couple jobs like that - I was hired to do nothing but answer the phone while the whole rest of the office was out of town at a meeting - and only got one or two calls a day, since everyone knew they’d be gone! This was pre-Internet too, so I learned pretty fast to take a nice big book with me.
I worked through Randstad as a programmer at a company where I am now a “real” employee.
The Randstad staff was always nice and helpful, and I never had problems with pay/vacation/etc.
(Not to mention I won an award of “Best Temp Employee” for my region, which covers several southern states.)