Creative Circle Employee Reviews about "freelance"

Pros

I have had a very positive experience working with Creative Circle so far. The recruiters are amazing and go out of their way to help you. Be aware that unless they are short of candidates, YOU have to apply to their daily job listings—they will not just call you offering jobs.

Cons

If you want to win on going freelance or part-time work from a client, you have to be aggressive with them about communicating their desires. A lot of times clients don't know what they want, so you have to ask them to show you samples of what they like. Otherwise you might get it wrong.

Pros

They do sometimes have great brands/companies, or great projects, to connect with the freelancers. The recruiters are nice, and communicative.

Cons

I've worked with them for a long time, and as far as I know, the Creative Circle takes 50% commission from the client. I don't know how that can be justified. Maybe they need the money to pay for all the fancy office buildings, including the one on Park Ave. in Manhattan? Basically every dollar the client pays, the designer only gets 50 cents. Compared to the other staffing agencies I've worked with, this is neither normal nor fair, which in the end hurdles the creativity and motivation on the freelancers' end.

Pros

There are some wonderful people working at this company, who are very good at their jobs. and CC gets a lot of work opportunities.

Cons

1. I got placed at a job which Creative Circle knew was going through a lot of turn-over quickly, but was not alerted before starting there. In the short amount of time I was there I saw constant turn-over. Designers and Copywriters were quitting after a week or two. It was a terrible work environment and an al0around bad experience. 2.I had to go through phone call after phone call, and write and rewrite emails to get paid. I had to check up on Creative Circle employees who were saying that my timecards, direct deposit and ADP we okay, only to see that they hadn't actually fixed the issues on their end, then to blame me. They were unable, or unwilling to double check their own work, or to read emails. Such a frustrating and overall bad experience. Many CC employees are incompetent and do not value the time and hard work that freelancers put in.

Pros

The recruiters are great. They really do their best to hook you up with the right companies and projects for your background. They are also really good about checking in with. you to make sure the project is going smoothly. I also really like that Creative Circle takes care of all the taxes and SSI deductions for you and negotiates the hourly rates on your behalf.

Cons

There often aren't as many freelance opportunities available as I would like. And lately, with COVID, it has really dropped off quite a lot. It would also be really helpful for there to be a minimum number of hours per week guaranteed on any particular project. I had one contract that had a good number of hours at first but the hours dropped off to only one hour per week, yet they wanted me to be available to them at all times. That made it extremely difficult to take on other freelance work. That amount of money per week doesn't really justify the expenses incurred (like having to pay monthly software subscription costs, etc.) But that was really more an issue with the client than with Creative Circle. Still, I'd like to see them institute a policy of some kind of guaranteed minimum number of hours per week.

Pros

I've worked with some recruiters at the Boston office and they are super friendly and professional! They definitely know how to be a sales person for your resume/portfolio. They never pressure you into a job opportunity unless you're interested in the role. I got the opportunity to freelance or interview with big agencies in Boston.

Cons

Being a freelancer means I'm not at the Creative Circle office so I can't think of any cons!

Pros

Good job placement and efficiency

Cons

As good as freelance work can get

Pros

Easy automated email system for new opportunities.

Cons

Unless you're able to pick up the phone in the middle of the day, it will be challenging to schedule an interview. I was met with rudeness each time I explained to the recruiter or coordinator that I work full time and can't always pick up my phone. I offered my availability several times over email and never received a reply. For a company that plays the middle man between potential employee/freelancer/contractor and employer/client, they have a pretty flippant approach to handling communication.

Pros

You got to be kidding...

Cons

A computerized system that conveniently emails jobs to prospective candidates asking for resumes and bullet points about why said candidate would be a good fit only to never hear from an actual recruiter. If you are a white male over the age of 35 with limited management experience, forget it, you are considered old and incompetent by recruiters. If their recruiters call and you cannot answer, good luck getting back in touch with one. It's sadly a numbers game. The supposed "great opportunities" are never as advertised. Usually gigs that you are way overqualified for and ones that your hourly rate is less than competitor agencies. Gigs that are short-term. Hardly ever Freelance to FT. They also take a larger cut of your hourly rate (sometimes 50% instead of 30%). If you ever work for other agencies and receive better treatment, you more than likely will be blackballed. Their clients usually lack professionalism, are cheap and will not give good references.

Pros

Connect you to some good clients

Cons

At first they offer you lots of freelance jobs but then stop after a while. Ended up working lots of jobs at only a few companies, but then that's not even them finding you work, it's the companies requesting you again and then CC just gains money time and time again. BTW - they charge the company double what you're getting paid - really not a fair ratio.

Pros

- Initial contact with Creative Circle, to sending opportunities, to landing interviews is really fast. Almost overwhelmingly fast, but that's a good thing. - Forwards lots of opportunities and are hands-on with trying to find the best fit for you. - Great initial first interview with your recruiter. Also a really good opportunity to talk about your work — great practice! - Ended up with a good full-time position (which is what I was hoping for) pretty quickly. Process moved along fast from start to finish.

Cons

- Incessantly call, even if they know you currently work a full-time position. Sometimes it's not easy for a potential candidate to drop what they're doing in the middle of a work day to speak on the phone. - Really advocate for contract/freelance work when you specifically ask for a full-time position, and then try to make contract work sound romantic by saying that contract work actually gives you more freedom to look for other positions that you think sound good. - Certain recruiters are pushy and manipulative. They will push you into an interview that you don't necessarily want to do. They'll also try and manipulate you into going to another scheduled interview when you have already accepted another position through them, saying that it will "hurt your chances to network in the future" and that they "understand that it's your choice" over and over trying to guilt you into going. They are actually worried about their relationship with the client rather than your future ability to network with people in the client's circle. - Once accepting a full-time position, all communication ends pretty abruptly. Probably because you're not freelancing through Creative Circle, but the abruptness of all communication ending definitely feels like they just wanted you for the commission (which, in the end, they do — but at least hide it).