Hays Reviews 

I wish I could give less than one star, the consultants are very rude and treat you like shit just because you are looking for a job, avoid at all cost, they make you feel like you are nothing

Unprofessional agency. Consider yourself lucky if you pass the immigration page of registration and admin, you need to be superhuman to even be considered for a role and if you are ethnic minority then give up now. They are interested in hearing about the roles you’ve just interviewed for so they can grab the client, take you through a list of questions as if the client was actually interviewing you directly, make Hays look important and impressive when really they are have too many candidates not enough clients and a hell of a turnover of recruitment consultants… not surprised.

Between November 2024 & January 2025 I applied for several positions with Hays, via. Indeed. After initially being asked to submit my CV, which others have advised is impressive, I did not hear back at all on any of my applications then in first week of January I received an e-mail asking me to advise if I was still looking for work and when would be a good time to call to discuss any possible roles they had with them. I duly replied I was available anytime to call however I am still waiting for that call despite calling them myself and leaving messages to call me back. All I have received since then is another e-mail asking my current situation but from a different person and one e-Mail showing me 2 available roles which are not in the role I am qualified for. How this company are in business is beyond me as they are a complete shambles and totally unprofessional. They clearly do not realise people have mortgages and bills to pay and are keen to get back to work. Judging by other reviews, I am not alone in my opinion and thoughts so maybe there should be a regulator for recruitment agencies with a code of practice to adhere to!!!

I joined hays swansea after finding a job they were advertising as a temp to perm position within a local authority. I quickly discovered through other staff that they had worked in excess of 1000 hours with no idea of when the permanent role would start. Due to the nature of the role, a permanent role where there was some protection was paramount. Hays staff would quickly pass the responsibility over to the local authority I was placed at and would say conversations were happening and the permanent position wouldn't be long and to just keep turning up and the role would materialise. 500 hours equates to around 13 weeks. I was there for 7 months, with some being there 10 and with no contracts offered. In short I wouldn't believe a word anyone says at Hays.

I attended 2 interviews with their Talent Acquisition person Sophie over 3 weeks ago (1 phone and 1 in person) for a Senior recruiter role and have had no feedback or response to my emails. I have no problem being rejected but I think it’s common decency to deliver feedback since I took the time out of my day and paid to come to the office. I would advice working on this since you are a recruitment company…

Beware of working through this immoral agency!
Absolutely disgusting agency. I was contracting through them since 2013 on and on and off basis. I was recently made unemployed by them through no fault of my own.

I was contracted at Lloyds bank via hays recruitment until December 30th 2024. I got an unexpected phone call from their end client computacenter on August the 30th - that the client 'Lloyds bank' wished to replace me as I didn't have enough experience and wasn't customer facing and that the job had 'evolved' - this is despite me working there for 19 months every day

They forced me out of a job and gave me a load of lies on the phone about me needing to leave the job as it was evolving and I didn't have enough experience - in reality they were both colluding (hays, Computacenter) to replace me from as April 2024 - I found out the full truth when I met their replacement engineer on site on my last week - He told me everything!. He had an 1st interview at computacenter through hays for the lloyds job in April 2024 - before officially getting the job on may 21st 2024 after having a successful interview with Lloyds managers 👎 but couldn't start right away due to having to go through clearances and leaving his previous job.

Me leaving the job was literally nothing to do with my performance as an experienced engineer with 10+ years experience.

Anyways Of course hays and computacenter never had the decency to say anything until August the 5th 2024. I left on August the 30th as that was the termination date set by them, even though my contract was supposed to run until december 30th - I was merely used as a stopgap and convenience and had 3 weeks notice.

Beware of working with this disgusting agency. They will break your mental health at the blink of an eye and will tell you there is no jobs when they force you into unemployment! You will have a very very hard time trying to progress in your life if you rely on this agency and think they will help you progress, the reality is they wont help you!

Since leaving lloyds they have given me zero job and a load of excuses that there is no jobs.

They are A Disgusting and immoral agency! and they should be ashamed of themselves but they don't care. For them, Contractors are merely a bit of dirt on their shoes.

Reaching out to their customer service team is also a waste of time, and they don't actually solve your problem. They give you a load of waffle and no real solution.

They've given me zero job in 4+ months, they simply don't care about their contractors.

They have no empathy and no morals.

I can only hope and pray that the next job I work at is through a company/agency that have a duty of care and understanding towards their workers.

And not an agency like hays who secretly plot against their workers behind their backs, and colluding in hanging them out to dry when they see fit, putting you to the the brink and not offering any solution.

hays are absolutely disgusting, it is truly evil what they put me through.

Beware.

Look I'll be honest I was offered a role as a plant operator in east Sussex the rate was 21.75 per hour ..PAYE through an unbrella company ..now here's the best bit When you are umbrella YOU PAY employers national insurance ..and your own ..you also pay a 22 pound fee for the umbrella company to process this ..the rate 21.75 pH is great but you don't get 1.5 days per month paid holiday as it's in yyour rate ...you will be offered expenses claim ..don't hold your breath ...every agency I work with happily puts me on CIS .tax scheme ..apart from Hayes ..I personally will never ever work with them again ....AVOID

I had been working as a contractor through hays on and on and off basis since August 2013. The client they sourced me through for jobs was computacenter. My last contract had started with them in January 2023, with an end date of August 30th 2024. The client site was Lloyds bank in 10 Gresham street the city of London. My original end date was December the 30th of 2024.

On August the 5th of 2024 I had received a call from the computacenter resource manager stating that the client 'lloyds bank' had wished to replace me on the role as the job was evolving and they needed someone with "more experience whom was customer focused" this is despite me working on the site at that time for over 18 months every day Monday- Friday.

What hays/computacenter didn't tell me is the replacement engineer Godwin was sourced for the role from as early as April 2024 (I found out the full truth) when the replacement engineer came to shadow me on my last week on site.

He'd an initial interview with computacenter resource manager for the position in April 2024, before getting the job officially after a successful interview with Lloyds bank IT team leads on the 21st of may 2024. But couldn't start right away as he had to go through his clearances and leave his other job. Keep in mind I had seen their team leads after this date as they would come to site to work 1-2 days per week. Of course no one said anything from the Lloyds side either.

The main angle is the position was being advertised in April, thus computacenter interviewing a candidate for the job.

So me leaving the job because I wasn't experienced/customer facing was only ever a lie.

And Of course no one from computacenter or Hays etc said anything from April or may when they should've morally, I was only told on the 5th of August from a computacenter resource manager - The same resource manager who interviewed the candidate for the position in april. Less notice Means only 3 weeks to find another job, which I still have been unfortunately not able to find.

I was merely set up, hung out to dry and used for convenience.

I never received any explanation from Lloyds Team leads nor anyone from hays or computacenter.

Since leaving lloyds bank on the 30th of August 2024, I have not received one single job from hays. I tried multiple times through their London office, and after initially being promised interviews for roles it leads to nothing. Just a complete waste of time.

They starved me completely of work. I have only worked very few days through other agencies.

Beware of working through them, they can ruin your mental state at their click of a finger and they'll have no remorse = They can literally destroy a contractor if they want on the condition they are his source of income.

Nasty, nasty, nasty.

What hays and computacenter done to me was truly truly evil, inhumane, wicked and no one deserves to be set up like that and then hung out to dry.

Their working practices and policies can not only break someone but there can be all different complications.

Reaching out to their customer service team is a joke and they don't actually solve your problem.

Vile.

Horrible is an understatement.

If I could give -0000000000 marking I would, but I am forced to give 1 star.

Hays Northampton are so bad . If you dont accept their first offer then they forget about you. Treats you like disposable objects

Hays - Sheffield couldn't have done more if they tried especially Julia, P. With professional urgence set me up so efficiently and quickly, kept up to date with me periodically to check in on my development within the school id be placed for work. I could not thank her more for doing this as its kick started my first career into teaching. An amazing way of finding work, so reliable, outstanding team, all are helpful over the phone to answer any queries i had. Would go back to hays in the future as a way of looking for new work. Exceptional company to have been apart of as a candidate into finding permanent work with the help of Julia.

Hays Recruitment - London.

Almost glad it’s not just me that thinks this. I wrote a ‘pre complaint email’ (I didn’t formally complain yet) to a manager of a person I spoken to over the last few years.

This person is absolutely dreadful at their job. They didn’t understand my previous roles or experiences which obviously never once did they help me do what they’re supposed to do or show any decency or professionalism.

A lot of 1 stars here and I won’t mention this person (or now their manager openly). I reached out to the manager of this one recruiter I have been referring to, to try to look for some solutions in a number of issues I’ve had to sweep under the rug because they happen to get roles extremely well aligned to me but these were not looked at in any way.

Dreadful set of employees that I’ve been in contact with. I really don’t have anything positive to say.

Hays, Pocklington - Poppy was extremely professional, she took plenty of time to look for a holiday that met our requirements.

After being contacted by one of their agents who promised me that they would not offer me anything lower than a current amount, i wasted £50 attending an interview.
Only then did their employee cast his true colours and everything he said after the interview was different to what he had promised to me before the interview, and then after I sent him evidence of his downright lies he then ignored my further messages.
A few weeks later i met the person who interviewed me at a party, they then confirmed that everything the Hays told me was outright lie.
Thanks for wasting my time and money Hays.
Would not trust this company to supply a paperclip let alone correct people.

I have tried to get basic info regarding a position advertised by Hays, unbelievably after 4 calls on 3 different days I still do not know anything new, even thou giving my details on each occasion no one got back to me, it appears the person I need to speak to is on leave and no one is prepared to access this info, Hopefully Hays gets their act together and can be more flexible at accessing information they post on NI Jobs, at this stage I'm losing interest and confidence Hays can actually follow through if a staff member is on leave.

As a potential employee who closely matches the job descriptions of roles I’ve applied to, it’s incredibly disheartening to never receive an opportunity to interview, despite my qualifications and alignment with the listed requirements. I’ve applied to multiple roles where my skills, experience, and background were a direct match, yet I was overlooked each time without any feedback or acknowledgment. It leaves me questioning whether the hiring process is genuinely aimed at finding the best candidates or if it’s merely a checkbox exercise.

What’s even more frustrating is the lack of transparency in the process. It’s difficult to improve or adapt when there’s no communication about why my application wasn’t considered or what I could do differently. This experience has made me feel undervalued as a potential contributor to the company, especially when I’ve put in the effort to tailor my applications to match the specific needs of the roles.

I understand that companies receive a high volume of applications, but it’s disappointing to see roles I’m qualified for reposted or remain unfilled for months while I, as a strong candidate, am never given a chance. This suggests either inefficiencies in the hiring process or a lack of genuine interest in giving capable candidates an opportunity.

Overall, this experience has been disheartening and has made me question the fairness and effectiveness of the hiring process. As someone eager to contribute and grow within the company, I expected more consideration for the effort I’ve put into applying for roles I’m fully qualified to perform.

UPDATE: I don't even want to bother because even for the most entry level jobs I am not getting calls for. They seem to prefer to hire immigrants who don't comprehend English much over Canadians. This is a disgrace. I've applied to many roles and have not been at all successful getting a single role with your company for years!!!

I had the pleasure of working with Aleks Topalovic as my recruitment consultant, and I cannot recommend her enough. From the very beginning, Aleks demonstrated a high level of professionalism, attentiveness, and genuine care for my career aspirations. She was incredibly supportive throughout the entire process, keeping me informed and providing thoughtful guidance at every step.

What stood out most was Aleks’ ability to truly understand my skills and align them with the right opportunities. She took the time to listen and provided tailored advice that made me feel confident and prepared. Her communication was excellent, and she was always quick to respond to any questions or concerns I had.

Thanks to Aleks' dedication and expertise, I felt valued and supported, making what can often be a stressful process smooth and seamless. She truly goes above and beyond for her candidates, and I’m incredibly grateful for her assistance.

I recommend Aleks to anyone looking for a recruitment consultant who is not only highly professional but also kind, encouraging, and committed to helping you succeed.

I would be genuinely surprised if anyone successfully found a job through this recruitment service. I have applied for a position through them twice now. After each application closed, I waited several weeks but heard nothing regarding my application’s progress. Eventually, I had to reach out to their customer service team, only to be informed that my application hadn’t even been processed and was still ‘in progress.’

Despite being well-qualified for the role, I’m yet to receive any further updates. Based on my experience, this service feels like a waste of time, and I would advise others to consider alternative recruitment agencies if they want to be taken seriously as candidates

This is one of the most problematic agencies in the UK. They present themselves as professional with excessive paperwork, but the key issues are:
- Hays does not prioritize the well-being of their workers.
- Workers are not respected once their contracts are signed.
- Payments are not made on time.
- The agency often fails to pay the full amount stipulated in the contract.
- Timesheets and payslips lack transparency.
- Actual working hours often exceed those outlined in the contract.
I have never experienced anything like this before. Save your time and money by choosing a transparent and truly professional agency. This agency doesn’t even merit one star.

I have had 50 odd applications through their registered website in a span of 6 months. Countless more without going through the login process. None of the applications have had either a rejection nor a withdrawal. All the applications are in active. Mind you I am applying to those applications that I know I am at least 95% fit. Yet the applications appear to end up no where. Also I see a few reviews that suggest the company is racist and only hire whites/english. Since companies now require diversity information they appear to be using that data to filter the candidates based on their nationality rather than their talent. They also are ghost hiring. Building their candidate pool and then ghosting the applicants by not updating the candidate data.

The worst recruitment agency ever. Please avoid, avoiddd ....