Creative Circle

I’m a creative professional, and I have been working with Creative Circle the last year or so, in tandem with a couple other placement agencies as well as finding things on my own. They have placed me in interviews and gigs for both short– and long-​term projects that absolutely catered to my skills and interests. I have worked with several people here – I interviewed with Liz Poland, but since have worked with Annie Odell and Kristi Seifert, and they have always been kind, positive, knowledgeable, and responsive, and generally just rock stars! They’ve even been good at giving me some insight into the companies and interview tips specific to the interview and companies.
However, you do have to work at this. You should keep your resume and portfolio up to date, and send your agent an email when you do so. You should customize your response to a CC position like a cover letter when you apply for a position — just like you would for any employer. But they companies they’ve placed me with have been top tier, definitely a higher level than what other agencies have placed me at, and places I’m not sure I could have gotten in with on my own.

When I first moved to Seattle I signed up for multiple creative staffing agencies. They all seemed to have the same routine. Phone interview, in-​person interview, then a mass of emails for jobs that I — 1) had no interest in or 2) was not qualified for.

Creative Circle changed that. Yes, there was a phone interview and an in-​person interview but Liz and her team actually listened to me. From the phone interview Liz had a few gigs lined up that catered to my interest and my experience for me to review during my in-​person interview. After the in-​person interview I received a few more job listings that were totally in line with what we discussed.

I interviewed for a contract position and got on for a 3 month contract. The position turned into an extended contract and led to me being hired full time. Liz and her team kept communication open with me regularly and continued to send me emails with job listings that were capable of expanding my skill set and allowing me to grow as a designer.

I must point out that you must have your material together as well: resume, portfolio, a realistic grasp of your skill set, the type of work you want to do and where you’d like your career to go should be prepared. I provided this material to other agencies yet they seemed to have been ignored.

In short, if you are looking into creative staffing agencies, I highly recommend Creative Circle.

Creative Circle was my first agency to work with, and I had a wonderful experience.
My agent, Kristi S. listened to my needs, my long term goals and the work environment that I wanted to be immersed in, and only applied me to positions that I was interested in and could really grow. During the interview process she was very involved, supportive and responsive. In the end, I was able to get a life-​changing job opportunity — which I would have not have even known about without Creative Circle’s help. ¹⁰⁄₁₀ would use them again!

I moved to Seattle in February and immediately signed up with Creative Circle. Having been familiar with their agency through their Detroit and San Francisco offices, I was not expecting more than the cursory nods I was given in the other two offices.
After the initial interview, I was excited, but did not get any calls or follow up on my resume, or to any of my emails I sent responding to jobs. I was very frustrated, unimpressed, then found a FT job on my own.
Two months later, that job turned out to be awful and I parted ways with the employer, and came back to try my luck with Creative Circle, despite being unimpressed with my previous experience. I shined up my resume, took more time with my responses, polished myself a little bit more, and stopped applying for any job and held out for the jobs I was most qualified for and really wanted.
BOOM! Right answer! I quickly got a new agent assigned to me and we had a great conversation about what I was looking for and how Creative Circle could help. Within weeks I was interviewing for the job of my dreams, and will be starting there on December 1^st.
That said, the only reason I am not giving a five star review (although I would give Annie Odell a six-​star review for her work if possible) is their website and system can be a bit challenging to navigate, and it is up to the applicant to do a lot of due diligence on their part to be the best candidate possible. That could be better communicated through their system, and be very specific about what is expected of the candidate versus what they will provide. I think their agents oversell what they will do for you, but in the end, everyone I have sent to Creative Circle that has followed through and been vigilant about their has gotten a great job and had a good experience in the process.

I was placed without delay in a great paying position doing what I love, and only after a short time being introduced. I have nothing but great things to say about this agency. Liz Poland especially has been great to work with! In my opinion she went above and beyond to place me into an ideal position that best suites me. And for that I am grateful, Im very happy where I am at.
In addition I get emails like clock work for new positions every week, so I am always current on what is happening and what is being offered currently. Even though I am ‘placed’- Its nice to see the gamut of possibilities I am a candidate for.
I can not speak to every individual, but I am sincerely grateful for Liz Poland and her team. They have done an amazing job representing me, and i would recommend them to any creative type.
–Also getting paid every week isn’t so tough.
Thanks CC

I interviewed with Creative Circle back in January and signed all the paperwork and to this day I haven’t quite figured out how their system works. They told me they have lots of opportunities that I was interested in (part-​time and remote and that deal with languages) but to this day I have not received anything that is even remotely related to that. They also said they don’t post most of their positions, the ones we see on the site are ‘indicative of what Creative Circle has to offer’ which I found very bizarre. Usually agencies want to put everything they have out there.
I keep getting emails for senior project management positions or full-​time positions on site somewhere else. I modified my email settings so that I would get more targeted emails and I still get the same stuff. I do have experience as a PM but I am not qualified for a senior position and I do not have full-​time availability.
Also, I found out from at least 2 people that I know personally that they got some really nice gigs from Creative Circle, very well paid and for local companies, working remotely and a) I’ve never been contacted for those positions although, after seeing the job posts, my resume is basically a 100% match with the requirements and b) I have never seen those positions posted on their site, which I check regularly. I have applied for some positions in the past only to be told they were already expired. They do not indicate the date they post a position so it’s hard to tell what «start within 2 weeks» really means.
So it seems to me that some people are extremely happy with Creative Circle and they’ve got the job of their dreams, others have had more or less the same experience as mine. I just would like to be able to crack the code and understand what I need to do to see the jobs that are of interest to me and also what I need to do so that they send me positions that meet my needs and availability. It seems also that some recruiters are more efficient than others so maybe I’ll try to get in touch with someone else. I hope to upgrade this review in the future.

The staff here has been great to work with. They were always contacting me about jobs and keeping in touch with me regarding possible opportunities.
I signed up with them immediately after moving to Seattle and within two months they had found me a year long contract. When that ended they had another job lined up for me within a matter of weeks.
They are friendly and easy to work with. I felt like they were really looking out for me and could count on them to act as my advocate when they were submitting my résumé to companies.
They were constantly checking in on me and were interested in my feedback on the jobs I was working.
I highly recommend signing up with Creative Circle if you’re searching for a job.

I signed up for Creative Circle when I first moved to Seattle a year and a half ago. Seattle is cut-​throat for anything tech/​design related. Long Story short– it’s extremely difficult to land a gig through Creative Circle, but when you do– it’s a good one. I landed a short term free lance gig for Microsoft roughly 9 months after working with Creative Circle, and then most recently landed a full time position with a dream job doing design. The staff is amazing and helpful, (shout outs to Annie O’Dell and Liz Poland!) you just have to really work hard and customize every application/​resume/​cover letter for every position you apply for so you don’t get lost in the sea of other applicants.

There are very few things that I regret doing in life, but signing with Creative Circle is definitely one of them. In a nutshell, they are basically useless in one’s search for any meaningful positions.
Their online system is a joke (seriously, you have to email your resume every single time you apply for a position, makes no sense); their recruiters are so transparently fake and disingenuous (commission-​driven, couldn’t care less about the job candidate; they never call to check in to see how you’re doing); and lastly, if you ever receive a call back or job offer from them, be prepared for a low-​ball offer, little insight into the office culture/​environment, and a lack of job expectations.
And did I mention no benefits, no parking reimbursement, zip, zilch, nada? But here’s the real icing on the cake — per their written contract, if you accept a freelance position, you are unable to be hired by their client for 1 whole year after your position ends. A whole year. Wow. Control freaks, much?
Whoever said you’re better off either applying directly for jobs you’re interested in through Craiglist, Indeed, or the company’s website is spot on. This should be a desperate last resort at the very least.

I recently moved to the Seattle area (from Chicago), and had almost no contacts to help with my job hunt. I was familiar with Creative Circle, from their Chicago office, so I kept an eye on the jobs posted on their website, and applied for a few positions I thought were the best match to my skills and were also jobs I was actually interested in having. I was delighted when I got a response, and since that moment each interaction with everyone at Creative Circle has been nothing less than a genuine pleasure. In particular, I’ve worked closely with Liz, Annie, and Kristi.
In my 16 years of working/​job hunting, they have proven to be a rare gem in the world of employment agencies. My emails and messages are always replied to. They ask the right questions to make sure whatever opportunity we are looking at, is as good for me, as I am for it. They go beyond a vague job description and make sure you understand the job as well as possible, and aren’t afraid to go back to their client with your questions — something many agencies won’t do! They’re not looking to just fill the position, they want to make as ideal a match as possible for all parties!
They do a great job sharing your information and availability with their colleagues within the office. You start out talking to one person, but can end up working with several people. I love how collaborative they are — it’s a win/​win for their clients and for you!
They also have great relationships with their clients — in fact, the first position they placed me, was with a client they sent my resume to, that client had no advertised openings at that time. It turned out that client had a position they were sitting on, and when they saw my resume wanted to interview me immediately. I thought that spoke volumes of what a great asset I had, placing my job hunt in their capable hands. I had never had that happen before.
I am definitely referring any friends I have that are job hunting, to Creative Circle. I’m confident that they will have as amazing an experience as I did. The only downside to having a job, is I won’t be interacting with their team so frequently!

This agency is a joke. Do not waste your time, seriously.
This is currently the largest employment agency for most interactive/​creative jobs — which is a real shame. What they really do is hoarde resumes and send out faceless emails and job postings that you have a 99% chance of never getting a response to, should you apply. Their system is very unfriendly to the customer. They have a mailing list of jobs that goes out to *everyone* associated with the keywords within it and all 10,000 or however many people on that list can reply to the posting with the resume Creative Circle should already have in your file. The recruiters will not actually recruit for you — ever. If you call them out on that or ask for any type of update, you will at best be reminded of their stupid bot email process. More commonly, you will get zero response. Before this pointless ride can begin, they will ask you to come into their office to interview with a recruiter who will do nothing for you and fill out a bunch of paperwork you’ll never need. As an added display of general not-​giving-​a-​shit, their HQ will immediately call all your references and demand they fill out a lengthy formal survey… regardless of that fact that they have zero interviews or jobs lined up for you. That is really rude and bothersome, imo.
Also, the recruiter I sat with was pretty snarky to me about my salary range (she expressed that she knew «many» people would be «thrilled» to accept a job for less than half of my most recent pay rate, insinuating that I should agree to work for next to nothing). Nice.

It was 2 am and I couldn’t sleep, what better thing to do, than to browse the ever-​so-​amusing-​Craigslist? I stumbled upon a photo retouching job, I decided, «why not?»
I immediately got an auto-​response e-​mail that said, «due to the heavy volume of responses…» So I mentally checked that one off my list — they obviously had hundreds of responses. Good grief.
Then I got a phone call and e-​mail the same morning (but during normal hours, like 10am, when I had just gone to sleep). They said they loved my portfolio and wanted me to come in for an interview the following week.
About an hour later, I got another e-​mail saying that the client loved my work and asked if I could come in later that day to expedite my interview. The interview went great, everyone was friendly and professional.
I went home and completed the CS6 skills assessment test that evening.
The next morning, I got more emails and phone calls saying that I had booked the job.
I’m not sure about the percentage that Creative Circle takes from this job placement, all I know is that they’ve been great at matching me into a position at a well respected Seattle company, that I would not have otherwise known about. A flexible 40 hour week? Perfect. I’m appreciative of CC’s efficiency and strong communication.
I’m just sitting here wondering how things moved so quickly, was a bit of an amazing 24-​hour whirlwind.
Thanks CC team, especially Lara Mae and Jessica.

I have had nothing but positive experiences with Creative Circle. It took many months of applying to their open positions before I was a good enough fit to be called in for an interview. However, you can tell that they’re really invested in the career success of their agents.
In the interview, I was treated like a professional, asked questions about both my experience and my office, commute, company culture, and work preferences, and given honest answers to all of my questions. Annie was attentive and understood me, and she speaks the marketing lingo well enough that she could read between the lines when I spoke about my experience.
The employee handbook is easy to understand, and I enjoy that they’re non-​exclusive (so I’m not putting all my eggs in 1 basket) and offer optional benefits (including matching 401K!) for a reasonable cost.
24 hours after my interview, they sent me an email about another position, which I was very interested in. Within hours of my response, Liz called to tell me more about the position and get specifics on my experience to pass along to the client. The next day, Liz got me a phone interview with the client. They are definitely on top of it!
I feel like they’re truly communicative, and fully expect them to continue to be so even after I’m placed somewhere. I also feel like, because they understand the industry, they can make a better call about where I’d be a good fit (very, very important for my satisfaction and longevity, as well as their clients’).
I look forward to working with and through Creative Circle for a long time!

Over the last 10 years, I’ve used lots of recruiting agencies in both New York and Seattle and Creative Circle is by far the best.
Payscale, job availability and quality matching really depend on the freelancer’s skillsets vs. the demand for those skillsets in the marketplace, but comparatively speaking, I got more interviews and work from Creative Circle than from any other recruiting agency.
My experience was that they were attentive, accommodating, they were effective negotiators and they were very prompt in paying me. They were respectful of my decisions whether to take or decline jobs and the work they sent me was exactly what I was looking for.
If you decide to work with Creative Circle in Seattle, keep an eye out for Reanna, Annie, Liz and Kristen — they’re the rockstars!

I relocated from the midwest to Seattle about 8 months ago and signed up with all the local creative staffing agencies. In that time Creative Circle has been the most responsive and proactive in finding me work. The staff is always super friendly and down to earth.
The jobs they found me weren’t always the perfect fit but some of them were great and the rates they pay were always decent. I never got any negative reaction from Creative Circle if I wasn’t interested in something they presented and they just kept looking. I would HIGHLY recommend this place for freelancer.
The only negative I would give, and its not particular to Creative Circle but a common problem with all staffing agencies is this: it is very hard for a small company to actually hire you as a permanent employee if you start there as a contractor. This is because they have to pay the staffing agency a fee to hire you. So if you are looking for a full time gig right out of the gate you might want to avoid staffing agencies. But if you are looking to freelance for a while as I was, Creative Circle is a great place to start.

I read all these other reviews and I can’t believe we’re talking about the same agency. I’ll just lay down my experience, because that’s all I know.
My job search was going no where for five months in Seattle. Then I submitted my application with Creative Circle. I got an interview with Reanna. She was super nice, professional, and after the interview kept me updated about the job search. I felt like I could ask her any questions I had about how to approach interviews, resume formatting, etc. I felt like I had a job search coach.
Within a month, she got me an interview with a great company, then helped my negotiate my contract, and now I’m making twice as much as I’ve ever made and I actually love my job and my company. I’m a happy girl, and I promise you I’d still be wearing an apron and making minimum wage if I hadn’t contacted Creative Circle.

These guys didn’t have the pricing structure to work with small agencies like mine. After working with them, it’s clear it’s all about their 15% rip on a head hunt, and not the needs of the company and candidate. Freelancers, I recommend you stay away from these guys. Agencies, if you making millions… hire em. If your not, run away!

An absolutely terrible placement agency. They are smiles and promise when you have your initial meeting but that will be the last time you speak to a human being. They actually called me and asked me to write a positive review on Unilocal,even though I’d been working with them for almost 5 months and never even gotten an interview. I will venture to bet the positive reviews that you see for Creative Circle here were solicited by their staff. I cannot emphasize enough how bad my experience has been with Creative Circle. These guys will waste your time.

Creative Circle has a knowledgable and enthusiastic team that knows how to match a candidate to a client, to the benefit of both sides. Creative Circle helped me land a job that was totally in line with my experience, interests and personality. During the stressful recession months that I hit the pavement, they were with me every step of the way; oftentimes calling/​emailing me multiple times per day with new leads and advice. The process did take 6 months, but that was through no fault of theirs; it’s simply the state of the economy. The part that’s commendable is how they rallied for me the whole time until I was well situated.
I would most definitely work with Creative Circle again and have already advised my friends to do so.

Creative Circle has been there every step of the way, from introducing me to the client, coaching me for the interview and even the follow through afterward.
They are very professional and practice good due diligence. I am happy with the relationship I have with them and would continue to work with them in future endeavors.