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Yes, you have agencies that staff ONLY professional positions and you have agencies that staff ONLY warehouse, manufacturing, etc., positions. Then you have those agencies who staff for practically EVERYTHING. That's what my experience was. This agency (claimed they) staffed everything from 2nd shift janitorial workers to Executive Assistants.
I don't mean the type of jobs, I mean the quality of the employees.
JennStar,
You are not alone! I am in the same boat and actually came to this site to post about how much I hate temping but saw your post. I interviewed for a perm job at my job and was courted for the position for months. I had 2 interviews. The first one was awesome, they grilled me to pieces and totally made me uncomfortable in the 2nd so it did not go as I'd hoped. Long story short, they've decided to keep looking when I have been prepped for this job for months. Its so frustrating. I feel like a loser.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JennStar
So I'm temping at this place, which is a good place to work if you get hired. I took the job because it was a good opportunity, and I also need the money.
They said I could be extended or hired permanently. Yeah right. Last week my boss was out on vacay from Thursday and Friday. Friday was a half day since Monday was a holiday, but not for me. I work on temp hours, meaning my lunch is off the clock. So I stay once everyone else is gone, and have to email my signed time sheet (boss has to sign it too) and email it at a certain time to show I was there. That sucked.
During that time I had to go into her office to put files on her desk. I see this access card application for someone else. I then see this morning some deliveries for a Dell computer and stuff delivered and sitting outside her office. Not in a cube. I also see a UPS delivery of a package addressed to the person who has the access card application. I am piecing it together now.
My boss took me to lunch and said what a wonderful job I was doing, but....Her bosses want to hire this other guy from this big corporate office who interviewed several months ago. He decided to stay there (I guess this company wasn't offering enough). He then decided to come to this company (more pay offered or couldn't stand it). She said if she had her way I would stay. She said she did put in a recommendation for me to her boss. She said maybe there would be an opening. Yeah....right... Just making me feel better? She said she wanted me to know so I could look for work if I needed to. I am not holding my breath on this one.
So I am the one who gets to do all the cleanup work from the last person that was in this position. What a frickin mess.
The thing is, people are nice here, but I found out that most of them are from this other big company that this new guy is coming from. So I see a pattern here.
It wouldn 't suck so much but now I have to see this new guy come into the office tomorrow and get set up while I am still working there. They could have at least waited until my contract was up, but told me what was going on.
I already let some agencies know I am looking for a job still.
I just wish I wouldn't have to go through the bull****. I feel like nobody cares about how I must feel being a temporary employee.
Make sure the agencies you list with understand you do NOT want "temp" jobs, you want one where the intention is a permanent full time employee, also include the minimum pay you will accept too.
Some here will say that is bad advice, has NOT failed me yet.
The last temp job my husband had, he told the agency temp to permanent only. He worked there just about 4 days short of 90 days and they said they did not have enough work. He just started another temp job, not for a temp agency this time, and they have said they are blah, blah going to have opening BUT I told him to keep looking because I don't believe what they are saying. It seems to be a trend to dump short of 90 days and then hire a new batch who will give 300% hoping to get a permanent job when all they will get is a paycheck for less than 90 days, no health insurance, no holiday pay, etc. And, if hired permanently, the temp start date means nothing and you start from scratch so looking at 6 months without any benefits!!! I believe we reap what we sow so I'll just sit back and watch!
Temping does not always suck, but it can. Because someone is a temp, many feel that they can put the proverbial "kick me" sign on your back.
I temped at one job, where they hired 2 of us for 2 weeks. The next day the manager came in said oops, we made a mistake not enough money. Bye. So we worked 1 day and 2 hours. The temp agency said....oops!
The last one was a nightmare. It was for a national temp agency with a national client. We were calling banks and lawyers offices, telling them that we were handling their clients mortgages. They had a quota that you should get 20 transfers a week, which no one did because of circumstances I don't wish to go into. If you got hired at the end of the two weeks, you would work for them, at home. Wow! The last day, those of us, who were NOT getting hired were treated very poorly. At 3 my computer went off. Thee manager was no where to be found. I called the temp agency at 330 for help, only to find out that they had closed at 3. IT finally came at 430 and restarted my computer. When I logged back in I found a note from the department head saying that I was terminated.
The guy didn't even have the chutzpah to tell me in person. He knew my computer was off yet he sent me a message thru it. How did he expect me to read it? Mental Telepathy? I ran into the others who did graduate and they said they eventually gave up on it as it sucked. The temp agency was not there for me and not there for anyone else.
Yes, those assignments sucked. But I have also had some good ones. If not happy there, find a real temp agency and go with them. You might just find that dream assignment. Good luck!
The last temp job my husband had, he told the agency temp to permanent only. He worked there just about 4 days short of 90 days and they said they did not have enough work. He just started another temp job, not for a temp agency this time, and they have said they are blah, blah going to have opening BUT I told him to keep looking because I don't believe what they are saying. It seems to be a trend to dump short of 90 days and then hire a new batch who will give 300% hoping to get a permanent job when all they will get is a paycheck for less than 90 days, no health insurance, no holiday pay, etc. And, if hired permanently, the temp start date means nothing and you start from scratch so looking at 6 months without any benefits!!! I believe we reap what we sow so I'll just sit back and watch!
From MY experience all temp days are counted for seniority, so your first day is indeed your first day.
Could be many reasons my experience with Temp agencies was much better than some posting here.
The longest I waited to be placed was three weeks.
The place I was at prior to this one I liked but the commute was a killer, so when I was called about where I am now, which is local, I jumped at it.
As I have said before, list with multiple companies.
From MY experience all temp days are counted for seniority, so your first day is indeed your first day.
Could be many reasons my experience with Temp agencies was much better than some posting here.
The longest I waited to be placed was three weeks.
The place I was at prior to this one I liked but the commute was a killer, so when I was called about where I am now, which is local, I jumped at it.
As I have said before, list with multiple companies.
In the three jobs I've gotten hired from being a temp, my temp start date was not my "official" company start date. In MY mind, it was, but not theirs as I was not on their payroll and in their corporate headcount until their date. However on my resume, I list those jobs with my TEMP start date (what I call the first BIS day), not the company's start date.
In the three jobs I've gotten hired from being a temp, my temp start date was not my "official" company start date. In MY mind, it was, but not theirs as I was not on their payroll and in their corporate headcount until their date. However on my resume, I list those jobs with my TEMP start date (what I call the first BIS day), not the company's start date.
I do the same thing. For official things like accruing vacation days, pension eligibility, benefits, etc., the first day that you're actually on the company payroll is your first official day. And I do just like you said - on my resume/LinkedIn, I include the entire time I was a temp in with my time at the company. But, at the end of my job description, I put "(first 6 months as temp with X agency)". If they check references, the company is going to use your company start date, not your agency start date.
It gets trickier when you're filing out online job applications. Sometimes I list the temp job as an actual separate job; other times I lump it in with the company job. I think when the application is for a large staffing agency I break it out, so that they can see how long I temped and that it led to a full time position.
Temping does not always suck, but it can. Because someone is a temp, many feel that they can put the proverbial "kick me" sign on your back.
I temped at one job, where they hired 2 of us for 2 weeks. The next day the manager came in said oops, we made a mistake not enough money. Bye. So we worked 1 day and 2 hours. The temp agency said....oops!
The last one was a nightmare. It was for a national temp agency with a national client. We were calling banks and lawyers offices, telling them that we were handling their clients mortgages. They had a quota that you should get 20 transfers a week, which no one did because of circumstances I don't wish to go into. If you got hired at the end of the two weeks, you would work for them, at home. Wow! The last day, those of us, who were NOT getting hired were treated very poorly. At 3 my computer went off. Thee manager was no where to be found. I called the temp agency at 330 for help, only to find out that they had closed at 3. IT finally came at 430 and restarted my computer. When I logged back in I found a note from the department head saying that I was terminated.
The guy didn't even have the chutzpah to tell me in person. He knew my computer was off yet he sent me a message thru it. How did he expect me to read it? Mental Telepathy? I ran into the others who did graduate and they said they eventually gave up on it as it sucked. The temp agency was not there for me and not there for anyone else.
Yes, those assignments sucked. But I have also had some good ones. If not happy there, find a real temp agency and go with them. You might just find that dream assignment. Good luck!
Doesn't the company contact the agency to tell them you were let go? It seems they are cowardly and not very nice people. Not very ethical. I would tell the agency what happened exactly. Then tell the agency that the company is supposed to tell the agency what is going on. To have your pc turn off only to have a message on it when you return is just cowardly. Tell the agency about this.
Good luck, hopefully you will get a good job soon.
True, but the exception is when a large corporation is doing massive layoffs. Not sure of the nitty-gritty, but employees are, by law, given a 60-day WARN period. (WARN stands for something but I forget.) This is what happened to me. While I was thankful for the notice, those two months were excruciating!
But yes, temps are frequently let go for "not working out" and a host of other reasons which really have nothing to do with their quality of work.
There are always pluses and minuses to any given situation. After having been a salaried employee for years, I was actually looking forward to a long-term temp contract, and the sheer joy of leaving at 5pm, since all OT would have to be approved ahead of time.
I've applied for many jobs through different types of staffing agencies -- and their benefits do vary a lot! One of my friends is a salaried employee of the agency, placed at her old company. She gets a really good salary, good health benefits, and vacation time! Hourly workers with the agency do not get the same benefits.
When you think of it, that's disgusting. The hourly workers are the ones going out there into the trenches to the clients and doing the billable hours. If there were no temps to be sent out, the agency would be out of business immediately. Yet they compensate their cost center employees sitting in their office way better than they do the employees that are actually the ones out there making the money for the agency.
Yes you can. You can become the expert, the superstar. The contractor that stays longer than all the others. You treat it like it's your career, just like a salaried person.
I have been on temp jobs for 5 years and 3 years. Both times I resigned due to moving far away, else I could have stayed longer.
There's a big difference between independent contractors, who negotiate directly with their client and are paid directly by their client and temporary agency employees, who do not negotiate contracts and are paid a portion of what their client pays their agency on an hourly basis.
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