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I haven't done a temp job in decades, but as a teen/early 20s, I used them in-between jobs to pay rent, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered. They were basically thankless, low paying assignments in large companies where no one would even exchange pleasantries, because of the temp status... why get to know someone who'll be gone in 2 days or a week, was the predominate attitude. Since the ones I had were basically grunt work (receptionist duties, typing, filing), I didn't really gain any OTJ experience... you can either type 65+ WPM & file or you can't.
Perhaps contract work for highly skilled workers enables one to gain experience, but again, I would call those contract jobs, not temp jobs. I do know some tech workers (mostly MIT & other assorted, impressive Boston Uni grads) who've lived in grande homes from young ages & only do contract work, so if highly skilled/educated, those contracts must be lucrative.
I was hired for $17K for my 1st Cobol/Assembler programming job back in the 1750s, or thereabouts (a respectable salary, especially for a teenaged female newbie)... my classmate made $100K+/yr as a contract employee... usually working 3-6 mo assignments. We were equally book smart... he was light years ahead on the money making front.
They were basically thankless, low paying assignments in large companies where no one would even exchange pleasantries, because of the temp status... why get to know someone who'll be gone in 2 days or a week, was the predominate attitude.
This. I was lucky enough to temp at a company that actually cared and was invested in me. I honestly think they wanted to bring me on full time but I jumped ship in my ignorance. The person who was my boss actually left a month after I did and they were training me on her tasks, and when I put 2+2 together, I felt so stupid! Worse yet, the company I jumped ship for was terrible. Absolutely appalling.
HOWEVER.
That was the only temp job where I actually loved the work, the people and the company. The rest are, as Patanjali said, thankless. They work you to death. They are only good for experience or keeping your skills relevant or removing a "gap" in your resume.
The recruiters/HR managers are even worse. I'm done with temp agencies. The recruiters' attitudes are disgusting once they realize you won't bend over backwards for them and/or demand an acceptable pay. By acceptable I mean anything above 14$/hr. I truly hope some of those recruiters reap the karma they are working so very hard to sow.
Temp agencies are not a really good companies to help you find a job. All they do is just give your resume to their clients and see if the clients will take you for an interview. Plus the temp agencies will never let you know the result unless you call them and ask. I will go online like indeed.com, careerbuilder.com, and etc and submit your resume directly to the company's HR.
That's how I found my career.
It seems that some people on this thread don't know what true temp agencies are. There are RECRUITERS, and there are TEMP agencies. I'm going to assume the OP is asking about temp agencies, not recruiters.
Preface: I haven't worked for a temp agency in 20 years, but when I was a temp I was a professional temp (meaning I ONLY wanted temp work, not to be hired permanently).
I worked for two years as a temp with two temp agencies and it was great. They knew I ONLY wanted temp work, not permanent employment, and so I got all the "crap" jobs nobody wanted. One week here, two weeks there, a maternity leave here, a sabbatical there. I got to work for a few dozen companies which provided me with the breadth of industry knowledge that most people wouldn't ordinarily have (during my tenure as a temp I worked for law firms, telecoms, govt contractors, banks, sports teams, educational groups, computer centers, hotels, and a bunch of other things).
The agencies knew I was signed on with another agency and were fine when I took a job with the other one and became unavailable for a month, a quarter, a week. As a result I could pick my schedule - if a job was done and I wanted to take a week off (unpaid since I was a temp), I could do that. I'd let my agency know that I wasn't available until the following Monday and they'd find me a job that started the following Monday. I ALWAYS had work as had to turn down assignments on occasion because they conflicted with another temp job I had already taken.
When I moved from VA to NYC after getting married in 1997 the first thing I did was sign on with a temp agency. I worked at Waldorf Astoria for a week in their business center and then moved to a long-term assignment at an investment bank. Within a week they offered me a full-time job, which I did not expect, but happily accepted.
I think you get out of it what you put into it. If you show yourself to be professional, hard-working, and loyal, then temp agencies can be the way to go and can lead to good things. If you are expecting them to coddle you and mentor you - then you've gone to the wrong place. They want people who are "ready to go" - able to step into ANY work situation and own it from day one. That's what temps do. They are supposed to make it seem like they have always been there.
I can't fathom why anyone would specifically choose to work for a temp agency if they had better options. They rob you blind with substandard pay and no benefits, are difficult to work with, the clients are typically dirt-bags and will not offer you employment even if you are a rock star. It is just an all around bad situation to be used as a last resort.
I can't fathom why anyone would specifically choose to work for a temp agency if they had better options. They rob you blind with substandard pay and no benefits, are difficult to work with, the clients are typically dirt-bags and will not offer you employment even if you are a rock star. It is just an all around bad situation to be used as a last resort.
In the mid-1990s when I was a temp I got paid the same hourly rate had been earning as a full-time employee. Don't know what the going rate is now at temp agencies, but I'm sure it's least $10 an hour - which is at least more than minimum wage. I worked as a temp because I wanted flexibility with my schedule - at the time I didn't want to work 40 hours a week if I didn't want to, so I would volunteer for 3-day assignments, or 4-day assignments. And then when I wanted a bigger paycheck so that I could do something fun, I'd take a longer stint for 3-4 weeks, or 2-3 months, working 40 hours. Then I'd take a break to do the fun thing I saved up for (travel) before coming back to work.
I never worked for a single dirt-bag client. All were great companies, and in my two-plus years I temped at literally DOZENS of companies in the DC metro area.
And at one temp job I DID get offered full-time employment (as mentioned in my other post) and ended up staying with the company for 7 years.
I can only say my experience as a temp was a VERY good one.
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MSchemist80
I can't fathom why anyone would specifically choose to work for a temp agency if they had better options. They rob you blind with substandard pay and no benefits, are difficult to work with, the clients are typically dirt-bags and will not offer you employment even if you are a rock star. It is just an all around bad situation to be used as a last resort.
I didn't get substandard pay, they weren't difficult to work with, and the clients I worked for were Ivy League universities (and other large universities) and big four public accounting firms. Not a bad situation at all.
I disagree. I work as a contractor and earn almost twice what the comparable "employees" are getting. I have been on the same assigment for over four years.
If you have high level skills that many people don't have, you can probably make a higher hourly rate as a contractor. Many temp agencies place people on short-term gigs where there is constant hiring and firing going on.
Agreed in some very high demand fields like IT you can dictate to the agency that they have to pay you a decent rate to makeup for the lack of benefits and job stability.
In other fields the agencies are bottom feeders. Getting the best quality employee and retaining them is secondary to achieving the biggest markup possible between what the client is paying them and what they end up paying the worker. As a result, they take the worker that will accept the lowest pay yet is still competent enough to not burn the client immediately. Believe me I went from $40k no benefits to $65k great benefits going from permatemp to direct employee in my field and I had to fight for the $40k from the agencies. I had quite a few wanting to pay $30k or less. I also ended up filing ss-8 on that agency as they tried to dodge paying payroll taxes to make more money. I'll bet the IRS taught them a painful lesson.
Also most of the large companies around here pack the place full of temps and just burn through them. I'm sure my manager would have liked to hire me but there were several layers of managers above him telling him get the work done but you aren't allowed to hire anyone. As a result, the place was a disaster with both temps and employees alike demoralized and quitting left and right.
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