Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My hubby and I are planning to relocate to NYC in December. I'd like to temp while I look for a long-term "career" position, but I honestly know virtually nothing about temping in general, let alone in NYC...
So, first question-- What temp agencies would you recommend for someone with a background in the non-profit/healthcare/social service sector? I read a little about Professionals for Non Profits on Yelp, but there are only a few reviews... Has anyone heard of them or worked with them before? Any tips of agencies with good reputations would be super helpful!
Second, how quickly should I expect to be placed? And how much can I realistically expect to make? Any personal or anecdotal information about the experience of temping in NYC would be extremely helpful...
[Not sure if this is relevant or not, but FYI here's a little about my professional background-- I'm a LMSW level psychotherapist/clinical social worker (eligible for LCSW in one year). My BA and MA are from an Ivy+ school, I have 2 years post master's work experience in my field, and about 8 years of total work experience (counting working in my general field during college).]
Even temp jobs are scarce these days, but the best thing to do is apply to as many agencies as you can. At least five but it's better if you register with ten or more. You should spend a few days just registering with them. Then call them all every morning to let them know you're available. They have so many applicants that if you don't remind them who you are, they will forget about you. And as far as how soon you get placed, it depends. You could get an assignment the same day you apply, or wait for weeks or months until they call you -- there's no predicting.
Professionals for Non Profits has a great reputation, definitely register with them - they have a website. Also look in the job sites like Careerbuilder or Monster for agencies (specify that you're looking for "Contract" jobs only), or just search with Google. Also check out the NY Times' and Wall Street Journal's job ads. There used to be an online guide for temp agencies in NYC, but it's been defunct for several years, and many agencies have gone out of business. Job prospects are still very bleak, even for temp workers. As an executive assistant, I used to temp and make $20-$22 per hour a few years ago, but now I'd be lucky to find a horrible little receptionist job for a measly $16/hour, which I can't live on in NYC.
Oh, and your degrees won't really matter for temping. All they want to know is if you have one. You'll still be scrounging for work, 'cause it's really bad out there.
Thanks for the info! $16/hr is not ideal, but that's actually way better than I was expecting... In Chicago (where I live now), I think the average is more like $12.
Are most temp jobs day-to-day, or are they generally longer term? Would I be able to get receptionist or executive assistant jobs if I have no experience with that type of work?
What is the process of applying like? How much of the application process would I be able to do remotely before I make the move?
Quote:
Originally Posted by citychik
Even temp jobs are scarce these days, but the best thing to do is apply to as many agencies as you can. At least five but it's better if you register with ten or more. You should spend a few days just registering with them. Then call them all every morning to let them know you're available. They have so many applicants that if you don't remind them who you are, they will forget about you. And as far as how soon you get placed, it depends. You could get an assignment the same day you apply, or wait for weeks or months until they call you -- there's no predicting.
Professionals for Non Profits has a great reputation, definitely register with them. Also look in the job sites like Careerbuilder or Monster for agencies (specify that you're looking for "Contract" jobs only), or just search with Google. Also check out the NY Times' and Wall Street Journal's job ads. There used to be an online guide for temp agencies in NYC, but it's been defunct for several years, and many agencies have gone out of business. Job prospects are still very bleak, even for temp workers. As an executive assistant, I used to temp and make $20-$22 per hour a few years ago, but now I'd be lucky to find a horrible little receptionist job for a measly $16/hour, which I can't live on in NYC.
Oh, and your degrees won't really matter for temping. All they want to know is if you have one. You'll still be scrounging for work, 'cause it's really bad out there.
I love Chicago, and I know it's expensive, too, but in NYC, $16/hour is pretty bad for temp work. It's just so costly here.
You can't register remotely - you need to walk in with your resume, meet with someone, take tests (usually Word, Excel, and maybe Powerpoint if needed). They want to know your typing speed, how professional your appearance is, blablaba. Expect to spend two hours at each agency. You can set up your appointments in advance, though.
Lengths of assignments vary. It all depends on what clients they have and what you're looking for. If you want flexibility, sometimes there are day-to-day jobs, like when people call out sick, but I think longer term work is more common, such as when you're covering for someone on maternity leave for a few months. There are also some agencies that have mostly long term work for a year or more - there are companies that just don't want to spend money on benefits so they use temps for very long terms. I had a temp job for over a year. Those are usually legal secretaries or straight word processing gigs, which require very fast and accurate typing (generally, "secretary" jobs focus on typing and contracts in the legal world, and "administrative assistants" or "executive assistants" can have lower typing speeds because they do so much more, such as scheduling, meeting planning, project work, etc.).
Yeah, I realize that New York is waaaay more expensive than Chicago and $16/hr won't get me far, but, combined with my husband's income, it's enough to help us scrape by and afford a place in Queens or Brooklyn while I hopefully find actual gainful employment...
I'm looking for something more long-term, so it's good to hear that that's mostly what's out there... I had a college friend who temped in Chicago and he ended up doing 5 hour stints at different offices around the city filing papers. Either way, I'm flexible as long as I have an income.
Don't neglect to fish around on Craigslist every day either. Just make a list of some keywords related to what kind of work you're on the lookout for and throw those into the search engine off the homepage under the jobs category. Pretty soon you'll get it down to where it takes just a couple minutes a day to run through all your keywords to see if anything new and interesting has popped up. Then when one does, you want to be johnny on the spot with a good email/cover letter and your nicely polished and formatted resume attached (in MS Word). Not everybody will call you back of course, but some will. Many staffing agencies and recruiters will post there too...at least in my experience I've run into quite a few. Some of them are very professional and keep the BS to a minimum while some of them are more of a chore to deal with.
Anyone know of temp agencies that specialize in the non-profit sector besides Professionals for Non-Profits?
Will it hurt me with temp agencies that I have absolutely no corporate experience whatsoever? I think I'm a pretty fast typist and I'm about as proficient with Word, Excel, Access, and Power Point as you would expect your average mid/late 20-something to be ... Any specific skills I should try to bolster to make myself more marketable and help my odds of getting placed?
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheBoros
Check out the Following Agencies:
Adecco and Swiss Post Solutions. You are more likely to get placed with Swiss, as they have temp jobs all the time.
Boros, why do you recommend these agencies in particular? What type of jobs do they place you in? What is the pay generally like?
Anyone know of temp agencies that specialize in the non-profit sector besides Professionals for Non-Profits?
Will it hurt me with temp agencies that I have absolutely no corporate experience whatsoever? I think I'm a pretty fast typist and I'm about as proficient with Word, Excel, Access, and Power Point as you would expect your average mid/late 20-something to be ... Any specific skills I should try to bolster to make myself more marketable and help my odds of getting placed?
Boros, why do you recommend these agencies in particular? What type of jobs do they place you in? What is the pay generally like?
They always have jobs. My cousin makes a living temping between the two agencies..
$12-16 per hour depending on the job. Mostly Admin stuff... Maybe some corporate meeting services stuff. I know they have clients like Barclays and Some other huge banks... The pay is Kinda Standard in temp land, unless you can land as an exec assistant, thats more like $22/hr.
Start there and you can network with others who are in the company, and they will be able to share their experiences and other agencies, because people aren't just listed with one.
Having a degree here means nothing. everyone has a degree. There are people with PHD's fighting over admin stuff.. Especially in this econ. In NYC there are 5 applicant for every one job, and three of those applicants have a college degree.
Last edited by TheBoros; 07-26-2010 at 06:16 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
