ALT-1 Staffing Agencies
Temporary employment can be a great option if you are unsure of what you want to do. It can also be good if you don't really want to stick to a 40 hour work schedule all year round. On the other hand, it can be frustrating if you seek more than what they actually have to offer.
During my time in undergrad school, I spent most of those years working for staffing agencies. I learned many pros and cons being there, and I even got a chance to work at the actual agency placing people.
When I first started working for temp agencies, I was sent to factory types of positions. I quickly learned that it was not the environment for me. Sometimes they would send me to factories that had new people coming in just about everyday. With that type of turn-over, there is no chance of developing relationships or hopes of getting hired permanently. Not to mention the level of theft is high, you can't even leave your lunch in the refrigerator without somebody stealing your sandwich! The good thing is I learned that assembly line jobs were not for me- too boring. The same item moving down the belt all day long drove me nuts! That's a positive thing about agencies, if you don't like what you are doing, let them know and they will place you somewhere else. However, don't make too may request to be placed elsewhere. They may not think that you are a good candidate for them because you want to change jobs too much.
Once I realized that factory work wasn't for me, I decided to polish my office skills. Some agencies offer their computers to you if you want to learn a certain software skill or learn how to type. If you want to learn Excel for example, there are 3 levels the computer can teach you: basic, intermediate, and advanced. Once you think you have it down packed, the system will test you and you can use these skills to find a better position. I found some really good jobs by doing this. It gave me a chance to see what it was like working in the banking industry, customs broker, call centers, and medical offices.
You may start out as a temporary employee, but the company may decide to hire you. If that happens, you go from being an employee of the staffing agency to being an employee of the actual company. For some people, this is the goal. They want to start out as a temporary to get their foot in the door and later on down the line receive an offer of permanent employment. This doesn't always happen. The agency may tell you that the company is looking to hire, but that doesn't mean that they will. It also doesn't mean that they will hire you anytime soon. They may not bring you on until a year from now, or I've even seen companies hire you and pay you less than the staffing agency did.
Another downside is when the agency tells you that your assignment is supposed to last a couple of months and you end up being there for just a couple of days! That happens. Sometimes the agency gets a job order that was suppose to last for several months, and then the client calls the agency back and says they only need you for today. Of course the opposite is also true, you may stay longer than originally planned. That's how things go sometimes with the staffing industry.
I also got a chance to see how it works on the other end of staffing when I was hired as an account executive. Placing candidates is as frustrating for them as it is for you when they don't have any work to send you to. The people in the office have to do a lot of business development. They have to go out and find employment for you. And once they have found employment and made a contract with the company, they have to find people to fill the positions. Sometimes people say that they will go to the job opening and then don't show up- quite frustrating. The account executives have to keep everybody happy- the client has to be happy with the people sent to them, or the agency could lose the contract. The candidate has to be happy with the position or they will quit, leaving the agency to start their candidate search all over again. Account executives do all of this work for a not so wonderful salary. Some agencies pay low wages plus commission, others pay them commission only.
Staffing agencies have to have candidates ready when a client calls with a job order to be filled. Once they receive a job order from the client, that is not the time to start looking for candidates. There has to be a pool of names to contact from. That is why you will sometimes reply to an ad that an agency placed about a job, and the job has already been filled. What they really want to do is get you to come in and register with them so that they can build their database.
Temporary agencies are just that- temporary. If your lucky, you may become permanant and learn some things along the way. All in all, I think that if this type of employment fits your lifestyle and will help you reach your goals, go for it!
