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Intro - My life
as a temp
Having recently
graduated from University I was faced with the prospect of having to
make a decision on what to next. This was something I had little experience
of as I had been in full time education since primary school and had
decided with relative ease which college to attend, which A-levels to
take, what University to party at and, as a sideline, what degree to
pretend to study whilst there! My degree involved a one year work placement
which formed the third year of my study and saw me working in a large
London Public Relations firm. I had a great time there and I know that
this is what I want to return to but as with most graduates I have left
Uni with vast debts and I know that if I return to London straight away
I will not be able to pay these off (Oxford Street being like a place
of worship for me!). This brings me nicely onto the topic of this article
which is temping.
What a great
way to earn a living - the positives of temping
For those of you
who haven't tried temping before or haven't even considered it, you
should. It's a great, flexible way of earning money whilst saving for
your next move or in some cases even deciding what that next move will
be. You get to meet new people, visit new places and you have none of
the monotony that frequently accompanies a permanent position. Temping
can also lead to exciting opportunities that you may never have even
considered. For example, if you don't know what it is you want to do
temping provides the perfect chance of trying out various working environments
and job roles. You may be taken on temporarily to do one thing but once
you're there a vacancy may come up in another department that really
interests you and as they say once your foot is in the door…. Even
if the company you are employed to temp with doesn't offer you the kind
of position that you crave, chances are they may know people or companies
that do and the old age adage, it's who you know not what you know,
is proved true.
Temping is great
for developing confidence and communication skills as you can't be a
wallflower when you are flitting from place to place. It also allows
you to gain some fab office gossip without being caught up in the boring
office politics. People tend to like to use the temp as a sounding board
for their bitching as they know that you are often not familiar enough
with the people involved to tell them and you won't be around long enough
to get them into too much trouble! Many employees that have worked in
a company for a while are bored of one another and so when new blood
comes in, in the form of a temp, you can get a lot of interest and who
doesn't like telling their life story to an appreciative audience?!
You also get to hear their story a lot of the time too but if you're
noisy like me then this will also appeal!
The other side
of the coin - temping's pitfalls
On the negative
side, and let's be honest what doesn't have one of these, there can
be a bit of uncertainty involved in temping. It's not always a particularly
nice feeling coming to the end of one assignment and not knowing when
or where the next one will be. You may be out of work for a time but
from a personal point of view I would say that once you have that first
assignment under your belt it's usually more a case of turning work
down rather than hunting to find it. I guess the amount of work available
depends heavily on individual factors e.g. what it is you are skilled
in, how far you are willing to travel, what money you are looking for
etc. As with permanent positions you may end up trekking to quite a
few interviews and not getting the jobs but I would say this is a lot
less common with temping as you are normally up against far fewer candidates.
Also, as with permanent positions, you may not like the company you
are working for or the people within it but that is when temping comes
into it's own as unlike a permanent position you may only be there for
a number of weeks and anyone can handle that (remember what doesn't
kill you makes you stronger!). If the temporary assignment is longer
and you really aren't enjoying it then talk to your agency as they can
often place you elsewhere and put someone in your current position that
may be more suited to it.
Temping is not for
everyone and if you like to feel settled and have a routine then you
may not enjoy it but even if you are temping you can get longer term
assignments which can see you in one place for a number of months and
as mentioned above may turn into something permanent. There is also
the occasional problem of having to chase your agency for your weekly
timesheet or for your wages which appear not to have made it to your
bank account, but again these problems are not just faced by temps.
Advice - how
to be a triumph at temping
For those of you
who have now read this and decided to give temping a go I think you'll
have a great time. If I had one bit of advice to give it would be to
take a proactive role. If you establish a good relationship with your
agency and the people within it they are more likely to work harder
in trying to find you a job. If you just sit back and wait for the phone
to ring, you are likely to miss out. Give your agency a call and find
out if anything is coming up and keep an eye on the jobs they are advertising,
they may not have contacted you about it as they think it's not up your
street or that you are still in another role. They often have a lot
of people on their books but if you make a personal connection with
them it's likely to work in your favour. Please note, I am not advocating
stalking or bribery! As a final point you should remember that when
you go into a temporary assignment you are representing the agency as
well as yourself and so the more you put in the more you are likely
to get out. As the song in the hit musical Chicago says, 'When your
good to Mama, Mama's good to you!'
Happy temping!
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