Why Working for a Temp Company is a Good Idea

Originally posted on Friday, August 26, 2011 10:18 AM    
My experience in the world of work spans over 20 years.  I have a lot of awesome stories about the workplace (some good and some not so good) that I hope to share with you along the way of your journey.  Working as a Temporary Employee is one of those really great stories of success.  I will get to this story in a minute.  Temporary Service Companies are full fledge employers who employ a contingency work force for businesses and industry. The companies need a worker for a generally specified length of time which is deemed "temporary."  The Temporary Services company is your employer, however you provide your work skills to a third party business.  You show up at work at their work site, you use their equipment, you follow most of their work rules, you are supervised by one of their employees but you get your paycheck and benefits from your employer, the Temporary Services Company. 

Good Reasons to Work as a Temporary Worker

1. Many people use working as a Temp as an interim job while looking for full time work.  Working this way enables you to earn a wage, learn new skills and keep busy which includes looking industrious on your resume
2. Many people work as a Temp hoping to get their foot in the door of the company they are temping at in hopes they may be hired.
3. Some people like the flexibility and diversity of working as a temp and they are pretty much - full time temps who are not looking for a permanent job.
4. Working as a temp allows you to get hands on intell about a company. You get to have a close up encounter with them which may either make or break your decision to have them on your Company of Choice list.

 Soon after I graduated with my degree in Business Management, I moved to a new town in a new state.  I immediately registered at a temp help firm and got to know the staffing specialist well.  One day she called me and said the following: " I have an assignment at a Bank Corporate Headquarters who has recently acquired several banks and is in the process of huge growth.  The assignment is very basic, just filing checks.  However," she stated, "it may be a way in the door."  I took the opportunity and although I was pretty bored with the job, the third day there, I walked down the hall to the VP of HR's office and introduced myself.  I told her that my background was in HR and my degree program had many HR courses.  She told me she was about to begin interviewing for a Compensation and Benefits Manager and asked if I would be interested.  I interviewed and got the job.  Typically in times of economic recession, companies may not have the budget to hire for a full time position.  However they can hire a temp until things change and the full time position is approved.  That is why I urge anyone who is in the job market to look into working as a temp.  Theres are many good temp services out there.  The three largest are:  Manpower, Kelly and Adecco. Please let me know your personal success stories that you may have had working as a temp. 

As always - All the best in your job search, 

Deb  

Deborah Sutton