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Temp agencies

post #1 of 33
4/23/08 at 9:13pm
Thread Starter 
What's your experience with them? After applying to 120+ jobs in the last year I've turned to one that seems pretty professional and thorough. I interviewed with them two days ago and took some aptitude tests for Microsoft Office which I did well on but have heard about really shitty temping gigs. I'm trying to get a permanent job in an office. And of course, I'm still looking for jobs on my own.
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post #2 of 33
4/23/08 at 9:14pm
Alls I know is I have no example of ANYONE getting a job from Robert Half. That is a fucking scam operation.
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post #3 of 33
4/23/08 at 9:18pm
In my previous career, I routinely hired people from temp agencies. It was like having them for an extended interview, which I really needed because I'm a lousy judge of character and generally like everyone I meet.

Anyone can seem like a pro during a 30-minute interview. If they were still producing after a month, I'd offer them a regular position.
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post #4 of 33
4/23/08 at 9:28pm
I've had some great experiences with temp agencies. The one I worked with in NYC called me every few weeks and set me up for a long term job that lasted a couple of months, and offered me a few positions.

My roommate has had less luck, but he's kind of shifty with that sort of thing. If you call and stay on top of them and work with them it'll be great, but he tends to not answer the phone when they call and show up late for things.
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post #5 of 33
4/23/08 at 9:29pm
I did data entry for 3 months fresh out of the university with a degree in Comp Sci. It paid the bills and I got tons of time in emailing applications to every poor sap that posted a job offer online.
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post #6 of 33
4/23/08 at 9:35pm
I've worked with several. Volt Remedy and TRC Staffing were the best. I found permanent jobs with TRC and Remedy. TRC even recently emailed me asking if I needed work because they hadn't heard from me in a while. Manpower was OK. Express Personell was the worst but even they weren't that bad. The pros of temping are that you can get reassigned if the job sucks and since you are a temp idiots don't try to befriend you, You also are largly unnoticed so it makes it easier to come in hung-over and weasle food when the regulars have pot-luck lunches. Con: rarely is there health insurance.
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post #7 of 33
4/23/08 at 9:36pm
I used a temp agency once, but had a good experience with it.

I had a job lined up, but it didn't start for a couple of months, so I went to a temp agency to keep the cash coming in whlie I waited.

They had offers for me within 48 hours (including weekend work if I wanted).

I actually took a weekend job first (while I waited on a multi-week weekly job), and early on in my second day, the owner offered me a full-time job. I declined because the pay was roughly the same as the job I was waiting on and the work was a bit less interesting (and I get bored easily), but it was nice to have that other option.

So, yeah, a good experience overall.

I also remember in various summer jobs that I held working with temps. Many of them got hired on fulltime, and many of the employees I was working with at these various summer jobs had started as temps, so it seems to be a pretty good system.

I think it works so well partially for the reasons Frank mentioned... employers like the extended "interview" they get with temps.
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post #8 of 33
4/24/08 at 12:02am
Here in Houston the engineering companies live by temp/placement agencies. Many employees are hired from temp agencies, then get contracts to stay on, or direct hire if you're really good. Especially administrative/document control spots.
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post #9 of 33
4/24/08 at 12:08am
When I worked for the Federal government I worked through a temp agency, mostly because the government sucks at hiring full time people.

In my experince it's the small agencies that will do the best work for you...Robert Half is a legal temp agency isn't it.
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post #10 of 33
4/24/08 at 1:08am
I've used temp agencies 4 times. 3 times I got temp to perm good assignments pretty quick because I tested well. That is, 3 times i succeeded in parlaying it into a full time decent gig.

The time that didn't work, I got nothing but a run-around from HR Dept at the TV studio/network. I later concluded that it was because they had a policy discouraging hiring temps full time because of the Buyout fee involved. I forget the details but its generally something like 25% or $3000 or something. And the other thing thats not so hot about the agencies to some extent is that they charge DOUBLE what you make lol.

So, that could be a factor, but at the same time lets you know what kind of company you're dealing with (re: HR Dept runaround).

But the agencies I used, some aren't even around anymore, they were all local as far as I recall.
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post #11 of 33
4/24/08 at 1:38am
When I graduated I went to all the entertainment industry temp agencies. They all sucked, unless you wanted admin assistant jobs in the accounting department or some shit like that. Only good thing about them was access to studio lots.
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post #12 of 33
4/24/08 at 8:48am
My friend in LA ended up with a permanent personal assistant job to a singer through a temp agency, and got paid in cash. He quit because he hated her though.
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post #13 of 33
4/24/08 at 11:05am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the advice. I figure I'll be working office jobs with this, but I got my first gig working at a movie premiere. Don't know what movie yet.
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post #14 of 33
4/24/08 at 1:00pm
Temp agencies are, oddly enough, generally good for temporary jobs. I went through a temp agency to find work for the 8 months I had to wait before I left for law school. No one would hire me for anything decent because I was leaving so soon. I got a job in a large office making enough money to pay the bills and put some away for school. No benefits and the people sucked. It's a job I always remember every time Office Space comes on. I couldn't have handled it for longer than a year. Without the temp agency, though, I would have been working at a restaurant or scrubbing toilets on a college campus for minimum wage.
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post #15 of 33
4/24/08 at 2:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by EdHocken View Post
Alls I know is I have no example of ANYONE getting a job from Robert Half. That is a fucking scam operation.
I can confirm this through personal experience. I had four years of Accounting experience at a Fortune 100 company, and they couldn't even get me a damn interview. Bunch of half-wits over there.
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post #16 of 33
4/24/08 at 2:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by EdHocken View Post
Alls I know is I have no example of ANYONE getting a job from Robert Half. That is a fucking scam operation.
It's quite possible. Some of these operations are probably noting more than glorified info resellers.
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post #17 of 33
4/24/08 at 2:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by stunt poop View Post
I'm trying to get a permanent job in an office.
Dare to dream, Stunt Poop.
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post #18 of 33
4/24/08 at 3:06pm
First of all, don't get a permanent job in an office, or you'll wind up like me - middle-aged with no interesting career to show for it. Sure, I make a living, and I have incredibly nice bosses. But this isn't what I really envisioned my "career" being like - so just be careful how long you actually stay at one of these office jobs you'd like to get.

Temping, on the other hand, is fine. True, you don't have benefits, and the pay is slightly less than a permanent position, but if you need to keep some cash coming in between regular jobs, or if you're okay about temping for a bit while working on a REAL career, it's fine. Plus it's nice if you like a constant change of scenery - you could work in a different industry every day if you were so inclined.

Yes, they will do skills testing on you, so be prepared for that. Basic stuff, but you should at least know how to type fast with minimal mistakes, and know basic Microsoft Office and Outlook.

Best agency in NY by far is Atrium Staffing. They've kept me paying the rent when I was in between cubicle-gigs.
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post #19 of 33
4/28/08 at 6:39pm
Atrium! whoo, used them a bunch and they hooked me up with a lot of 1 to 3 day jobs and even a month long. Scored a data entry position that was soul crushing, but I appreciate the time I spent there because sure as hell nobody else was biting.

Make sure they're the real deal and they can really help you out in a spot, or if you're in between jobs or if you're just reallllly lazy, or some combination of the above (like me)!
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post #20 of 33
4/28/08 at 7:15pm
I haven't used a temp job since I lived in England but it was great. I definitely could have parlayed that into a full time job if I had the appropriate work visa (I did not). Still, I flew to the country a day or two before New Years due to my temporary visa's requirements that I enter the country before the end of the year, went to a temp agency right after New Years took their tests. I went to an interview a day or two later and had a job before I'd been in the country a week.

It was great and way easier than the 10 other places I'd emailed before I got into the country. It might help that I'm amazingly awesome (and had a ton of office internships and experience through college) but if I were just looking for something to fill up the time again I'd consider hitting up a temp job again.

It is rather soul crushing work though. I was entering options for new cars into a database for about 5 months straight. It gave me a chance to live in England for 6 months and putter around and I saved up enough money to spend a couple weeks wandering around Europe before heading back to the States.
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post #21 of 33
4/28/08 at 7:28pm
One of my favorite jobs came from temping, back when I was getting started as a PA after college. Was assigned to a legacy desk that was basically in the middle of another company's office. They didn't care what I did as long as I was around to answer a phone that never rang. I read literally dozens of books and wrote two films.

Then they moved me down to the 'acutal' office, where I was paid twice as much to fuck around in Photoshop and play Duke Nukem with another guy who had nothing to do.
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post #22 of 33
4/28/08 at 7:53pm
See, that's the kind of temp job I'm looking for.
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post #23 of 33
4/28/08 at 7:56pm
I went in to a temp agency when I got laid off and ended up getting a job there, recruiting in the permanent division (any medical device engineers out there, hit me up), so, my success ratio was pretty good. My advice for the temp side though is practice up on interviewing skills, and keep looking for things on your own. Temp recruiters generally have about 200 candidates for every one work order, so the odds of getting called up are only great if your skills are pretty exceptional, or if you're generally pretty lucky.
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post #24 of 33
4/29/08 at 8:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by EdHocken View Post
Alls I know is I have no example of ANYONE getting a job from Robert Half. That is a fucking scam operation.
I got a job through them. A legit one. But it kind of makes me want to slit my wrists.
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post #25 of 33
4/29/08 at 11:58pm
About 9 years ago I was temping. I had several "long term assigments". It was great for interviewing. Once I got my "dream job", that actually turned into a total nightmare..I went back to temping. No benifits suck, I was soooo lucky (knocking on wood) never to get really sick. My last temp job lasted for a year, then I got a "real job" with benefits!

I currently push paper..and I always keep an eye out for any temp I see at work..that used to be me,
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post #26 of 33
6/2/08 at 4:51pm
I'm working at a temp-to-permanent position at the moment...and not a day goes by without thinking of blowing my fucking brains out. I am at the workplace while typing this.

It is incredibly banal to the point where I am daydreaming of overthrowing small governments when I take my (unpaid for) holidays to whatever country will have me.

It's easy work that pays decently, yet an escape plan is being forged, so I can at least think of an interesting way to fucking Kill myself should I have to return (that's how creativity-destroying these office jobs are - soulless clerks can only think of going on bloody rampages. So cliche.)
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post #27 of 33
6/2/08 at 5:23pm
I landed some temp gigs in the entertainment industry in 2005, mostly office P.A. work, as I tried to get back on my feet after losing my job at Warner Bros. I pretty much played musical chairs in the New Regency production offices for a month or so, filling in for folks on vacation.

The most enjoyable position was working under a guy in the finance department who clearly didn't need an assistant; I think I answered the phone five times in as many days. But I was able to goof off on the Internet and did copious amounts of "research" for a script I'd been kicking around in my head for a few months.

Another agency hooked me up with a long-term temp assignment at Yahoo, and I've since found a niche in the SEM biz. I was glad to finally extricate myself from the entertainment industry because I just had no interest in being some office lackey. Answer your own damn phone.

Temping definitely allows you to dip your toes in a variety of positions and build your resume. You're also out the door before you can really grow to hate a job.
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post #28 of 33
6/2/08 at 5:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brad Lohan
You're also out the door before you can really grow to hate a job.
If you're lucky. Usually with a lot of temp jobs, you hate them after about ... well about 1 week.
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post #29 of 33
6/2/08 at 8:15pm
Has anyone heard of the firm Apple One? I'm not sure if it is a a local or national firm but they responded to my resume on Monster.

Anyway, the position that they had in mind for me is for a small local company. The thing is, it just doesn't seem like the type of place that would use a hiring agent to find employees. Am I reading too much into this or is just about everyone using these firms now?
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post #30 of 33
6/2/08 at 8:29pm
Depends, are you being considered for a temp position or permanent? Either is applicable, if you end up doing temp,any size company can usually accommodate the cost (they get to write it off as business expense, as opposed to payroll). If it's permanent, some companies really don't want to spend time looking for top employees, and would rather pay someone to find a candidate for them. If Apple One is like my firm,they work on contingency anyway, so the company won't have to pay for you until you get hired.
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post #31 of 33
6/2/08 at 8:39pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by TURBO-1984 View Post
Has anyone heard of the firm Apple One? I'm not sure if it is a a local or national firm but they responded to my resume on Monster.

Anyway, the position that they had in mind for me is for a small local company. The thing is, it just doesn't seem like the type of place that would use a hiring agent to find employees. Am I reading too much into this or is just about everyone using these firms now?
I used Apple One. They're the only temp agency I contacted who actually tried to find work for me and gave me two assignments, though one of them I didn't go to since I just landed a full time job as a bank teller.
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post #32 of 33
6/2/08 at 8:59pm
The empl. firm's representative said that it MAY be a temp-to-hire situation, but it just seems weird for this type of position (office manager for a small, independent auto parts retailer) to use a hiring firm or to use temp-to-hire practices.
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post #33 of 33
6/4/08 at 2:31pm
It may seem weird, but you have to consider the companies budget. At the beginning of the year, or quarter, a lot of companies will set out their budget, with a specific allocation for headcount. If that allocation is already met, it makes more sense for them to bring on an employee as a temp right now, with plans to make that person permanent when the headcount budget goes up the next quarter/year. Also, they may be doing temp to perm as a probationary thing for the position. Possible that they're getting by ok for now, but think they might be able to benefit by having an office manager. If your work in the position really adds to the company, they'll make you permanent, if not, they'll have you satisfy your temp assignment and be done. There's other possibilities as well, but I just realized I may be typing out the most boring post ever right now. If you want to hear other options, let me know. Best thing to do would be to go to the interview, and ask the hiring manager how likely the position is to go permanent, and what needs to transpire in order for that to happen.
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