The way to do investigative work is to use several resources. Surf the Internet. Call your local chamber of commerce and get a listing of all the services. Check the yellow pages or phone book. Check professional organizations. Don't forget about asking the personnel offices of the companies you have an interest in working for. Read the classified section of your local newspapers (many staffing services recruit only in the Sunday or weekend edition of the local paper).
Check other periodicals in your community and always check out the library. Read the ads in the papers or directories and see what types of advertising different services do.
What types of positions are staffing services recruiting for? Look in the newspaper and see which services are hiring for what kinds of jobs. Many times, services list the pay for these jobs in their ads.
The yellow pages often have big display ads for staffing services. In these display ads there will be a lot of information about the staffing service, including where the service is located, what types of jobs they hire temps for, and sometimes the area of town they service.
Another point of reference is industry publications. If you are an accountant, engineer, computer operator, or in the healthcare or legal profession, check your publications and see what services advertise in them.
Many technical schools and colleges have worked with services in placing their students. Ask the placement counselors at those institutions what services are good to work with.
Recruiting personnel in the military also refer to staffing services candidates who are waiting to be inducted. This way the military can keep their candidates working and productive after they have enlisted and are waiting to report for duty. Ask military recruiters what services are good to work with.
Call staffing services on the phone and talk to them. First of all, how prepared are the services on the phone? If they are not professional on the phone, do not waste your time temping for them. Chances are, they will not be professional to work with, either.
You may not know it is a common practice for staffing services to "shop" each other. That means services send in staff members to see how professional competitors are and what types of services they offer their temps. Do the same thing. Shop the staffing services for yourself. Make sure you are being treated as a valued customer. You do it all the time when you are shopping for a tailor, hairdresser, clothing store, dry cleaner-and some even do it when looking for a place of worship! Why shouldn't you shop around when you are selecting a staffing service that could land you your next job?
In order to be placed on a temp job as a computer specialist, you need to find a service that recruits and places temps with those skills. Some services list their pay rates for temps in their ads or will tell you on the phone what they are. Other services will ask you to come in and be evaluated before they tell you what they can pay you.
If there is a business where you want to work that does not have any current openings but does use an employment service for staffing needs, ask the business what service is used. Then sign up with that service and ask to be placed on any temporary jobs that service may have available at that particular business.
There are countless success stories where someone has gotten a start at a company as a temporary employee. Dan was placed in the mailroom at a music recording company on a temporary assignment. He worked very hard, showed a lot of initiative and commitment, and was hired full-time by the company. Dan eventually was named as the human resources person at that recording company. That meant Dan was the person who was given the authority to call staffing services when the music company needed temporary part-time and full-time employee assistance. Dan's story was a win-win for Dan, the music company, and the staffing service. It was smart on the part of the staffing service to make Dan feel important and valued, because Dan turned out to be the decision maker for the music company as to which staffing service was going to receive the recording company's annual staffing business of approximately $250,000.
If the staffing service had not treated Dan well, he could have chosen to give the music company's business to another staffing service. People who are temps today often turn into the order placers of tomorrow in the world of professional technical staffing. That is another reason it is important for you to choose a service where you feel valued and are treated fairly. You may be given the authority to choose a service in the future, and you will want to work with a service where you have had a good experience. If Dan had not been treated well by the staffing service who placed him at the music company, he would have gone out of his way to make sure he never had to work with that service again.
