What if you are in a job where everything is legal, but you just do not like the job? How can you get out of that job and move to one you will like?
You should communicate with the person from the staffing service who placed you on the job. The staffing service needs to know exactly what you do not like about the job so that another job can be found for you that you will like.
You need to explain why you do not like the job. Is it because of the type of work you are expected to do? For example, if you are placed on a job as a paralegal and the business asks you to answer the telephone as a receptionist, you need to tell the staffing service you do not want to do that type of work; you were sent to the job as a paralegal and that is what you expect to be. Many times, the staffing service is not given all the facts by a business that requests a temp.
The staffing service and the business need to communicate anytime there is a change in a job description that involves you, the temp. It could also mean a change in pay for you.
Helen was sent by the Amazing Staffing Service to work as a marketing consultant for a month at the corporate headquarters of a national bookstore chain. The service told her she would be analyzing the chain's customer base for a special project. When Helen started her job she realized she was not going to like the work. The office was too busy, the atmosphere was chaotic, and she was expected to do the work of five people. The reason the bookstore called the Amazing Staffing Service was because Helen's predecessor had walked off the job without giving any notice several days before and the bookstore had not tried to hire anyone else.
Helen's nerves were shot by mid-morning of the first day at the bookstore office. She called the person from the staffing service who had placed her on the job and said she was not going to be able to complete the assignment. She told the service that the job was too stressful for her, all the executives were yelling at her, the phones never stopped ringing, and she could not concentrate on her project.
She also said the bookstore office expected her to go and get everyone's lunch during her lunch break.
The service asked Helen if she would stay until the end of business hours and finish the day at the bookstore office. The staffing service said if Helen would stay until 5:00 P.M. it would replace her at the bookstore office and find her another job that would better suit her. Helen agreed to stay until the end of the day, and was placed by the staffing service at a job the next day working in a less stressful and better structured environment. The staffing service talked to its contact at the bookstore office, who said the bookstore chain really needed a temp who was looking for full-time work and would be interested in staying with the company. The service replaced Helen with another temp who only wanted to work temp and was not looking for full-time employment but who did like books and a fast-paced work style and was a marketing whiz.
The staffing service was able to get the bookstore headquarters to use this temp while the service sent over other people for the bookstore office to interview who were looking for full-time jobs. That way, the work was getting done while the bookstore office could take the time to select the right person to stay with it for the full-time work. The situation worked out to be a win-win for everyone because Helen communicated.
The service should have taken the time to investigate why the bookstore office needed a temp and should have known that Helen would not be a good match for the bookstore even on a temporary basis. If the staffing service had not agreed to find Helen a replacement, she could have opted to leave the bookstore job on the first day and gone to sign up with another staffing service that would listen to what her needs were.
If Helen had left the job at the bookstore headquarters without communicating with the Amazing Staffing Service, then the service could have terminated her employment with them for walking off the job. Anytime you leave a job, without communicating with the staffing service that placed you there, you run the risk of being fired by the service. Staffing services fire temps just like full-time employers do.
