Be Reliable
The more dependable you are, the better temp jobs you will get. When you agree to work for a staffing service, you are an employee of the staffing service. When you do your job well, you make the staffing service look good in the eyes of the businesses that hire the staffing service. The better you make the staffing service look, the more likely the staffing service is to offer you the best temp jobs.
Many staffing services will emphasize when you sign on as a temp that you are to show up for work when you say you will. If you do not show up for work or are late several times, the staffing service will not send you out on the best jobs, and may even choose to fire you.
The good jobs will go to temps who are punctual and reliable. So remember, if you want the best jobs, be reliable. Give the staffing service plenty of notice if you are going to be late or if you are sick. (But be warned that some staffing services will be very hesitant to use temps who call in sick frequently.) Do not over commit yourself or say you will work if you are sick. You are better off telling the staffing service you will call when you are well rather than saying you will be at work when you are unable to do so.
Emergencies do happen, and many staffing services will work with you in case of emergency. Most staffing services have answering services that will give messages to the person who is your supervisor. You can call these answering services during the middle of the night or on weekends and leave word for your contact if you have an emergency and will be unable to be at work. The next business day, you should call to make sure your contact got the message; then call once you know when the emergency will be over and find out when you can report back to work.
The more responsible you are, the more respect you will get from the service and from businesses where you want a permanent job.
Don't forget that many prospective employers call services and check your references. If you have not been truthful, reliable, or dependable, you cannot expect a good reference from the staffing service. Peter, the CPA, could also have asked his supervisors at Merged & Acquired Bank to tell Pamela, his service supervisor, what a good job he was doing so that she would want to send him back to the bank as a temp.
On completing a temp assignment at a company, be sure to send your supervisor there a thank you note and put in writing how much you enjoyed working for him or her. If the supervisor is with a company where you want a permanent job, enclose a resume and ask for his or her help. The supervisor may know about a potential job that you would be perfect for. Remember, it is often whom you know, not what you know, that could get you the job you want. Take advantage of every suitable opportunity you have to get your name in front of the right people. Just make sure you do it in the right place and at the appropriate time.
Ask for Letters of Recommendation
If you can obtain a letter of recommendation, you will have something in writing to take with you as you continue your job search. Having something in writing from a business where you worked as a temporary employee could give you more credibility than only listing your staffing service as your place of work. Make sure you are accurate about having been a temporary worker at a particular company, and list the supervisor as your reference. If you list the personnel office of a company as your reference, that office may not be able to confirm your employment, because you are an employee of the staffing service, not of the places where you have worked as a temp.
What you want is credibility, and the way to get that is by asking the businesses where you work as a temp for a letter of recommendation. You want to get such a letter from the person who actually supervised you, not the personnel office. If you cannot get a letter of recommendation from some supervisors, ask them if you can list their names and phone numbers for reference phone calls. It never hurts to try, and it will prove you are serious about your job search.
Network
Take advantage of every temporary job you get and network. At every place you work as a temp, ask people if they know of any full time job openings. Ask for their help in getting interviews for jobs. Ask permission to list them as references in your resume as you send it to prospective employers.
Read the Recruiting Ads
Make sure you keep up-to date with the recruiting ads where you want to work. Do not assume just because you are registered with a staffing service that they will automatically call you for the job you really want. The personnel at staffing services get very busy and may occasionally overlook qualified people who are already registered with them. If you see or hear about something you want that your staffing service is advertising for, call the staffing service and tell them you want the job. The staffing service should appreciate your persistence and aggressiveness.
If the staffing service has you on a long term job and you hear about another job that you would rather have, call the staffing service. Try to get the service to agree with you on a day that will be your last day on the long term job so you can be placed on the job you really want. You should try to work with the service. If you can make it look good, the service should try to help you. You want to give the service time to find a replacement for you so that it looks good with the client where you are working.
If the staffing service will not work with you, suggest that you set the date you will leave the long-term job, and the service can then try to place you in the job you prefer. If the service still will not work with you, give notice and go work with another staffing service.
Continue to communicate on a regular basis with your staffing service or services. Do not let them put you on an assignment and forget about you. Remember that the staffing service would not have a product to sell if it were not for people like you who are willing to temp. Treat your contact at the staffing service like you would want to be treated. If you are not treated in a professional manner, quit and go work for someone else. If you have a consistent complaint about your staffing service, try speaking to someone other than your contact there. Ask for the president and see if he or she will help you before you quit. If you do quit, you will have to start over with another staffing service and build new relationships. Try to salvage your current relationships before you have to invest in building new relationships with a new staffing service.
Make Sure the Staffing Service Communicates Internally
Many services are divided into temporary and permanent divisions. If you are working temp for the temporary division of the staffing service, the staff who place people on permanent jobs for that same service may not be aware of your qualifications and career goals.
If the staffing service you work for is divided into temporary and permanent divisions, make sure you have a contact in both divisions. If you accept a temporary job, communicate with your contact in the permanent division. Make sure the permanent division of a staffing service is sending out your resume for full time jobs and schedules interviews for you while you temp for that service.
When you accept a temp job and you are looking for full time work, make sure the temp job will allow you to interview for permanent jobs. That means the staffing service needs to arrange for your interviews during your lunchtime or early in the morning or late in the afternoon.
Unfortunately, some staffing services may tell you they will try to find a permanent job for you if you will temp for them while they look. Some services will tell you anything to get your skills for temp jobs. If you accept a temp job and you are not sent out for a permanent job within two weeks, you need to talk to your staffing service and decide how much of your time you want to spend with a service that does not send you out on interviews.
On the other hand, you could end up on a temp job that you like and that has the potential to go full time. If you have flexibility you may want to consider temping for a while. If you do decide to, do not set any rigid deadlines for the staffing service you are temping for to find you a permanent job. Such deadlines may limit your opportunities for rewarding temporary assignments.
Conclusion
The key to working well as a temporary is to know what your goals are. You need to know what money you must earn to meet your financial obligations as well as what kind of work you like. (You may not find out what you like until you have worked several different jobs.) Try to stay flexible. Flexibility will help you be successful in the world of temporary employment.
