Puppie's Rules of Temping
An online friend of mine is interested in making the leap from retail to office work. I advised her to try temping. Temping is how I moved from retail to office work, and it's responsible for every good career opportunity I've had. After I gave this advice, all the lessons I've learned over my years of temping started to flood my brain. So here they are, Puppie's Rules of Temping. In no order other than how they occur to me:
1. Before your interview at the temp agency, practice your typing and practice doing things in Microsoft Office. You’ll be tested on those things when you’re there.
2. The method that the temp agency uses to place you in jobs is like this: a job comes in, and the coordinator calls whatever temp comes to her mind first. Seriously. It’s just that subjective. So therefore, get in good with those girls and make them remember you. During the interview, be super-friendly with them and try to make as much of a connection as you can. Send a thank-you card after your interview. If you have a free day with no gig, stop in and ask them if you can practice your skills on the computer. All this is just so that you’ll be top-of-mind when a new gig comes in. Never let more than a couple of days go by without contact with the agency. If you’re available to work on a day but not already booked, call the agency at 7:00 am and let them know you’re available for last-minute work.
3. That said, the temp agency’s first loyalty is always to their client, not to you. Remember that, and always put yourself first, because no one else is. The temping gals will lead you right into the jaws of hell to make a client happy and collect that fee.
4. I would try to stick with short-term gigs (no maternity leaves, no temp-to-perm gigs) until you’ve been with the agency a while and built up some goodwill and relationship there. That’s how you avoid being the unfortunate who gets tossed into the nightmare situation for the sake of the agency’s incoming fee. (The last thing you want is for your nightmare gig to last 12 weeks. Ugh.)
5. The agency will always call you with new gigs, tell you about the job and the payrate, and ask you if you want it. If something about it seems off, or it’s work that you hate, say no. But be upfront about why you’re saying no, so that they can make a better match for you next time.
6. However, realize that if you say “no” more than 2 or 3 times, you are no longer going to be the first one they call with new gigs. With GOOD gigs. Try really hard not to say no too much.
7. When you’re first starting out and have no office experience, you’re going to get gigs like filing papers for $6 an hour. You have to do these less desirable gigs to prove that you will show up on time, do actual work, and not behave like a moron. Once the temp agency gets some good feedback from clients about you, you’ll start getting better gigs.
8. If you’ve never worked officework before, try to get a wide variety of gigs (and tell your agency that’s what you’re looking for). This will help you identify what kind of perm job will make you happiest. Do you prefer small offices or Fortune 500? Do you prefer project work or the traditional phone-answering and letter-typing? Do you like reception work? Temping will help you identify your strengths and preferences.
9. Always bring the following with you to a new gig:
a. Magazine/book - you’d be surprised how long you’ll spend just sitting in a chair while people try to figure out who called for a temp
b. Lunch
c. Antibacterial wipes - some of the workstations you’ll be set in front of will be seriously grungy
d. If you’re mouse-picky or pen-picky, bring your own
e. Your own cup for water/coffee
f. Notebook and pen for writing down passwords and instructions
g. A timeslip from your agency, your agency’s phone number, and the name of the person you’re supposed to meet at the client location
h. Updated resume. You never know. If they love you, they may ask for it.
10. Disturb the desk you’re working at as little as possible. Same for the computer files. There’s nothing worse than coming back from your vacation and finding that the temp screwed everything around.
11. Keep your eyes open while you’re onsite as to whether this seems like a place you’d like to work. If everyone seems downtrodden or backbiting, then you can just be grateful that your time there has a built-in endpoint and feel sorry for those suckers who are stuck in there.
12. If the people seem great and you feel happy to be walking in there in the morning, you might want to pursue a perm job there. In this case, do not be afraid to tell people you’d love to work there for real. They’ll be flattered. Ask them how you can put in an application for any open positions. If they’re enthusiastic about that, you also have to tell your agency that you want to apply for perm jobs there. If you get hired at a company that you temped for, the company owes the agency a fee. But don’t try to weasel around that requirement. You could get sued. Besides, I’ve been hired twice by places I temped for - it’s not necessarily a deal-breaker. (From the company’s point-of-view, they may have a deal with the agency where they are exempt from the charge. Or else they’re just so excited to be taking on a known quantity that they don’t care.)
13. When onsite, remember that you’re basically on a looooong interview. Be friendly and nice to everybody. Stay very can-do. Learn as much as you can. Write everything down so you never have to ask for instructions twice.
14. If you have figured out what kind of environment you like best, and you’re ready for a perm job, make sure you tell the temp agency. There are lots of temp-to-perm gigs out there.
15. You’ll run out of work at a temp gig. I guarantee it. And sometimes it’s a matter of them being so busy that they called in a temp, but they’re too busy to stop and show the temp what to do. If you run out of work, ask the person in charge of you at the client location what else you can help with. But if you’ve talked to every person in the department and nobody has anything for you to do…. Well….. You didn’t hear it from me, but your PC has internet access. Stick to sites that are 100% above reproach, though. Gmail, New York Times, that sort of thing. You could also explore all over the company’s websites.
16. Adecco is the dominant player in temp officework. Be careful with them - they have most of the jobs. This is good if you’re with them and they like you and everything is copasetic. But if you piss them off and get blackballed, you’ll be shut out of Adecco’s masses of gigs. If you’re temping for the very first time and think you might screw up at first, I might start with a different agency - take out all of your mistakes on a smaller player. Other national agencies include Manpower, Office Team, Spherion and Randstad. There are also always local firms.
17. If there is a company, college, or hospital in your town where you really really really want to end up working, call up their HR department and ask which temp agency they use. Then go sign up there! Having actual work experience inside the organization goes a LONG way toward getting a “real” job somewhere.