Temp agencies

VTJas81 · 04-11-2007, 07:42 PM

Can anyone give me advice about them? I've never dealt with them before. Here is my situation; I plan to start mid may and stop mid july. Is there anything I should watch out for? How are the online ones? Im an engineering major and I don't mind doing some office work. Suggestions? Thanks

Timbaland · 04-11-2007, 08:47 PM

Its best not to go through a temp agency. If you can get a job on your own then go that route. A temp agency is for someone who needs experience or who can't find a job. With temp agencies, the company that gets an employee from the agency will pay the company, then the agency will pay the employee. A lot of temp agencies take half of that money from what I've heard.

muerteverde · 04-11-2007, 09:11 PM

I worked for them twice. The pay would have been 9 dollars but they took 2 dollars off the top so I got 7 dollars per hour, and the only thing they did was hire me.

Around here temp agencies are used a lot. Companies often won't hire anyone not with a temp agency because it lets them 1. fire the employee at any time and for any reason 2. they don't have to pay benefits or worry about insurances or liabilities as the temp agency assumes what little there is of that (and they don't do much). It is pretty bad deal. But they have gotten me jobs very quickly.

The second one I worked at had terrible service just for the basic things. They couldn't tell me when I would be on or off, they couldn't get me contact numbers I needed, the right people were never in the office and I couldn't get messages through. They were very unprofessional and I won't be going back there ever again.

If you can avoid a temp agency, do it. But sometimes it is just not possible to find a temporary job. Who wants to hire someone for just 2 or 3 months? Not many businesses would want to bother with that.

Oh, one last thing, some agencies take a much larger cut than others. I was working for Eastern Temporaries when I found out that the guys coming in from Staffking (same job, same company) were getting paid a dollar more per hour. Staffking took a much smaller part of their pay, so those guys did the exact same work but got a larger paycheck. So you might want to shop around first, because both companies I have worked for had employees from multiple temp agencies.

VTJas81 · 04-11-2007, 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by muerteverde

I worked for them twice. The pay would have been 9 dollars but they took 2 dollars off the top so I got 7 dollars per hour, and the only thing they did was hire me.

Around here temp agencies are used a lot. Companies often won't hire anyone not with a temp agency because it lets them 1. fire the employee at any time and for any reason 2. they don't have to pay benefits or worry about insurances or liabilities as the temp agency assumes what little there is of that (and they don't do much). It is pretty bad deal. But they have gotten me jobs very quickly.

The second one I worked at had terrible service just for the basic things. They couldn't tell me when I would be on or off, they couldn't get me contact numbers I needed, the right people were never in the office and I couldn't get messages through. They were very unprofessional and I won't be going back there ever again.

If you can avoid a temp agency, do it. But sometimes it is just not possible to find a temporary job. Who wants to hire someone for just 2 or 3 months? Not many businesses would want to bother with that.

Oh, one last thing, some agencies take a much larger cut than others. I was working for Eastern Temporaries when I found out that the guys coming in from Staffking (same job, same company) were getting paid a dollar more per hour. Staffking took a much smaller part of their pay, so those guys did the exact same work but got a larger paycheck. So you might want to shop around first, because both companies I have worked for had employees from multiple temp agencies.

How soon should I look for one do you know? So should I actively seek them out end of april?

rbun · 04-11-2007, 10:25 PM

I used to be employed by a Temp Agency. Though, my experience wasn't bad. I was paid $10 to do data entry work (which was easy since all we had to do was copy and paste from PDF files of Sunday sales ads). Also, the agency offered health insurance and my supervisors over there were nice. However, the company that I was assigned to outsourced alot of the positions to Malaysia. Now I'm unemployed, and the job market here in Chicago blows. Even though I tried to do some SEO work with this web design firm, it didn't work out at all. It's hard for someone with a Bachelors Degree in Liberal Studies (Web Applications and Visual Communications concentrations) to find work in general.

F. Todos · 04-11-2007, 11:06 PM

I've worked for a temp agency after graduating college. I wasn't ready to commit to a full time career then, so I got a job that I'd be able to take weeks or months off to do nothing or to travel etc. Another benefit is that you have ONE employer and can test out different industries/companies instead of trying to get an actual job there, deciding you don't like it and then you've had several jobs over a short period of time, or you're unhappy working there.

Different agencies have different hookups. Some agencies probably work with big companies that have lots of turnaround. The one I worked for (OfficeTeam) had varied assignments, in good places like school districts and HR departments and consulting/specialty firms.

The experience that I got working in those places DID help me get a real permanent job. So I am a fan of temp agencies if you find a good one.

They will run you through a myriad of skill tests (math, various software, typing) and I did fairly well in those which probably had something to do with the positions I was offered. An engineering major should do fine so you'll likely get the positions where they wouldn't stick a dumb guy.

Timbaland · 04-13-2007, 06:57 PM

rbun, temp agencies do provide benefits but you have to pay out of your own pocket for them. They probably just give it to you at the same rate that they're paying for their full-time employees as they probably have a deal going with the insurance provider. I have a full time job now and I don't pay any money at all and I get good medical and dental insurance free of charge.

VTJas81, if you put your resume on monster.com or something a temp agency can find you on there or you can go to some of the big ones like Manpower.

muerteverde · 04-13-2007, 07:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VTJas81

How soon should I look for one do you know? So should I actively seek them out end of april?

My first expeience was that I walked in, applied for a job, and they got back to me later that day with a job. My second experience, I don't recal exactly, but I think it was during my first time setting foot in their office that they had me signing papers for starting a job. This may not be true in all cases and in all areas and it will vary depending on season too (the second time I came in tax season and they needed a lot of typists). It can't hurt to go early though, because you can tell them when you will be free to work and they will work around that. Also, they will ask you what types of jobs you would like to be offered. Manual labor? Clerical? Skilled?

**Lubaolong** · 04-13-2007, 07:39 PM

My wife worked for one a couple months while we were visiting family. They took $6 off the hourly wage and fired her right before her temp time was up before they were suppose to hire her. It seems like a pretty common practice. They just replace those that are getting close to getting on full time.

muerteverde · 04-13-2007, 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lubaolong

My wife worked for one a couple months while we were visiting family. They took $6 off the hourly wage and fired her right before her temp time was up before they were suppose to hire her. It seems like a pretty common practice. They just replace those that are getting close to getting on full time.

The ones I dealt with had no requirement for making people full employees. You could work for them for 10 years and still be a temp, without benefits and able to be dismissed on a whim. In fact,t he first place I worked the guy who trained me had been doing the job for almost a year and I worked there for three months and they told him flat out "it is company policy not to hire anyone, we only use temps. Either stay a temp forever or quit." He was working 40 hour weeks, and overtime whenever they asked, he was the most competent and efficient guy they had, he was always on time, he was extremely cheerful and friendly, and he asked them to make him long term because he had a daughter on the way and loved the job. Nope.

I bet it depends on the temp agency whether they have some sort of time limit to be a full employee. I am sure if they would have just rotated him to a new company if they had the policy you refer to Lubaolong. Oh, also, the second place I worked at, I had to sign papers swearing that I would not seek employment with the company outside the temp agency while working for them or so many months after or enter into any deals with the company I was being contracted to. So basicaly, if the company said to me "we love the work you are doing and we don't want to lose you. Quit the temp agency and come work for us full time" I would be legally obligated to decline or be sued by the temp agency (or at least that was my understanding from the documents they had me sign).