Temp Agency?

Tomorrow I am going to the local temp agency. Does anyone have experience with temp agencies? My mom and my grandmother both have done temp agencies and they loved it. Your thoughts?

Nothing personal but I have a couple of friends with excellent office and data input skills who love working temp. I hope this works well! Can you keep us posted?

of course!

Ive temped - ive been a jelly girl, a mens cologne girl, worked the voting place, and various typing / ie word processing jobs. Like transcribing recorded meeting minutes.

They test you on typing speed, and then there are tests already built in to excel and word and access (data base) that gauge if you have beginner to expert skills in them, that they might have you take.

Mostly they want you to be available and to BE ON TIME. Like if youre gonna replace somebody taking a 2 week vacation, they want you for the whole two weeks, plus a training day or two.

I enjoyed it.

Temp jobs in offices never worked out for me, but CNA/HHA temp jobs have saved my life SEVERAL times.

I know a lot of people, including myself, who had good experiences with temp agencies. I got my current job by being a temp first actually. It's a nice way for both sides to "try out" for awhile, and if there is a fit companies usually are very favorable to hiring at the end of the term, but it depends on the company.

Also, it's also important to keep a good relationship with the temp agency while they search for you, and during your assignment. Talk with them often, call and ask what they have available weekly, and let them know exactly what you are looking for. Being on good terms with them will most likely land you a better assignment.

Remember, it's okay to turn down an assignment if you don't think it will be a fit. Don't just take it because it's offered and you don't want to make them mad. They want you to fit in so you'll stay there awhile.

I worked as a temp for a while early on and it was valuable to me. I think I remember working for 6 different companies over that stretch. I learned a variety of skills...probably more than if I was full-time during the same thing all the time. I built up a network of people that I could email when I was looking for work. I was offered a full-time position in two of the jobs. I turned down the first one and continued to temp and took the second one that was offered.