What's Good and Bad About Temp Work

I have to somewhat Disagree

Not all temp agencies are bad. There are still a few good Temp Agencies out there which are great to work for. In addition, if you are trying to get into a new career field most employers won't even give you a chance but temp agencies will give it a try if you can prove to them you are capable of doing the job.

Most Temp to Perm Positions pay a few dollars less (at the beginning) but once you get full-time hired you can negotiate your desired salary with the employer you are working for. I personally believe that online job sources like Monster or HotJobs are a waste of time because you very rarely get return call for an interview. Everybody has their own experience with Temp Agencies or online job search engines but it’s not fair to say that all of them are bad.

Anja of CA @ Jan 23, 2009 12:33:51 PM

Sliced and Diced

If one wants his or her career to be sliced, diced and destroyed, then they should sign up at a bunch of local temps. Companies that use temporary workers to do regular work on a regular basis are the kind that every worker and customer should also avoid.

Lyle of NM @ Jan 22, 2009 17:45:48 PM

Most of the staffing agencies offer bogus ads on jobs!!

I have about 8 years of experience in total, and intensely for about 4 months communicating with staffing agencies, job hunters, headhunters, you name it. During that 4 months I sent my resume hundreds of times, registered and placed my profile tens of times at various agencies, like Monster, Robert Half Technology, Careerbuilder, many many others. Almost all job ads on those agencies websites will lead you to another agency website where you have to register to login and provide as much info about yourself, as humanly possible, then to another. All the same jobs are advertised on hundreds of these agencies websites. They just copy them from each other, but say it's "their" client that has the particular job opening. They are %99,999 fake scam bags. The jobs they advertised are non-existent. They fake these adds to attract the flow of resumes and other people's personal info which the sell in bulk to insurance companies, banks and others who are willing to pay for it, as well as sucking for more credit lines from banks for their "activity". These are the same kind of businesses that brought this financial crisis to this country. They saturated this job market, standing as a great wall between the employers and potential employees, drawing the wages down by placing the fake ads with imaginary low wages. These are the parasites on the body of the society. Most of them uneducated, rude, have absolutely no knowledge in the professions they supposed to be working with. About me: I am not a welfare recipient or permanently unemployed, smelly dude, as these proponents of the fake agencies are trying to portrait the people who complain on these outrageous fakers, I am IT professional with 11 years of continued employment, and highly valued at my job. As I said, I have about 8 years of the experience communicating with them, send them my resume few hundreds times, has been interviewed by them over the phone few hundred times, and only 3!! of all actually got back to me with some info. Most off these businesses and agents, or so called agents and head hunters deserve legal actions against them and forceful closing for bashing employment market in the US, stealing peoples personal information, lying, annihilating people's trust for business and for other people. These are not small petty crimes, they destroy the very fabric of the society. I am calling on the authorities and people to unite, pull the resources and investigate this evil, as there are just too many of these cockroaches.

Eugene Volovoy of NY @ Dec 02, 2008 19:11:20 PM

Bologna

This is basically another trend to low ball workers. The workers in these temp jobs are paid far below market and given no benefits. Add to the fact they are fired for any reason with just one phone call and no recourse. As a chemist, I had staffing agencies calling left and right with their low ball offers.

The agencies also are typically very dubious. They are well known for such practices as placing fake job ads to get people to sign up and come to their offices. When the candidate gets there, they are offered a much less attractive position or none at all. Also, when the candidate provides references the agency hounds the references to come in. Finally, they persistently ask where you have been applying so they can hound these companies to give them the jobs. The temp to perm notion sometimes exists, but more often it is used as bait.

Steven of IL @ Nov 01, 2008 22:01:55 PM

This is America

If someone can figure out a way to bring employees to jobs they should get paid for it! Bottom line... coming from an employee.

The temp agencies are needed and fill a vital role in the job search.

tronmcp of TX @ Aug 29, 2008 13:55:47 PM

What's Good About Temporary Work

As president and CEO of the American Staffing Association, I need to address and debunk a few of the myths contained in Ms. Novak’s article. Here are the facts. First, staffing employment is an effective bridge to a permanent job. A majority of staffing employees seeking permanent positions achieved their goals in less than a year; 43 percent of those became employed by their staffing firm’s client. For others, flexibility really matters. Nearly one quarter of today’s staffing employees choose temporary or contract work because it offers them flexibility important to their lifestyle needs. Most important: 90% of staffing employees are satisfied with their work experiences, far exceeding satisfaction ratios from surveys of the total U.S. work force. These facts are from the ASA 2006 landmark survey of 13,196 current and former staffing employees. To download a PDF of the 40-page report on the survey results, visit http://www.americanstaffing.net/statistics/pdf/Staffing_Employee_Survey_Report.pdf.

Richard Wahlquist of VA @ Jul 18, 2008 11:58:54 AM