Temp Employment Agency Tips

A temp employment agency fills short term positions for employers. They provide staffing services in a wide range of industries, and the jobs available through a temporary placement agency could last anywhere from one day to several months. If you're looking for work, you might consider signing on with a few temporary employment agencies.

Benefits of working with a temp employment agency

• A temp job agency can help you to find a job quickly. If you need to get some income coming in quickly, working with a temporary placement agency could help you to find work faster than you might on your own.
  
• Some companies only hire their full time staff through a temp employment agency. Sometimes employers use temp agencies when they need to hire full time staff. Even though they may have a long term staffing need, they will hire a person on contract through an agency. Assuming that person proves to be a good fit for the company, the employer will then hire that person on a full time basis. Working through a temporary placement agency can be the only way to get hired full time at some companies.
  
• Temporary placement agencies get plenty of job leads that are not advertised. Working with a temp employment agency can open up a lot of job opportunities that will not be available to you if you choose not to work with an agency.
  
• Working through a temporary staffing agency can help you to avoid having gaps in your employment history. Instead of having months of unemployment that could be obvious on your resume, you will be able to tell employers that you have spent your time temping, which will demonstrate that you have a strong work ethic and will do what it takes to accomplish a task.
• You may be able to build new skills or improve current skills through a temp employment agency. According to the American Staffing Association, 90% of employment agencies provide free training to their temporary employees. Many agencies offer self study opportunities to build skills such as typing speed, computer skills or safety training.
• The better temp employment agencies will put you through a testing process when you first sign on with them in order to assess your skills. Knowing the results of these tests can allow you to clearly communicate your skills to other employers when you are interviewing for jobs outside of the temp agency. For example, if you were looking for an office admin. job, instead of saying, "I have strong computer skills." if your computer skills had been tested through an agency, you would be able to say, "I tested my computer skills at ABC Temp Agency, and I scored..." then tell your best scores on tests that are relevant to the job you are seeking.
• If you are starting out in a new career or industry, doing a few contracts through a temp agency can help you to get related experience and make business contacts in a specific industry.

Things to remember when working with a temp employment agency

• You'll need to be very flexible with your schedule and available for work at a moment's notice. This requirement can be an issue if you have young children and need to arrange childcare. It will be important to think through and plan for your childcare needs ahead of time.
  
• Be honest about the hours you are available for work and the distance you are willing to commute. You can't turn down too many jobs or the staff at the agency will begin to think you are not serious about working and will stop calling you.
  
• Agencies are paid a percentage of your hourly wages by the employer. Sometimes the agency's cut is significant, making your wage quite low, while other agencies receive a smaller percentage, so you can make a fair hourly rate working as a temp. The range is huge. Don't write off all agencies assuming the pay is always low; that is not always the case.
  
• If you are receiving some type of government unemployment insurance benefits, working through a temporary employment agency MIGHT allow your benefits to last a bit longer.
  
  For example, in SOME (not all) LOCATIONS if you are receiving some type of unemployment insurance benefits, and you accept a contract for a few weeks' work (we'll say 6 weeks as a random example) through a temp agency, your benefits will be put on hold, and when your contract with the agency ends, your unemployment insurance benefits will resume immediately but now they will end 6 weeks later then they were originally going to end because you did not receive those benefits for the 6 weeks that your were temping. IMPORTANT This scenario will not be true in all countries. Rules around unemployment insurance benefits vary vastly depending upon where you live, so if you want to know how working at a temp agency will affect your unemployment insurance benefits, you must speak directly with someone at the government agency that administers unemployment insurance in your local area. Do not rely on second hand information; go straight to the agency that handles unemployment insurance to ensure you have the correct information for your specific location.
• Working through a temp agency can keep you busy and it may limit the time you have to look for more long term employment. This is not a reason to avoid working through temporary employment agencies, but if you ultimately want more long term work, you will need to schedule time to continue to work on your job search.
• Temp agencies are paid by the employer, so they work for the employer, and the employer's needs are the first priority. I've actually seen a temp employment agency defined as "a business that offers short term contract employment services to job seekers". That definition is completely backwards, actually temp agencies offer staffing services to employers who require staff on a short term basis. It's a very important distinction, because you must remember that the temp agency works for the employer, (not the job seeker) and meeting the employer's needs is the agency's first priority.
• Most temp agencies include a buyout clause in their contracts with employers. That means that if the employer wants to hire you on full time, they will have to pay the agency a fee. This buyout clause is fairly standard, so most employers who use an agency for their staffing needs and want to hire you on full time will not be surprised by this condition if they decide to hire you on as permanent employee.
• When you find work through an agency, you are not an employee of that employer, so you will not have access to their benefits package and other employee perks.
• Some agencies; however, do offer benefits (so the benefits would come from the agency, not the employer) when you are working. Not all agencies offer this perk, so if benefits are crucial to you, be sure to find out which temporary job agencies in your area offer benefits. Do not make this your first question if you are meeting with staff from temporary staffing agencies, take time to build some rapport and demonstrate your skills before you get into questions about benefits.

If you are convinced that you would like to look for work through a temp employment agency, it's not a simple matter of signing up with the first agency you find. Please review the article Temporary Job Agencies for detailed information about choosing and getting work through a temp employment agency.