Temp agencies! What do you think?

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Hi, I'm thinking of going up to Man Power (A temp agency in AZ) and seeing if something good comes of that. I applied to tutor at the community college again, but it's slow and they don't have hours. What has your experience been with temp agencies? I know I might end up stirring concrete mix in an orange bucket but at least I'm be working.

I found temp agencies pretty useful. One interview and set of forms leading to an ongoing source of employment was good. OTOH, no benefits, lowish wages, and somewhat unpredictable changes (location, hours etc.) were annoying. I only used them (it was Man Power, also) a few years, but after a job would end, they'd have me set up with another job pretty quickly. It was like having someone else combing the classifies and sending the applications in for me, which was really good.

My jobs were in electronics construction; I don't know how that affects the experience compared to other types of work.

Overall, it was good, in my case. I think they're a good if you're young.

Thanks for your response! I feel more optimistic!

I've had varied experience. As you can see, it wasn't that positive.

1. I found them to be sexist. I have secretarial skills, but as a man, I never got a secretarial assignment (which paid better than the "light labor" jobs they kept giving me).

2. I found them to be eager to sign up lots of people but not bother to call you. You have to pester them for assignments.

3. While you are free to leave assignments you are not happy with, if they decide you are a "problem" worker, they won't bother calling or assigning you anymore, but you won't be "fired" without something unusual happening.

4. Temp work is nice if it suits your needs, but the temp agency is making mad money sending you out to work places that would pay you much better if you worked directly for them. Going temp-to-permanent isn't as frequent as it sounds.

5. Many employers that have high turnover rates will exclusively use temps to avoid unemployment benefit issues. To become permanent, you have to have several months of experience working at their site before you are eligible for employment. Nice way to weed out those who can do the job, but blatantly exploitative.

Same here, but it beats having no income at all.

One of my best experiences was being sent to a place where I had in the past worked as a regular employee ... and my previous supervisor happened to walk by and notice me and had me back on the payroll the next day.

Use the temp agencies to get a look inside various places and watch for a good opportunity.

For me,
like a toilet-they're all full of sh*t

While I agree with the other posters that the pay is on the low side, few health benefits if any, & somewhat exploitative, I feel that a pay check is better than none. An added bonus is that temp agencies pay weekly, when you're working though. One will not get a paycheck if one isn't working. Gotta love that! I also feel that you gain insight into what jobs you do well at while weeding out ones where you feel you'd rather not go back to. I've been working at my current job 5 years now as a permanent employee after getting my start there as a temp. The only down side is being sent to some places that I either didn't fit in or found distasteful. But I did learn which jobs suited me & which jobs to pass on.

So far, I have not registered with any agencies. I was intending to, but then I got a job.

The adviser at the Jobcentre told me that agencies are only useful if you visit/telephone them every week or fortnight, as they won't contact you.

Someone on a forum comfirmed this. He said that when he was at university, he always went in on Friday to try and get work for the following week. Apparently it can also help you to find permanent work.

Sure. They are looking for motivated people ... and I know of one agency that has people call in every day, and another one that tells new people to actually show up every day even if they end up only being sent back home.

A few years ago, after I moved to a new city, I approached several temporary agencies in an effort to find work. My initial attempts did not go well. In a couple of instances a staff member --the "gatekeeper"-- glanced at my CV/resume, and then handed it back to me saying that they could not help me. At some other agencies, a staff member --for some strange reason these were always young ladies-- glanced at my CV, asked me a couple of questions (the nature of which, indicated that they had not really read my CV), and then said to me that they would call in a few days when they had work. They were, of course, lying, which was obvious even to me because they did not bother to have me register with them. (Registration involves filling out a lot of forms and making photocopies of your identification.) To this day, I am still puzzled as to why they felt it necessary to lie to me. A couple of other agencies did bother to go through the registration process, but never called to offer me work.

Anyway, I eventually found an agency that was willing to sign me up and find work for me. The assignments were relatively tedious and monotonous tasks that "normal" people hate to do. The clients were quite happy to have someone who showed up to work on time, who quietly went about getting the job done, and who did not waste time chatting and goofing off. Being a good worker, in this sense, makes the agency look good, which in turn makes them happy and so they continued to find lots of work for me. (I now have a permanent job in a different city.)

Some agencies are better than others, so sign up with a few and see what assignments come your way. Don't be discouraged if you don't get an assignment right away, and be sure to call them each day so you move to the top of the list. Temping is a great way to get a little experience, earn a little money, and just get out of the house each day.

Once you get an assignment, if you are reliable and show up when you are supposed to and don't leave early, you will probably get more assignments from that agency. Agencies are asking companies for feedback on you, and the most important quality for a temp is reliability. Some jobs will be boring, but companies have a need to have a body there for whatever reason in case something happens. It can be easy money if you look at it the right way.

Temp agencies can't hurt. THey can give you a job and/or experience if you don't have one. if you already have a decent paying job, then I wouldn't suggest temp agencies. usually temp agencies help you get off the ground, but they don't help much in terms of finding something that you could live off of (easily) on your own.

I have a degree from a prestigious university, yet I failed their "integrity" test. The obvious loudmouth crackhead with substance abuse problems beside me passed.

In other words, if you're using this website you're probably overqualified. Just lie. It gets everyone else through life.

One good thing about temp agencies is that there usually is no interview, whether at registration or when you get an assignment. If you're lucky, you'll get a temp to hire assignment where if the company likes you, they'll hire you before the assignment is over.

You might have better luck than I did. I found it to be a BIG waste of time. Pretty much for all of the reasons zer0netgain mentioned. I had much better luck applying to places directly.

For the record, I worked at a temp agency. I think it's absolutely worth it to register with a few and see where it gets you. My aunt (NT) just got a temp-to-hire job, which is common now, and only available to those registered with these agencies.