How easy is it to get hired at a temp agency?

[lozoman]

I recently just got laid off from my job and I'm trying to look for another one. In a blog, Winston mentions applying at temp agencies to make money. Due to today's recession, it's quite hard to get employment. But how hard/easy is it to get hired at a temp agency?

[Anatol]

Hello,

[~} It is quite difficult because temporary jobs are not very many.....and...

[~} The total job-time each week may only be 15 hours a week, with 10 hours at one job and 5 at another, since most jobs with these agencies are temporary. Also, one has to visit house to house for each job.

[~} The pay may be very little compared to your previous job.

[lozoman]

That's a shame, though it doesn't surprise me. thanks anyway.

[Cornfed]

It depends on where you are and whether you are the right age, gender, race etc. for whatever kinds of jobs you are going for.

[lozoman]

Im in San Francisco

[Winston]

In my experience, temp jobs are easy to get. You just need some good clerical and office skills.

Yes there are always plenty of temp jobs available. In every office there are people who take leave, go on vacation or quit. Many women also take maternity leave or get sick or have family emergencies. So there is always a demand for office temps.

However most temp jobs suck. They are either boring clerical jobs where they give you tedious work that no one else wants to do, such as filing, data entry, monotonous paper work, etc or factory labor. The work is often repetitive and mind numbing.

After a few weeks of sitting in an office you also get depressed from lack of physical activity and fresh air. Then you start yearning for freedom again. When lunch becomes the highlight of your day, then you know your work sucks. Lol

Other types of temp work are low paying factory jobs that are labor intensive and hard on the body.

I was lucky to get an easy temp job selling cell phones inside Best Buy. I stood around doing nothing most of the time. It was easy but boring. My mind was always abroad.

Another thing that works in your favor is that most temp workers are losers and low quality people. So you don't have that much competition for the jobs available because temp agencies can't use most of their applicants since they are flaky and unreliable.

I got my best temp jobs through Kelly Services. Look them up and contact them to see what they have. You will have to go through a testing process and skills test and interview of course, before they can put you on file.

[Cornfed]

Yes there are always plenty of temp jobs available. In every office there are people who take leave, go on vacation or quit. Many women also take maternity leave or get sick or have family emergencies. So there is always a demand for office temps.

Wouldn't such jobs automatically be given to females these days?

[Anatol]

In my experience, temp jobs are easy to get. You just need some good clerical and office skills.

Yes there are always plenty of temp jobs available. In every office there are people who take leave, go on vacation or quit. Many women also take maternity leave as well, or get sick or have family emergencies. So there is always a demand for office temps.

Hello Administrator Sir,

This is UNTRUE! Temporary jobs are not easy to get. Even if they are available most are 1 day or a week maximal in length. I suggest to the original man who asked this question ~ Go tomorrow and apply at various temporary agencies and see how many jobs you get during the next month and what types they are. Please let us know!!!

{(DRAGS A FEMINIST MAN INTO THE TOWN SQUARE IN FRONT OF EVERY MAN............. "I THINK HE NEEDS TO SEE THE LIGHT!!!!!"...................BEATS HIM WITH A MAG-LIGHT 2000............."SEE THE LIGHT MY FRIEND!!! THE LIGHT!!!! I THINK HE NEEDS TO SEE THE LIGHT!!!! THE LIGHT!!! THE LIGHT!!!!!!"........BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!)}

[Cornfed]

In my experience, temp jobs are easy to get. You just need some good clerical and office skills.

Yes there are always plenty of temp jobs available. In every office there are people who take leave, go on vacation or quit. Many women also take maternity leave as well, or get sick or have family emergencies. So there is always a demand for office temps.

Hello Administrator Sir,

This is UNTRUE! Temporary jobs are not easy to get. Even if they are available most are 1 day or a week maximal in length. I suggest to the original man who asked this question ~ Go tomorrow and apply at various temporary agencies and see how many jobs you get during the next month and what types they are. Please let us know!!!

He is probably thinking of 20 years ago and assuming the situation is basically unchanged. I don't know why people insist on doing that.

[Winston]

Yes there are always plenty of temp jobs available. In every office there are people who take leave, go on vacation or quit. Many women also take maternity leave or get sick or have family emergencies. So there is always a demand for office temps.

Wouldn't such jobs automatically be given to females these days?

Not necessarily. I got many of those jobs. But I was lucky cause my temp agency manager liked me.

They don't care about gender much. They just want people who show up, are reliable, do their job, and gets along well with others.

A lot of employers like me because I look honest, serious, down to earth and easygoing. That's the type of personality they like. If you were an office manager, wouldnt you want someone easygoing who looks honest and obedient? Of course you would.

It depends on the other applicants too. If most are losers and flaky then they will actually have trouble filling a job. They need to make a good impression on the client too or else they will not be contracted again by them.

I think temp agencies in suburbs are easier to get work with, because the ones in big cities have too many people applying to choose from so it's too competitive. That's my experience at least.

[Rock]

Yes there are always plenty of temp jobs available. In every office there are people who take leave, go on vacation or quit. Many women also take maternity leave or get sick or have family emergencies. So there is always a demand for office temps.

Wouldn't such jobs automatically be given to females these days?

Not necessarily. I got many of those jobs. But I was lucky cause my temp agency manager liked me.

They don't care about gender much. They just want people who show up, are reliable, do their job, and gets along well with others.

A lot of employers like me because I look honest, serious, down to earth and easygoing. That's the type of personality they like. If you were an office manager, wouldnt you want someone easygoing who looks honest and obedient? Of course you would.

It depends on the other applicants too. If most are losers and flaky then they will actually have trouble filling a job. They need to make a good impression on the client too or else they will not be contracted again by them.

I think temp agencies in suburbs are easier to get work with, because the ones in big cities have too many people applying to choose from so it's too competitive. That's my experience at least.

But wasn't your last experience w temp agency like 1 or 2 decades ago? When was your last hire? How do you know situation hasn't changed dramatically since then? The world moves ahead and so many things change so much so fast. I see this dynamic at play for example with viability of particular HA destinations.

[Winston]

Yes there are always plenty of temp jobs available. In every office there are people who take leave, go on vacation or quit. Many women also take maternity leave or get sick or have family emergencies. So there is always a demand for office temps.

Wouldn't such jobs automatically be given to females these days?

Not necessarily. I got many of those jobs. But I was lucky cause my temp agency manager liked me.

They don't care about gender much. They just want people who show up, are reliable, do their job, and gets along well with others.

A lot of employers like me because I look honest, serious, down to earth and easygoing. That's the type of personality they like. If you were an office manager, wouldnt you want someone easygoing who looks honest and obedient? Of course you would.

It depends on the other applicants too. If most are losers and flaky then they will actually have trouble filling a job. They need to make a good impression on the client too or else they will not be contracted again by them.

I think temp agencies in suburbs are easier to get work with, because the ones in big cities have too many people applying to choose from so it's too competitive. That's my experience at least.

But wasn't your last experience w temp agency like 1 or 2 decades ago? When was your last hire? How do you know situation hasn't changed dramatically since then? The world moves ahead and so many things change so much so fast. I see this dynamic at play for example with viability of particular HA destinations.

It was one decade ago. Yeah. I'm just relating my experience. I see no logical reason why what I said should be any different today. Office work is still needed and many workers take a leave, as I explained above. The stuff I described above is pretty typical, not something that changes much.

I'm relating my real life experiences. It's better than speculating that everything has gotten worse due to a negative or cynical mindset without evidence.

It may be that I was lucky because higher forces were helping me to save money to go abroad cause it was my destiny. Lol. I don't know.

But look, just because I'm unlucky in love and dating doesn't mean I also have to be unlucky in getting temp jobs. The universe has to balance things out you know? Lol. Come on. Gimme a break. Lol

You also gotta consider that some people give off a vibe that some employers like. Not everyone is the same. I've had employers like me for no reason and others who have hated me for no reason. Some have given me undeserved praise all the time too. Lol

[Rock]

Yes there are always plenty of temp jobs available. In every office there are people who take leave, go on vacation or quit. Many women also take maternity leave or get sick or have family emergencies. So there is always a demand for office temps.

Wouldn't such jobs automatically be given to females these days?

Not necessarily. I got many of those jobs. But I was lucky cause my temp agency manager liked me.

They don't care about gender much. They just want people who show up, are reliable, do their job, and gets along well with others.

A lot of employers like me because I look honest, serious, down to earth and easygoing. That's the type of personality they like. If you were an office manager, wouldnt you want someone easygoing who looks honest and obedient? Of course you would.

It depends on the other applicants too. If most are losers and flaky then they will actually have trouble filling a job. They need to make a good impression on the client too or else they will not be contracted again by them.

I think temp agencies in suburbs are easier to get work with, because the ones in big cities have too many people applying to choose from so it's too competitive. That's my experience at least.

But wasn't your last experience w temp agency like 1 or 2 decades ago? When was your last hire? How do you know situation hasn't changed dramatically since then? The world moves ahead and so many things change so much so fast. I see this dynamic at play for example with viability of particular HA destinations.

It was one decade ago. Yeah. I'm just relating my experience. I see no logical reason why what I said should be any different today. Office work is still needed and many workers take a leave, as I explained above. The stuff I described above is pretty typical, not something that changes much.

I'm relating my real life experiences. It's better than speculating that everything has gotten worse due to a negative or cynical mindset without evidence.

It may be that I was lucky because higher forces were helping me to save money to go abroad cause it was my destiny. Lol. I don't know.

But look, just because I'm unlucky in love and dating doesn't mean I also have to be unlucky in getting temp jobs. The universe has to balance things out you know? Lol. Come on. Gimme a break. Lol

You also gotta consider that some people give off a vibe that some employers like. Not everyone is the same. I've had employers like me for no reason and others who have hated me for no reason. Some have given me undeserved praise all the time too. Lol

Of course. And I've personally never worked for a temp agency my whole life. But I do think that when we talk from our own experience and provide anecdotes, we should make it clear how dated the experience we related is.

One thing I've learned just from traveling, things tend to change much faster than I expect. I'm just back in China, the very same place I came 2 years ago. It's amazing how different it seems now just in this area from 24 months ago.

As for the USA, consider that based on what several posters have written over last 2 or 3 years, there has been a huge decline in the percentage of fresh college grads able to find jobs which fit their level or even min wage jobs, especially males. This trend has been going on for at least a decade. So it's possible that over this period, supply of temp agency applicants has increased a lot more than demand for them making it easier for these agencies to cherry pick. If that's the case, it seems for whatever reasons, women are generally favored over males so guess who looses.

Perhaps E_Irazzary (R&B singer) can shed light on this cus I think he may have been at the wrong end of this dynamic in last couple years. Or could it just be that he doesn't appear to employers to be as reliable and solid as Winston Wu?

[Winston]

I don't know Rock. I don't trust statistics and news. For example back in 1992 during the Bush vs. Clinton presidential campaign, one of the main issues was that everyone kept saying that there weren't enough jobs and that tons of people were out of work as though it were a crisis or epidemic. Some people on TV kept saying "There are no jobs! We need jobs!" as though there were no jobs in America.

Yet when I opened the newspaper there were tons of job ads in the help wanted paper everyday. Even my college campus had tons of job openings posted. So I didn't see what all the fuss on TV was about. Even I was able to get work.

You gotta remember that the news is focused on all the negative and worst stuff. It doesn't represent real life everyday experiences. So I'm skeptical of it.

For some reason, fearmongering is addictive to people who always like to focus on how terrible everything is. It was the same back in 1992 as well as now.

[hammanta]

I recently just got laid off from my job and I'm trying to look for another one. In a blog, Winston mentions applying at temp agencies to make money. Due to today's recession, it's quite hard to get employment. But how hard/easy is it to get hired at a temp agency?

It depends what you are looking for. For instance my older brother is a real work of art. He's going on 27 and has had 30 jobs in his life, fired from most. He never has a problem getting temp jobs, and most turn into full time after 3+ months. However, these are usually factory jobs making $10-13 an hour. If that's what you are going for then you shouldn't have a problem finding one, especially if you have some type of forklift or other certification.