Questions to Ask
You will find temporary service companies listed in the Yellow Pages. Register with at least three of them. This is the time to ask about fringe benefits. Although such fringes may vary according to the temporary service company, here are some questions you might ask:
- Does the company offer paid vacations? If so, do hours accumulate from year to year or will you have to start from scratch each year? Some companies pay one week for every 1,000 hours worked.
- Is there a medical and hospital plan? What are the benefits? Does the company have seniority bonuses for their long-term employees?
- Do you get paid for referring other workers?
Temporary Path to a Permanent Job
"Temporary work... is an excellent pathway to becoming rehired," says James E. Challenger, president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a Chicago-based outplacement consulting firm. "It also reflects the increasing tendency by many to contract work out to specialists on an 'as needed' basis to save on the expense of full-time salaries and expensive benefits packages.
"As firms become smaller and more cost-effective," he says, "they may hire out a variety of services, even including manufacturing and production workers, while maintaining a com pact central core of managers. It is reflected in the growing popularity of the Just-in-time inventory' approach to manufacturing that has been used successfully by overseas producers and is now being used here.
"Although temporary work lacks the stability of full-time employment, many managers prefer it because of the variety of the work involved and the flexibility in terms of working hours," says Challenger.
"Some are becoming permanent members of the temporary and part-time work force. At the same time, others are accepting temporary assignments and still maintaining their overall objectives of finding a full-time job.
"For the individual who still has his or her sights set on full time, continuous employment, temporary work can provide a good stage because of the typically broad range of companies that a firm specializing in temporary workers deals with. More often than not, the person who makes a favorable impression and demonstrates significant contributions to the client firm's bottom line will receive a full-time job offer."
According to Challenger, some employers regard temporary workers with disfavor. They are often thought of as people who could not get a job and therefore become temporaries or consultants.
"For that reason, it is entirely possible that the manager who has chosen to do temporary work and then decides to seek full-time employment may be handicapped by having an unfavorable image just because he or she has accepted temporary work in the past."
The best approach is to accept the temporary or part-time assignments with the aim of converting those opportunities into full-time employment as soon as the appropriate job situation appears. Challenger's conclusions are based on his company's recent surveys of 600 managers, 25 percent of whom were discharged from companies with sales volumes ranging from $30 million to more than $1 billion.
Other drawbacks to temporary employment may include times when no assignments are available, working at a dull job, or working in an environment that you dislike. In such cases, ask for a new assignment.
Despite these perceived drawbacks, NATS says the three primary reasons people choose temporary employment are: (1) the appeal of variety in job assignments; (2) work environments; and (3) the ability to gain new and valuable work experience. Temporary employment also gives 50-plus professionals returning to the job market the flexibility to arrange their personal and professional work lives according to their dictates, the chance to learn new skills, earn extra income, or scout the job market to investigate a career change or find a full-time position.
