Written by Kelly Kannar
I’ve run the temp desk at Majer since 2013 and I absolutely love it! The broad range of candidates and clients we work with, as well as the incredibly interesting mix of positions is fantastic! It’s no surprise really that I have ended up here – a passionate advocate for temporary work – given my own career in recruitment began through a temp role.
When we meet new candidates we always ask ‘would you consider temping?’ Quite often, candidates will be unsure.
Well, here are the top 5 reasons why you absolutely MUST consider temping!
1. Everyone loves the temp.
It’s true. You are the person who is there to save the day. It is pretty much guaranteed that the Client you are working for will be greeting you with open arms as you breeze through the door with a big smile, ready to help wherever you can.
2. You never know where a temp role could lead.
In the 4 years I have been running the temp desk at majer, I can’t even tally the amount of times a candidate has started out as the much loved temp and then been retained as a permanent staff member. Temp to perm opportunities are far more common than you might think. Sometimes we are aware of the possibility of temp to perm…Other times a Client won’t know they need someone like you until you are there in their offices making yourself and invaluable member of their staff! Perhaps you are called to do a temp gig on reception for a couple of weeks. You start chatting with the team and the managers and they notice you are a great fit…Before you know it you are being interviewed for a permanent role you didn’t even know existed. It absolutely happens and we have seen many a candidate secure a permanent role this way.
3. Temping keeps your experience, your energy and your resume fresh.
In the current job market it is not uncommon for us to speak to candidates who have been looking for their next permanent role for 6 months (or longer). A common scenario; they were made redundant then had a well-deserved break, not realising that their job search would take this long. Suddenly, they have a gap of 6 months (and growing) on their resume and they are aware it doesn’t look good. So, why not temp? You can avoid having that gap get any bigger. You get some confidence back (because we all know how job searching can take its toll on our confidence), some money coming in AND you are keeping your experience and skills current (perhaps even gaining new ones).
Another scenario might be; you’ve been in your role for a long time and have decided it’s time for a change so you took a leap of faith and resigned. Some of our best temps are candidates who just aren’t sure what their next step will be so they are happy to temp while they look for their next dream job. I have actually done this once so far in my career and it was the best move I could have made. I was at the company I started my recruitment career with. After 4 years, I knew it was time to try a new environment. I didn’t have anything to go to and I didn’t want to job search while I was still employed. So, I resigned and promptly landed a 3 month temp gig which ended up going for 14 months and still stands out as one of the most challenging and rewarding parts of my career to date. I came away from that contract with renewed energy, a whole new set of skills and capabilities and some lovely friends – and it all started with a temp role.
4. You can explore a new career path.
Doing something that you don’t really love? Want to try something else but not sure where to start? This is the perfect reason to temp!! I had been working as a primary school teacher before I began my career in recruitment. I really want to try something else…Just to see. So, I picked up a temp role helping an internal recruitment team at an Engineering firm with some reference checking for a massive project. I hit it off with the team, loved the work and I was good at it. Three months later I was offered a role as a recruitment officer. 9 years later, I’m still in recruitment.
5.Flexibility and Balance.
I’ve recently been working with a candidate who intermittently has to travel to the states for family. So, in between trips, she works casual temp/contract roles. That’s the thing about temping – there is so much flexibility. Can’t work for a few weeks? Just let us know! Oh and when you breeze through the door at the start of an assignment ready to save the day, the chances are you will be breezing back out pretty well at 5pm. Temping is a great way to inject some work life balance back into your career!
It’s true. You are the person who is there to save the day. It is pretty much guaranteed that the Client you are working for will be greeting you with open arms as you breeze through the door with a big smile, ready to help wherever you can.
So now we’ve convinced you that you absolutely MUST consider temping, here are some quick tips for being an amazing temp!
- Be flexible. Be flexible with everything; the roles, the duration, the pay rate (within reason – we all understand living expenses) and the location. You are likely not to find yourself without work for long.
- Be helpful, positive and friendly to everyone! Remember, you never know where this could lead so leave a positive impression on everyone and anyone you interact with.
- Take notes!!!!!!!! We can’t stress this enough. If you are being told how to do something, ensure you are writing notes. We have had some incredible people temp in our own offices over the years and the standouts always take notes when we are showing them the processes. The people who don’t take notes…Not so much.
- Commit. We get it…Your end goal is a permanent, stable opportunity. But please, if you take on an assignment, ensure you are in a position to commit to the end date. You don’t ever want to burn a bridge – Brisbane is a small town.
- Arrive early and don’t be a clock watcher. Sure temping offers amazing flexibility and work life balance but depending on the nature of the assignment, every so often, you may need to stay back to finish something off. The best temps always stay to support the team – even if it’s only for 15 minutes. And, it’s good manners to arrive to start the day 10 minutes early. These are the things our clients notice.
We are always looking to work with amazing candidates who want to temp so if you think you might like to explore this, don’t hesitate to get in touch with the majer team to have a chat – we would love to hear from you!!
– Kelly Kannar
