I’m planning on signing up with a temporary employment agency this week, and I need some advice. About five years ago, I did some temp work, and when I applied at the agency, I deliberately left off “receptionist” or anything to do with the telephone on the application because I hate hate hate working with phones. I also stressed in the interview that I really, really did not want to be sent to receptionist positions and really, really did not want to have to answer phones.
Well, the first two jobs they sent me to were receptionist jobs. I took them because I needed the money, but when they asked me to take the third receptionist job, I passed on it…and they never called me again. (Fortunately, I had a permanent job already lined up in the near future.)
So here I am again, ready to join the ranks of temp workers, and I’m wondering how can I, a) politely, and b) successfully, convince the person handling my application NOT TO SEND M-- ahem not to send me receptionist and telephone-answering work? How do I do it in such a way that doesn’t come across as rude/stubborn/attitude-full and make them less inclined to want to work with me?
(You know, my brother temped in college and was never asked to be a receptionist, so I can’t help but think that just because I’m a woman, they assume I’ll be good at that kind of thing. I’m not, I hate it. I don’t even like answering my own phone!)
I had exactly the same situation (except that I said that I wouldn’t do cold-calling); the first job they gave me morphed from “talking to existing business clients” to cold-calling within a day. I called the agency, they gave me a crap speech about “well, it’s all working with phones, isn’t it?” and they agreed to replace me. Never offered me another job.
My solution was to find a better agency. Is that an option where you are? Some temp agencies are really quite bad about this sort of thing, whereas the better ones actually try to match your skills and preferences with the jobs available.
(Oh, and I was once refused work by an agency because they only did receptionist and secretarial placings and I wasn’t female. Luckily for them I was disinclined to bring a suit against them - too much hassle.)
When I was in college, I worked in a temp agency. They really, really like people who aren’t picky about assignments and lots of the jobs are for receptionists. The best advice I can give you is do a really good job and get to the point where they like and value you enough to let you be picky. At the beginiing though, they will likely stop calling if you are too picky.
Consider it picking up a skill you don’t have now and that is, in fact, useful to have. Temp jobs are always low-level gigs (receptionist, file clerk)—a firm is not going to take someone off the street and put them in a make-or-break position. But, on the one hand, receptioning is pretty low pressure, and on the other hand, if you show you can handle more responsibility, your duties might be revisited and aligned with something more to your liking.
However, temp companies get paid when you work an assignment, not when you turn up your nose. Whom do you think they are going to prefer to deal with: someone who makes their earning profits easier by taking receptionist gigs if that’s what out there or someone who insists only on jobs they like?
Temp agencies are very picky now. They didn’t used to be.
I have signed up with so many of them. Not many call me at all anymore. Everyday I go through my list of 15 and I call them.
In the old days Accountemps (Robert Half) used to ring my phone off the hook. Now they don’t call. YOU have to call them every day to get on the list.
Another temp agency which gives me some stuff tells you, if they call and you refuse to come in for any reason, you go to the bottom of the list. Two times you refuse work and you’re off the list for good. I got sent down to the bottom of the list, 'cause they called me and I said, “I have a job from another agency for that day.”
So when you go in, specifically ask for their policies. As I said, the temp agencies are so picky now. It’s hard to believe as little as two years ago they were calling me constantly for jobs. Ah the times they are a-changing huh?
This is true. However, I worked for three years in customer service, so my hatred of phones is more due to, like, PTSD than it is due to unfamiliarity with the task.
You and madmonk28 make a good point about doing well for a while and then asking for other kinds of work.
Luckily, I live in an area with several temp agencies – do you guys recommend that I sign up with all of them, or do you think that will burn me, as in Markxxx’s post?
If I were temping I would think that answering phones would be one of the easiest and lowest pressure assignments.
And, really, look at it logically, “receptionist” is going to be one of the most common temp needs. A company that has a receptionist needs one every day, even when the permanent receptionist is on sick leave. Most other jobs can slide by some sick leave without needing a temporary replacement.
It’s embarrassing to admit, but for me, answering the phones is high pressure because it makes me so anxious. Especially if it’s for a company that uses a large switchboard-like phone, and the phone is constantly ringing. I just sit there, nervous, for 8 hours straight, and I’d rather not have to deal with that if there is any possible way of avoiding it. I was being facetious with the PTSD comment but seriously, I feel like there was some classical conditioning going on during my time in customer service, where phone ringing = angry customer = aversive stimulus, and the conditioning hasn’t been extinguished yet.
(Can you tell I have a BA in psychology I’ve never used? :p)
It’s been a long time, but I was once signed up at three agencies. They didn’t mind my “cheating” on them with other agencies. It didn’t turn out to be a problem because soon I was working full time for the one that consistently got me work.
It was kind of funny, they had me on one assignment for 5 months. I was eventually the most senior person in the department.
You’re getting some bad advice here; receptionist is not a low-pressure assignment, and it sure as hell isn’t low-pressure if you hate answering phones. Yes, sign up for as many agencies as it takes; I would usually sign up for one per week, allowing the one I just signed up for to find me an assignment, since it seems that as a new sign-up, they tend to call you right away. Receptionist is the most common assignment that comes in - because no one wants to do it because it’s shitty work. When you sign up with a temp agency, they sit down and have a chat with you, and that’s the time to tell them that you’ll do any assignment that comes in except phone work. You will probably have to wait longer for an assignment that way, but nobody wins if you get placed and you quit four hours later, and temp agencies are starting to get that.
Don’t start by taking receptionist gigs - they’ll never stop offering them to you if you do that. And yes, you’re right - there is the sexist assumption that every woman working in an office would love nothing better than to answer phones.
Most temp agencies I’ve seen don’t like to carry temps who are picky about what work they do, especially when they cancel out what is likely to be some of their most commonly available assignments.
Depends on where it is. One summer in college I answered phones in the Mortgage Origination department of a regional bank. People awaiting a decision on the largest financial transaction of their lives can get unpleasant very quickly, especially when you can’t answer their question and the people that can are in a meeting, on their phone already, or simply not answering their phone. The next summer I worked for a temp agency and had jobs packing merchandise for distribution, assembling items, and file clerking. WAYYYYY less stressful.
Thanks, you understand me. The part of your post that I’ve bolded…that’s essentially what I did the last time, whereafter they still sent me to receptionist positions. Although now that I think about it, I think I let the woman who handled my application talk me into taking that kind of work. I won’t let that happen again, but I’d still like to do it in a way that won’t bite me in the butt. Would a simple, “I prefer to work data entry-type jobs and would rather not fill in for receptionists” work, or does that sound too wishy-washy? I don’t want to come across as too stubborn or like I’m digging in my heels during the application interview, but I don’t want them to talk me into anything again, either.
Exactly this! That was precisely my experience, and I would love to have a job like the one in your last sentence. I’ll stress that at the interview.
What I also can do is re-work the customer service job section on my resume to highlight all the other duties I had and leave off “answer the phones” (I was technically a sales assistant and worked primarily with statistics). The rest of my resume is full of jobs that had nothing to do with answering phones or working with customers. That way, my resume won’t give the temp agency any bright ideas.
I temped for a while 15 years ago, when there weren’t nearly as many out of work people as there are today. Even then, temp firms really didn’t like people that were fussy about their first assignments. I had some crappy ones. But I found that as I showed that I was willing to work, actually showed up, and did a good job, I was offered better (longer term, better conditions) jobs.
So I’d suggest taking those first few distasteful jobs, do a good job, and once you have proven yourself, then go in and talk about getting away from phone work.
Once you prove yourself, they are much more reluctent to let you go. You are now a proven profit maker for the temp firm, rather than just another resume.
Here are some useful bits from the years when my wife worked as an Accountemp®.
She was sent to a job where the business was on the edge of collapse, and hadn’t paid payroll taxes to Uncle Sam. She walked away, and she told the agency why. It could have ruined her career as an accountant and might even have made her criminally liable.
She was sent to another place that had unethical (maybe even illegal) business practices. No dice. You don’t have to sell your soul for a job.
She spent some time at another business that continued to hire her on a now-and-then weekend basis for several years after she left as a temp.
Reception work sucks. You don’t know who gets put through and who always has to leave a message. You don’t know everyone’s nickname and there are endless pushy salespeople calling.
I’d sign up with every single agency.
There may be some companies which let you grow. There are also companies who won’t. Their view is that if you start doing other things, then they’ll need someone to answer the phone!
You’ll probably end up burning some bridges with temp companies. They can be very picky these days and will usually send new people to their crap jobs. You may luck out and find one agency that has a good assignment that they’re having a hard time filling.
Call the various agencies and ask them what type of assignments they usually have. If they’re predominantly reception/phone jobs, don’t sign up with them (unless you’ve no other choice). Different agencies draw different types of clients with different needs. You may not be able to pick and choose your jobs but you can increase the odds of getting the sort of work you want and decreasing the sort of work you don’t want by vetting who you sign up with.
Also - emphasize your non-phone skills in your CV/application. You say you’ve done statistics - that’s a good skill that some companies want, especially if you’ve done analysis. I was good with spreadsheets (MS Excel especially) - that turned out to be a real job-getter for me. If you have a decent typing speed you can pick up data entry work (which isn’t a bad job when you get down to it).
Play to your strengths. There are no guarantees, but it can’t hurt.
Sign up with as many agencies as you like. It’s not like they’re committing all their resources to you.
All agencies are not alike. Assuming you’re looking for permanent work, do your research and find out which agencies are placing the most people in permanent positions.
Be honest with your agent. I also hate the phone with a fiery passion, and I made it very clear to the agents I work with that I am NOT a receptionist. That’s not being ‘picky’. I’m also not an engineer, so they shouldn’t call me for that.
That said, keep an open mind, because being the receptionist at a huge firm with a switchboard is very different than being the receptionist at a small company, where the phone doesn’t ring incessantly, and it may turn out to be more of a general ‘office assistant’ job.
The part of your post that I’ve bolded…that’s essentially what I did the last time, whereafter they still sent me to receptionist positions. Although now that I think about it, I think I let the woman who handled my application talk me into taking that kind of work. I won’t let that happen again, but I’d still like to do it in a way that won’t bite me in the butt. Would a simple, “I prefer to work data entry-type jobs and would rather not fill in for receptionists” work, or does that sound too wishy-washy? I don’t want to come across as too stubborn or like I’m digging in my heels during the application interview, but I don’t want them to talk me into anything again, either.