Suppose I temp for a company and do a decent job, then apply for a permanent position that outsiders will apply for as well. As a temp, am I any more likely to get that position? If so, a little, or a lot? If it depends, what does it depend on?
It depends on company policy and on how well you’re doing your job.
In general, if you’re already there and doing a good job, you’ve got a large advantage over a stranger. This can be annulled by one of the candidates being somebody’s nephew, but if the externals are really externals, the temp has much better chances.
Many companies use a first temp contract as a way to test employees. If the employee doesn’t work out, “end of contract” looks better in his resume, makes for a more natural endpoint and causes less acrimony than “failed trial period.”
I once got a temp job at the same time and for the same position (lab tech) as another woman, both of us with similar qualifications. She performed only the tasks which our less-qualified coworkers in the same position did, refused to take any additional responsibilities, kept talking about this amazing government job she was going to be offered (and was very surprised when we showed her that in order to get that job she’d have to “win” it over several thousand candidates). Me, after a month I was in charge of calibrations; by the second month I was also reviewing the ISO manuals.
Question: which of the two got hired permanently, and eventually ended getting an internal promotion over her boss’s head?
Temp is the way to go.
Lots of companies like to have temps as:
- No long term commitments.
- No benefits.
- Can fire at will.
On the flip side:
- Can determine if the temp is a flake or not.
- Get to know you, your work habits and talents, if any.
- See how you “fit in” at the workplace.
From personal experience, I can tell you that temps almost ALWAYS get the job unless some “Wunderkind” shows up with a resume that blows you away. (Or you get screwed because they have to hire the idiot relative of the boss…)
In the “old days” temps were just that - temps. Today, temps are a way for potential employers to find out if you are worth hiring.
My experience?
- Major film studio hired me as a temp - got full tme job.
- Major law firm hired me as a temp - offered me a job and I turned it down, but continued to work for them (at a large salary bump) for five years!
- Started teaching at a school - got the reviews from students, and comments from other teachers - am now full-time and head of a department.
Temps rule!
BTW, as a temp, be sure to learn (quickly) who is really in charge - often it is the secretary or office assistant who has the real final decision - not necessarily the “boss”.
Forgot to mention, and before anybody asks why I would turn down a full-time job; they were a very high-powered firm and treated their employees like crap…but as a (higher-paid) temp, I could come and go as I wished. If I wanted to take off Friday, or come in late on Monday, it was no problem. Trust me when I say for this law firm, it was better to remain a temp - and as a five year “temp”, I had my freedom AND a nice salary. Unlike ex-employees, we still have a good relationship and they asked me back for a couple of days (regarding a database I created for them) and they paid me triple my old salary…
I have twice been hired by companies that I started out temping for.
In the first case, some months had passed after the temp job finished, and I was re-entering the job market. I called their personnel dept. to ask permission to use them as a reference. A few days later they called back and offered me a full-time job.
The most recent case is my current job.
In both cases I was originally hired to do very basic clerical work. Both employers got to know that I had other talents, showed up on time and was willing to go beyond the minimum to get a job done.
Most of the jobs I have gotten over the years have started out temporary. In many cases, the employers would only consider temp or temp-to-hire for mid-level positions. They were comfortable hiring entry level or upper management from outside, but it seemed for a while there in the '80’s and '90’s you almost couldn’t get a mid-level accounting or IT position except through an agency. My current job is only the second one in two decades that I got by applying directly, and that only because I was applying for higher level positions.
That’s how it worked for me too. Actually, the first job I got in Seattle was at a place where I was doing volunteer work. When the budget allowed for it, they hired me. The second time was a temp clerical job. My only assigned task was collating training materials. During slow times (waiting for something from the print shop), I cleaned and organized the supply cabinets and then asked people if they had something I could help with. I was there for twelve years and was promoted several times.
Agreeing with everything that has been said here already - temping is an awesome foot in the door at a company. Not only do they try you on, but you try them on - you can avoid some serious mistakes by seeing what a company is like from the inside.
Not only will a company often hire a good temp for a permanent job, they even create jobs for good temps sometimes (but you can’t count on that).
The relative hiring rates for temps versus non-employees would probably be different than the difference in your chances in the two roles.
That is, I think it’s easier for a given person to get into a job via the temp route than the cold interview route. They understand you much better and take much less of a risk.
Temps, though, might not do so well in general for several reasons. People might work at temp agencies because they can’t get hired in other places, or they don’t want permanent positions. At least 30 years ago when I did it, these were sometimes the case. If you are not doing those particular things, your chances could be better than a general population that includes people who are doing them.
The opposite might be true too. For example, some really excellent people, who could pick and choose where they want to work, might try them out as a temp before making a commitment.
In any case, having been a temp, and having later hired temps into full time positions, I think it works well and really like the idea for reasons more than just because it can give you a good chance (though that’s great too).
I got my last permanent job from a temp job.
However, some places will not want to hire you because the temp agencies will want an additional finder’s fee. Sometimes this turns out to be a substantial percentage of your annual salary, which will deter your employer. My last employer wanted me to take a corresponding, very large hit from my salary because of this fee – I successfully argued against this, but beware this bargaining tactic. (I told him I’d rather stay a temp, then, because the pay was better.)
Sometimes company policy (in large companies) is against hiring temps permanently as well. Some large companies will have their own temp agency that provides a job bank for them to fill vacations with. If you find yourself in this situation often the company will discourage hiring from the bank because that leaves them with fewer people to cover vacancies. I would advise not working in this situation anyway because your jobs can be very spotty and they take you very much for granted.
If you are temping don’t take being hired for granted either. Many companies will hire temps grudgingly and treat them very badly indeed. My last few jobs have been pretty crappy, because as a result of the economic downturn people made a lot of their secretarial teams redundant, which means that work has just been sitting there for months. They hire me then say, clean the mess, you have a day this week, and maybe a day next week in which to do so. And they pay me very little, which discourages my work ethic (of course I bust ass to get things done but I feel much less sanguine).
Tough times lately.
I used to temp and got lots of permanent job offers, even though the companies had to pay the agency a finder’s fee if they took me out of circulation.
My company, a Fortune 50 company, routinely hires its administrative staff via the temp pool.
The finder’s fee for hiring a temp obviously varies. In my son’s case, they told him they wanted him as a permanent employee but wanted him to stay a temp until a time limit with the temp agency passed. Apparently they didn’t have to pay the finder’s fee if they used him thru the agency for six months before making him permanent.
I started with my current company as a contract employee temp. I’m not sure if working here as a temp for 9 months was a boost or not, but here I am.
Mine too. Two of the last three receptionists, the current one included, were (are?) temps.
I think you probably need to do better than a “decent” job to see a high offer rate, but I think when the job is actually open headcount, having a foot in the door helps - being a known quantity is better than being an unknown quantity - provided that known quantity meets expectations. However, when Bob’s neighbor’s kid needs a job as well…you have to exceed expectations.
Do understand what your agency’s “temp to perm” arrangements are. If the buyout is unreasonable, no one is going to pay it for an $11 an hour staffer.
I’d like to add one more “it all depends” note to this discussion. I have temped long-term 3 times that I can remember. The first time, I was hired as a permanent employee. The second time, there were 2 successive hiring freezes lasting a total of almost 2 years as the company went through 2 lengthy and complicated mergers. I found permanent employment elsewhere shortly before the hiring freeze finally ended. The third time is still ongoing, and this is where the major “it all depends” comes in. The position for which I was brought in as a temp is not part of the permanent head count. In other words, my position is not eligible for conversion to permanent employment. I am free to apply for any posted vacancies, but I will not be applying for a job that is essentially very similar to the job I am doing. The jobs that are part of the permanent head count are quite different. And I’m not the only one in this boat – there are quite a few temps here, all performing jobs that are outside of the permanent head count. Some temps have succeeded in crossing over, but others have been here as temps for 7 years or more without ever making the leap. In this case, it depends less on how well you are performing your current job than how well your overall qualifications and other experience match the approved headcount jobs.
Another “it all depends” to add to the pile. Some companies have seasonal or year-to-year fluctuations in business. They use temps in order to have a workforce that can expand and contract to match the work they’re doing without having to go to the time and expense of hiring people and laying them off. If that’s the case, there’s usually a couple of old timer temps around who have been through the cycles and can fill you in if you ask nicely.
IMO if you did a good job, you are much more likely to be hired. You are a known quantity.
Hiring people is a costly and stressful process and it is not easy to tell if someone will work out. I know managers who have avoided letting people go just because they don’t want to go through the hassle of finding someone new.
If they know you will do good work, the hiring committee will prefer you - at least *we *would have when I did the hiring.
Not sure, but 2 people I know do the (what I think of as unethical) practice of always hiring temp-to-perm employees from a temp agency - that is temp employees that have the expectation of being hired full time if they work out.
They both do this because they feel these people will do better jobs than just plain temp employees.
What makes it unethical? They have no intention of hiring these people permanent…they just want motivated temps.
That being said…my wife’s current job was from such a position. They wanted to try out people before hiring. The advantage of these places is it costs them to do this…and so the company that does this is probably healthier.
I did have a friend lose a job this way…they wanted to hire him but they would have to buy him off the temp agency at 20% a years salary and they didn’t want to do this. He was pissed…but the company probably wasn’t all that healthy to balk at this cost.
I imagine a way to flush out the fakers is to ask to meet the last temp-to-perm person they hired and see if they squirm. 
In my experience, there has always been a pay-out to turn a temp into a permanent employee, but as others have said, that amount depends on how long the temp has been there. I’ve known companies that made it their policy to have a lot of work done by only temps - they had a small permanent core staff, and the rest were temps that came and went. A lot does depend on the individual company, how they use temporary employees and what their policies are on turning temps permanent, etc. My province has legislation requiring companies to have a temp stay on no longer than 24 months; I guess the reasoning is if you need the employee longer than that, you need to create a permanent position (with benefits, etc.). In the real world, temps and companies ignore this deadline if it benefits them.
Adding another “maybe” to the list. But careful…
I was working as a temp at a publishing company. They were expecting basic data entry, but I brought in some of my tech skills to crank through weeks of data entry in a couple of days. Company was delighted. They originally planned to keep me for the life of one project, but after turning around the first one they gave me several more.
After I’d been there for about three months, a headhunter called me. He described the company he was doing a search for. It sounded very familiar. I told him, “from what you’re saying, I think I’m already there!”
The headhunter said it wouldn’t be a problem, and set up an interview. They kept me around for another month… then finally turned me loose.
To this day, I wonder if that would have shaken out differently if there were no headhunter in the picture. I’m sure they didn’t want to pay a finder’s fee to the agency and to the headhunter.