I temped for two years, and it is not a line of work for people who think. It is a line of work for people who can fill seats. I think that’s why you’re having a problem with it. Have you seen “Clockwatchers?” Great flick about temping.
I hated temping with a passion. The only thing going for me was that my agency had a LOT of industrial workers, but very few smartish clerical workers.
I say get out of the temp world ASAP. The salaries are higher, but the stress isn’t worth it. I don’t know if you get bennies through Mr. Richiam, but I never realised how much I was missing out on until I GOT health/dental/401K. The extra $2 an hour hardly made up for the bennies.
Maybe you’re being too eager. They don’t like that either. When a supervisor gives you a task, get all your claifying questions out there. How long do you expect this to take me? Who can I ask if I have any questions and you’re not available? What is your understanding about my hours; are you aware I am obligated to ask the temp agency before I can work overtime? Explain that you want to get the most amount of work done, with the least amount of handholding from them. And at the end of the day or week, ask them for constructive criticism, or if they had any concerns about your work.
As a fellow temp, let me throw in my 2 cents here:
Find a different temp agency to work for.
The first agency I worked for didn’t know what to do with my skill set, and so palmed me off to various jobs that needed someone to drop by for a single day and do labelling or filing or whatnot. I was working three days a week for crap pay and not gaining any references; in addition, the jobs were all hellacious commutes away from my house; any time I suggested finding a job closer to where I lived, they just sort of shrugged and said, “We really don’t have anything outside of [this small area].”
The next time I went to temping (and after that first experience, temping was only because I couldn’t find any other jobs), the company I signed up with was friendly, competent, loved my work, and hyped me heavily to everyone they could. I’ve actually been able to turn down offers for assignments because they done such a good job finding places and people I like.
So start shopping around for another agency. If this one can’t find you a decent place to work with decent people to work for, find an agency that can.
The others have given good general advice. But right now, Rilch, it sounds like you need a couple months of a decent hourly wage, so you aren’t living on the edge of disaster (and discouragement).
Call the Census Bureau (1-888-325-7733), or check out their web site. If they still need people in your area for the enumeration that’s going on this summer, you ought to have no problem getting hired, and I bet they pay at least $11/hr out there, probably more. Especially if they’re still training people for Nonresponse Followup, or NRFU for short, you’ll have work all summer. And it’ll give you people to write you letters of recommendation for later on.
Give 'em a call; it can’t hurt. If they’re still hiring, it would beat hell out of temping, and give you some time to consider your next move.
According to the FAQ, enumerators earn $8.25 to $18.50/hr, based on where you are. In the greater LA area, it wouldn’t be anywhere near the $8.25 end of the scale.
The real problem with temping is that most of the time there’s really no one around to turn to, even for constructive criticism.
Typical scenario: First day of the job, you report to Mr./Ms. X, whom your temp agency has referred to as your “contact.” Mr./Ms. X is usually someone in middle management, the head of a department or some thing. Mr./Ms. X says hi, shakes your hand, and if you’re lucky, sits down with you and explains the barebones of the job at hand for about ten or fifteen minutes. During your talk with Mr./Ms. X, he introduces you to Ms. Y. The first time this happened, I didn’t even take notice of Ms. Y. However, you should, because Ms. Y is who you’ll be going to for help during the rest of the temp assignment. Mr./Ms. X gets to work at 9 and leaves around 2 or 3, sometimes earlier on Fridays, and also takes mysteriously long lunches. Ms. Y ends up signing your time card most of the time, and she’s the only one around to answer your questions, which sucks because she doesn’t know any of the answers. When you’re finished with the small assignment that Mr./Ms. X gave you, you have no choice but to report to Ms. Y for something else to do. Ms. Y is always busy and can only come up with busywork for a couple of days. After a couple days of this, you begin to develop a personality conflict with Ms. Y.
I remember once I got a “secretary/word processor” job at a mid-sized legal firm. I arrived at work, met Ms. X, who introduced me to Ms. Y, who gave me absolutely nothing to do. I asked Ms. Y what my task list was, and she really didn’t know, and gave me some files or something to rearrange, which took me about twenty minutes. I asked Ms. Y for something else to do, and she was very friendly with me, but couldn’t come up with anything. She gave me a brief tour of the office and introduced me around to the attorneys and secretaries. On a lucky break, one of the secretaries gave me a document to proofread. I did, and I found a couple of errors, marked them, and that was all the work I had for the day. Ms. X was nowhere to be found, and here I was at a perfectly good computer with a pile of alphabetized files, next to the less-than-helpful Ms. Y. I worked at that company exactly one day. (Friends have suggested that perhaps they were expecting a woman, and not a 24-year-old guy with a beard. But dammit, I was well dressed, and the beard was neatly trimmed…)
My advice as far as getting a response(aside from re-writing your resume to have that attantion-grabbing look), is this–if you find there is no response in a few days, simply go to the “edit resume” portion of the website and either make a change, or simply re-post it with no changes.
This works very well, because everyone who actively receives listings from the site will get another copy of it.
Rilchiam, I feel so bad for what happened to you. And believe me, I do know exactly how you’re feeling and what you’re going through right now.
I not only have a ton of experience temping but I also used to work in the industry. I was in sales for one of the national companies and ran the office for a small, local temp agency. I am a huge advocate of temping to find a full-time job. Actually, it’s how I’ve gotten just about every job I’ve ever had, including this one.
The key is to have a different attitude about what temping is and how to take advantage of everything it offers. Think of it as a great opportunity to see the inside of a company and decide if you want to work for them! In the case of your most recent experience, the answer to that would have to be a resounding NO!
Others have made some good suggestions re checking out the various websites that have job postings. The other thing I’d highly recommend is to go to the websites of the temp agencies you’re already signed up with and check out the listings they have posted. I did that with the last agency I worked through and whenever I found a job posting I knew I was qualified for, I called them and asked them to send me on the interview. It definitely helps to be proactive about this.
Something else to consider… I think you might be going for the wrong types of positions given your skills. If you’re looking for “office” type work, try asking the agencies about general secretarial positions at the very least, as opposed to file clerk positions. Word and Excel are very valuable skills to have - I know that first hand. If you haven’t been tested on those programs at the agencies, get in there and test on them. If you have, and didn’t score in the 90% or higher range, bone up on the software and go re-take the tests. They’ll let you do that, no problem. It is to their benefit that you have or improve your skills to the highest possible level.
The most important thing, though, is don’t let the bastards get you down! There are jerks out there everywhere - you just happen to have run into a disproportionate number of them. Pity the poor putzes that won’t have you to enhance their work environment!
Keep your chin up, and keep us posted on how things are going for you. You know we’ll all be rooting for you to land that perfect job (if there is any such thing :D).
Ril,
with mixed emotions I read your post.
I am horrified at the day you had.
Yet, I am relieved that someone else had a horrible piss-poor day and survied it as well.
My day was just as bad, with different events.
after a day like today tommorrow can’t be any worse.
osip, I’m sorry to hear that you had a bad day. Did you post about it in another thread?
I’m using my last money for gas to get to a housecleaning job tomorrow. That will give me a little scratch to get through the weekend, and to update and submit my resume.
Like Charlie Brown, I only dread one day at a time.
No never did post it.
but for a quick run down.
5am Jack Russel Terror (not a typo, own one and understand)
Pisses in my bed with me in it!
7am Class I was sceduled to take out of town was canceled, which prohibits a raise.
9am Mag-lock I am installing falls and lands on foot. Blood formed under the nail of big toe, lots of pressure, lots of pain.
10am dentist. Have infected gums and the german pain master caused much bleeding and pain.
1pm While bypassing the electric trunk release on 95’ Caddie I short out a 300 dollar board.
3pm Had to explain to an mechanical engineer that even though I do not have a degree in his field, I DID know more about how to fix his safe than he did.
3:15pm Walk away from said bastard, with the words “fuck it, why the hell did you call me then?”
3:30pm Boss is upset (go figure)
4pm stomach starts cramping due to excessive blood in stomach. (ever notice your stool turns close to black when that happens?) fucking german sadist.
5pm Returned home to find car had been broken into. Nothing worth stealing but now have to repair.
6pm Realised I did not own a gun and this was a good thing.
little bastard kids next door start loud annoying rap music.
6:15 log on and read message board. Realise the worse is over.
Today I now leave for work early, hoping the bad luck shows up late and I am already gone.
I’ve never temped, but the Census thing caught my eye. I worked as an enumerator for the 1980 census, one of my first jobs. At the time the pay was $4.00/hour plus mileage. It wasn’t bad. There were two phases that I worked on. The first was to canvass an area, making sure dwellings were where they were supposed to be; and the second was to do to non-response households and fill out the form with the people.
This was out in the Mojave Desert, so I racked up a lot of miles (at the time, at 20 cents/mile). We travelled in pairs, so there was someone to talk to and strategize with. Being spring, it wasn’t too hot. Most people were cooperative (there was only one guy who lived in the middle of nowhere who told us to go away). I kind of liked it.
It didn’t help me get another job, but it tided me over. Had I been thinking, I could have used the experience on a résumé to get a PR job (which wasn’t really what I was looking for anyway). You could work it like this: “Skilled in working independently, able to interact with people of varying backgrounds, experienced with face-to-face “cold calls”, etc.”
You might find it to be fun. I’d say, “Go for it.”
Can you still be GripGirl? Maybe you can get something through DramaLogue? I know the pay is crap, but when I work on films I suddenly find more people asking me to work on films. It doesn’t pay enough for me to quit my day-job, but if you’re not working it may suit you. If not a grip, how about PA? 2AC? 1AC?
Of course, you could always be a wabmaster like my best fiend. He makes 2 or three times what I do, but he has to work half as long. A bit sleezy for me (although I appreciate sleeze :D).
Seriously though, consider the Census. Good luck! I hope to see you at the next So.Cal/F3 get-together!
Johnny: Thank you, but I don’t want to do canvassing, because I’ve failed it before.
I’m going to try to get a production job. I’ve been a PA before, but now that I have skills, I can present myself as an office PA. It can pay very little, as long as it pays at all.
Osip, I hope you’re better now.
Thank you all for the support!
BTW, does anyone in the LA bunch need their house cleaned? I bring order out of chaos for six dollars an hour, or babysit for seven. Chief, if you’re reading this, I also clean up after college parties! I’ve attended enough to know how to deal with the aftermath.
Rilchiam: working for the Census wouldn’t be canvassing: it would probably be knocking on doors of people who didn’t fill in their Census forms, and filling out the form for them while you asked them the questions of the form.
The vast majority of people whose doors get knocked on tend to be very cooperative, at least according to the story in this morning’s Washington Post.
And your pay, which would probably be about double what you’re asking for housecleaning/babysitting, isn’t dependent on what percentage of your respondents didn’t answer the questions.
Seriously: call up the local offices until you find one that needs enumerators. (Shouldn’t take many calls.) Ask them what the work is like. If, then, you decide you don’t want to do that, then at least you’ve checked it out. But if you’re down to your last few bucks for gas, this seems like something you’d really want to at least look into. The Census even pays you for the time they train you.
Well, I did call the Census people; they insisted they were all filled up. But they told me there were always people who bug out early, so they took my number. I’m holding my breath. :rolleyes:
Ril (is that the right abbreviation for Rilchiam?) – I’m confident you’ll find something soon. I second the census suggestion – I know two people doing it now and they love it. They didn’t think they were the door-knocking type either, but it wasn’t what they expected.
But thank you for your OP – I’m firmly resolved to treat our temps better after reading it. Not that I’ve been abusing them, mind you, but I do tend to ignore them after they’re hired. I figure the team they’ve been assigned to is taking good care of them, but that might not be the case. So, thanks.
Rilch - glad you checked; sorry there’s nothin’ doin’. Chances are people will bug out; keep checking back, unless you land something more permanent.
Also, if you only checked one of those local offices listed in the page I linked to, call any of the others that are within reasonable driving distance for you. They operate completely independently of one another; if Office A is fully staffed and Office B needs enumerators, Office A won’t know about Office B.
Good luck!
PS - too bad you’re not in the DC area; I’d pay someone much better than $6/hr to come in here and bring order out of chaos.