I’m unemployed at the moment- been laid off and my contract work is up. I’m also nearing the end of my cash.
What I’m curious about are non-retail temporary employment jobs. I only need to make about $700 a month to cover my bills, and anythign above that would be gravy.
Anybody have any ideas or things to avoid?
There seems to be a lot of temporary clerical work around. You could try checking your local craigslist, if there is one. The job section of your newspaper should also have listings by the local temp. agencies.
I’m applying as a temp clerical worker for the county government back home (Wisconsin) for the summer. You might want to check with your county goverment. Pay here is $10.16/hour.
Summertime is coming up, and many light manufacturing facilities may be looking for temps to cover vacations by the senior folks. We brought in 7 this morning.
Along the seasonal theme, check out local landscaping companies. It probably won’t be the most fun work, but from what I’ve heard, it can pay pretty decently.
I second the temp agency idea, if you’re competent in Microsoft Office applications and/or with other administrative-type stuff–sometimes the work is spotty, but there are also longer-term assignments. When I was temping, I made between $10 and $12 an hour.
I worked for a temp agency when I first moved to Boston. I was placed at a financial trust company for 6 months to cover a maternity leave. It was just like a “real” job. I cleared stock trades and deposited ungodly sums of money into rich clients accounts. It wasn’t bad at all but it didn’t really pay much.
Later, when I was a Business Systems Manager I hired lots of temps. Those assignments usually lasted less than two weeks and consisted of very repetitive data entry. We did hire one temp on permanently however.
Those types of office jobs are pretty common in the temp world at least around here.
I have a couple of master’s degrees- just got done with school completely in December, but was part-time since May.
Do you think that this much education will make the temp agencies skittish? I’m plenty good in MS Office products, and can type awfully fast, so hopefully that’ll help.
Anyone familiar with the desires of temp agencies can feel free to correct me, but:
My impression from my minimal interaction with the people who sent me out on assignments was that they were just looking for warm bodies capable of showing up and doing the work with some degree of efficiency. So while you’re technically overeducated for almost anything they’d have for you, it shouldn’t be a problem like it would be if you were flat-out applying for a regular administrative position.
(A tip if you decide to go with a temp agency: When you’re not working, call them. A lot. It’s the best way to ensure that you’re on their minds when something comes open that fits your skills.)
I doubt it will scare the agencies… and if you think it will then just leave it off the resume. The temp agency I worked for didn’t care how good/experienced you were since all the jobs they had were basically short-term crappy ones.
The “overqualified” stigma only applies to long-term employment, where you might feel frustrated by a low-skilled job and leave. The very nature of temping makes that an irrelevant concern — the agency and their clients know you’re not in this for the long haul.
I was done with all but my dissertation when I signed up with a temp agency because I was out of support through my university. Had a job the next day. Stayed on a while, it turned into something permanent and now I’m a director in that organization. This happened 15 years ago, so the economy was much different (it’s much less likely that you’ll have a job the next day), but I can’t imagine that they’ll be worried about anything but your computer and keyboarding skills.
GT