To those bashing contract jobs/temp agencies... (maternity leave, employee, consulting)
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You should at least understand what you should be getting out of them. Temp services don't exist for the the following reasons...
-Job security
- Great benefits (though there are agencies that do offer them)
- Top tier treatment (but this vary moreso on the agency's client than the temp agency)
Temp agencies are great at getting you the following...
- Good experience
- Exposure to different people and different environments
- Building up your marketability
- Giving you insight into market trends
- Making you more competitive
I have worked with many temp services, being a contractor much of my career. And there are good and bad ones out there. I won't deny that there are crappy ones out there, but you usually have a choice. It also depends on who is recruiting for them. Many will be lazy and do keyword searches, but there are a lot who will help you guide your career.
For my own story, I would have never got into my industry if it wasn't for a temp service. At 19 years old, I had no education beyond a GED, a few years of college, and a TON of self studying and book knowledge. I wanted to enter my field of study, as I knew that I did not want to go through the motions of college for more years. So I went out, called up every temp service, and eventually was able to land a job working for one of the premier OEMs in the computer industry at that time. The job wasn't glamorous, but it was a start. Plus I was smart, and people recognized that. Once that assignment was over, I eventually landed another one, only worked for a year. But then I found a third temp job, and I worked there for 3 YEARS! Got a ton of experience. So when I was ready to look for work 3 years later, my first permanent job was for $53,000! Not to shabby for a college drop out. Now the company I ended up working for went belly up, but since 2008, I've been heavily contracting, and more salary is double what it was in 2007, when I made $53k.
Also, it worth mentioning that the recruiters I dealt with had industry knowledge. They knew the difference between a good technical resume and a bad one. A few recruiters had me speak with them, and they told me how to improve my resume. They even told me that the universal resume writing rules didn't really apply to my field, and told me how to write a more market specific resume. Since then, I can barely stay unemployed for a month if my contract just gets dropped unexpectedly.
Any permanent job that has shown interest in me is offering me no less than 6 figures WITH bonus. I would have never been in that sort of contention if I went with one company and stayed there since the beginning of my career. I started out in my field at $11 an HOUR! My current contracting rate is about $55, and I could even possibly get $60.
So agencies aren't that bad. you just have to know what you want out of them. If you're just looking for experience, there is no better way. Experience, knowledge of market, an idea of your competition, and job searching strategies are things that recruiters specialize in. It's FREE knowledge, many love to have 1 on 1s with potential candidates that they can place.
So I just wanted to give a positive view on temp/consulting services.
That's great that you have only positive experiences with them. I think they are Evil, vile cretion that are on par with scumbag politicians, car salesmen and realtors.
Please note, you are in a very special industry where "self-taught" rather than college educated people CAN AND DO get jobs: IT or as you say the "computer industry." Try that trick with any other specialized industry. LOL. Nowadays people with other degrees cannot even get jobs because they don't have experience! Yet I know several self-made IT people just like you with no IT degree who taught themselves and they are still doing it to this day.
Also, you are located in the ABSOLUTE MECCA of the ENTIRE WORLD for that industry: SILICON VALLEY, CALIFORNIA USA.
Of course it will be coming up roses for you!
The VAST MAJORITY of other people are not so lucky. If you think they are just because of your double golden in the right place at the right time experience (due to low entry bar and your location) then you are quite naïve.
Ask an attorney in NYC what the "going rate" for his skills is for temp agencies after all he's paid out in money and time for passing the bar: agencies won't budge beyond $30 an hour. And some of them even have some scheme where they say an attorney is an "exempt" position so they pay the attorney not by the hour, but by the week and work them 60 hours a week, but really pay them for a 35-hour week.
Ask an experienced executive assistant about the temp agencies that all collude that they will not budge beyond $22 an hour for his/her time (and no benefits) ... even though they are charging the client $50 an hour. Meanwhile, in the last executive assistant's perm job s/he got paid $70K a year (translates to $38 an hour) PLUS benefits.
Ask the scientist about how all the science companies in his/her area colluded together with the temp agencies to only hire temps with the agencies paying only around $20 an hour and no benefits. You literally have to move away to get treated fairly and get a perm job because your whole area is in on the scheme.
So while things may have been good for YOU in YOUR profession in YOUR location with temp agencies, it can and is very different for many others.
Last edited by I_Love_LI_but; 11-26-2013 at 03:00 PM..
I've had nothing but sleezy experiences from them. Also they demand the same level of background and credentials as direct hire employers so I don't see how one can expect to use them to gain expereince or credentials.
They were OK when an underqualified person could use them to get experience covering for a short project or someone on maternity leave but now they cater to scumbag companies that view their staff as dispossbile commodities to be lowballed and denied benefits.
I and others have commented on their sleezy tactics and lowballing many times in the past.
They have also absolutely destroyed my profession. One does not have to spend much time talking to people on the net to make the observation that the profession is filled with people actively disengaged that hate their jobs and are abandoning the field at a steady rate.
Around here they are just trying to peddle the same old positions over and over again for what seems like forever. Most of them are SKILLED positions, too. Not unskilled. I've spoken with many of them and I made it clear to them I have no experience but I am willing to learn and when I say that they stop responding. They won't even tell me the name of the companies these positions are for. They are no different then the HR gatekeepers.
Around here they are just trying to peddle the same old positions over and over again for what seems like forever. Most of them are SKILLED positions, too. Not unskilled. I've spoken with many of them and I made it clear to them I have no experience but I am willing to learn and when I say that they stop responding. They won't even tell me the name of the companies these positions are for. They are no different then the HR gatekeepers.
It's because 99.9% of the jobs they advertise are fake jobs. It's not that they "won't" tell you the name of the company....it's because they can't. There is no company and there is no job. This is how they lure people in to register.
For sure. At least one of the representatives was willing to listen to me. She said they require people to have at least 1 year of employment history, which I don't have. I told her I'm trying to start out at the bottom, and she said she would let me know if anything changes. It's the mythical skills gap at work.
I've always had very good luck with temp agencies. When I first moved to NYC, I signed up with a temp agency and began working immediately. This was before corporations became "cost conscious" and cut down on temps. I had great assignments--Glamour Magazine, BB&O, USA Today, and finally a temp job at a national news network that became a permanent position. Seriously doubt I would have worked at the network any other way. Later, when I moved to Miami, I again signed up at an agency and was placed at a television station in a job that became permanent. It is an excellent way to get a job and you can tell them what jobs you really do not want to be sent to (I told all of them no receptionist jobs) and did fine. They never tried to force me to take an assignment I didn't want.
I went from a permanent job taking home $1100/wk to a contract job taking home $2000/wk. Next contract job I was taking home $2880/wk. Next I was taking home about $2000/wk again then brought on as a full time employee taking home around $2200/wk.
In my year and a half as a contract employee I was never unemployed longer than a day. I turn down contract jobs paying this much pretty regularly..
I only had issues with one in which after I was brought on they tried lowering my pay. Said I had other interviews (which I did) and I was no longer interested. They called back immediately and gave me my full pay.
Contractors and temp agencies have their place. Often when they only need someone temporary for a specific task or project.
People are probably bitter because temp agencies aren't "finding them jobs" if that's the case it's probably because there are no positions which desire what the applicant is capable of.
For sure. At least one of the representatives was willing to listen to me. She said they require people to have at least 1 year of employment history, which I don't have. I told her I'm trying to start out at the bottom, and she said she would let me know if anything changes. It's the mythical skills gap at work.
I was at the buckle a couple weeks ago and they offered me a job. I was at the gym with my gf a couple months ago and they offered her a job.
They sense your bitterness and your overall attitude. There's no mythical skills gap.
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