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Temping & Volunteering
Smart Ways to Try Out a Job

What You will Find on This Page . . .

  1. The Benefits of Temping Through Temporary Employment Agencies
  2. Volunteering

There is an Job Experience Worksheet which goes with this page. It's in Career Manual 2 - Appendix 5.

All Tests, Inventories and Worksheet Templates for this site are available in an easily printable
format in Career Manuals 1 and 2.


Receptionist


The Benefits of Short-Term Work for Temp Agencies

Offering yourself for short-term jobs is a great way to try out work in a particular workplace, that you'd like to get to know, or to get close to a job you are interested in, so you can see it being done and talk to the people doing it. Some of these Temp Agencies will allow you to request assignments at specific companies. Meanwhile, you get paid while you try out any number of work places.

Your first objective would be, to see if you like the work environment, before applying for a job at that place of work. Your chances of getting temp work, through an agency are greater, at a workplace that employs a large number of employees.

Short-term workers are needed during summer vacations, Christmas time, during heavy work periods, maternity leaves and sick leaves, especially in white-collar positions requiring office skills like accounting, reception, secretarial, clerical, admin assistant, etc.

Remember you must go through a Temporary Employment Agency. In Big Cities, where Temp Agencies are an institution, approaching the employer yourself is not recommended. In small towns, with none of these agencies, where people know each other, you can go around to various employers and tell them you are available for short-term work.

The Temp Agency will place you where they have openings. Sometimes that may not be your location of choice. Be patient and accept work through the agency at other places, while letting them know, if they have any jobs at "XYZ" Company, you'd like to be considered. You can only make suggestions, you cannot demand.

Why go through the hassle of applying to a Temp Agency?

Because, it's harder to leave a job, once you have gone through an interview process, and been hired permanently. They are depending on you, and you are unlikely to get any references from that workplace, if you leave within a short time after being hired.

Because jobs are not so easy to come by these days, many stay in jobs they hate. And the longer you stay in a job with benefits, the harder it is to leave, because you may not have the same benefits in a new job.

So Temping can be a way to avoid these dilemmas.

Temping - A Way to Acquire Current References

Temp work can also be a way to avoid the hassle of finding yourself in a workplace you don't like, and having to leave shortly after they hire you. And if you do a good job for them, employers you meet in these short-term Temp Positions, will be willing to give you references. This can be an excellent solution, if you don't have current references.

You can get references, not only from the employers you are assigned to, but also from the Temporary Employment Agency. While on assignment keep in mind, you are working for the Temp Agency, not the employer you are assigned to. It is the Temp Agency that pays you.

Getting Permanent Work Through Temping

What if you like the company, and they want to offer you a job there? You can then let the Agency know, that the company would like to hire you on a full-time basis.

Find out what the policy of your Temp Agency is. All Temp Agencies will have a clause in their contracts that says, if an employer hires you on a permanent basis, within six months or a year of your temp assignment, that employer must pay them a Finder's Fee. Be aware of that time line, and what your responsibilities are.

Many employers are willing to pay the Finder's Fee, rather than go through the trouble of advertising, interviewing people, and hiring someone whose work habits they are unfamiliar with.

Temping - The Solution For Those 'In-Between Times'

By the way, if you are between jobs, and waiting for responses to those ads you've applied for, this is a great way to occupy your time, and get paid for it. Temp Agencies pay at the end of each week. And you also have a chance to meet employers who may be hiring.

Many women raising kids, who don't want to work full-time, will take temp employment through a Temporary Employment Agency. It provides extra income, and allows you to keep your skills current, for when you are ready to return to work full-time. This is also an option for Retirees, who would like to supplement their pensions.

Researching an Industry Through Temping

You can move around within an industry that you are considering, and learn as much as you can about it first-hand, no strings attached, before training in that field or committing yourself to applying for permanent work.

Comparing Several Company Cultures

You can research a number of companies in a field, by temping for them until you find one you'd like to work for. This also offers you the advantage of getting to know the key people in the company, and allows them to get to know you and your work style. You'll have a definite edge over anyone coming in from the outside, when you are ready to apply.

Getting 'Apprenticeship' Type Experience

If you are thinking of starting your own business, you can 'learn the ropes' by offering to work for companies that are already operating in your 'Field of Interest'. This offers several advantages.

  • You can learn to avoid the mistakes they made when they first started.
  • You make contact and establish a relationship with their suppliers and distributors.
  • You can test drive their operating systems, and find the one you would like to implement, when you are ready to start your business.
  • You get to decide if this business is what you really thought it was.

All before having to invest any of your own money up front. In fact, if you show enthusiasm and interest, and they like you, they may offer you a helping hand, by teaching you everything they know.

VOLUNTEERING
Participation Research

Volunteering takes your research to the next level. There is nothing like the feeling of working with a group of people who are committed to their work, and who value having you with them.

You'll never forget your experiences as a volunteer. In fact, the personal satisfaction at being able 'to make a difference' through your time and effort, can be very motivating and uplifting.

Volunteer

Volunteering allows you to test out what it's like to be working in your 'Chosen Occupation' or 'Field of Interest', even if you aren't actually in the job of your dreams.

You will have a chance to make valuable contacts and connections with people, who will be open to talking with you, and helping you make contact with people, whom you might otherwise, never have a chance to connect with. Some have found the job of their dreams through volunteering.

FOR STUDENTS & PARENTS

- who would like to get involved right now, or see their kids involved in volunteering

The Ryan's Well Foundation offers for download this excellent 30 page e-book - on HOW TO VOLUNTEER covering such topics as:

  • How to Evaluate Your Interests and Skills for Volunteering
  • Find Volunteer Opportunities Just Right for You
  • Organize Your Own Volunteer Group
  • Learn How to Fund-Raise
  • Learn How to Write Press Releases
  • Guidelines for Safe Volunteering, and more. . .
These Links Point the Way Through
Steps 1, 2, 3 & 4