in debt and panicking

I would sign up with every agency in town - honestly. When I first found temping (years ago - before it was as popular as it is now) I signed up with everyone.

You *will* get work if you do this and once you can prove that you are a good worker, they will call on you again.

Call them - every day - to ask if there is any work yet.

I once temped at a temping agency and I saw first hand just how 'lucky' people can get. A call can come in one minute for an assignment and someone calls in the next minute to see if anything has come in and it saves the Agent time if she/he just says "Actually yes..!" and doesn't have to go rifling through filing cabinets (or on the database these days!) for people's details.

So - nag them (in a nice/professional way!) ...make yourself known....they will remember you this way. Don't assume they are waiting around for a job to come in for you, specifically.

Also, when you are working, when your assignment is coming to an end, contact all the agencies to let them know you are becoming free again.

Another thing which goes down well is if you do a round robin email (BCC - blind copy - everyone in so they can't see how many people you are registered with!) to tell them when you *have* got work and how long the assignment is for. They want to be aware of your availability where possible.

I absolutely love temping and I get on well with it - only trouble is I can't do it all the time for financial reasons. If I could - I would! But you have to 'work it' well.