Stuck for staff

Jonnytwotimes

I am a member and I certainly got my moneys worth, Normally I stay away from paid services but my friend is quite senior in promotions and told me to sign up. On the first day of signing up about 7 months ago I got a 3 month contract to demonstrate vacuum cleaners. the pay was £80 a day with bonuses and I got to keep the keep the £300 vacuum cleaner. Having had lots of little jobs from them I re-signed up recently and have got about £200 worth of work in the last few weeks. January has been very quiet but its starting to pick up.

Its best to have some experience so I would just say that you used to do it years ago and want to get back into it but all companies will give you full training on the campaign anyway.

Some tips

Take any jobs in the beginning just to get a foot in the door, even leafleting normally pays £10 per hour.

Always always agree all details before accepting work and get them to email or write with the details such as pay times expenses etc. Only once everything is clear accept the job. The reason I stress this is that a lot of it is last minute and they may not have all the job details to hand and if your not happy with something it could lead to issues once already started.

There is plenty of work on there but obviously I cannot guarantee you will get any but for me it has been worth every penny.

Any more advice just ask. By the way I find the work easy and it pays well and travel is usually always covered.

Ps do yourself a favour, if a company called CPM offer you work run a mile.

performer-emma

Thanks for the info guys - that's really helpful. I emailed my recruitment agent friend about this and this is what he said:

In the eyes of the law internet job boards are classed as employment agencies and it’s illegal for them to charge you for any work finding service, including the ability to search or apply for jobs. Where they offer other services that they are allowed to charge for they can’t make access to ‘free’ work finding services conditional on you paying for their other services first.

Rules for modelling agencies are slightly different in that they can charge commission on work they get for you, but even they shouldn’t charge an upfront fee and can’t charge you anything if they are also charging their client to advertise vacancies. However you probably know more about that than me and from what you’ve described I don’t think promotional work falls into this category.

If you want more information try the direct.gov.uk website as that’s usually pretty good. However the pay and work rights helpline can give you free advice and if you’ve been charged for something you shouldn’t have been they might be able to get it back for you. Their number is 0800 917 2368.

performer-emma

So I've decided just to stick with the free job boards and keep applying for jobs on those and also register with as many agencies as I can. Hopefully I'll pick something up that way.

Jimfox_84

I am actually registered with these not for work but for their agency directory. Not used them In a while to be honest but did used to get a fair bit of work with them.

Never had a problem paying. I have also paid to register on acting and extra sites too and paid to go on Star now but it was a little too costly for me.

Obviously up to you. If anybody can recommend other agencies to get work off though I'd appreciate the heads up.

In search of some extra work...things are sloow right now.

danijenner

performer-emma wrote: »

So I've decided just to stick with the free job boards and keep applying for jobs on those and also register with as many agencies as I can. Hopefully I'll pick something up that way.

With respect-you have to speculate to accumulate

I work full time in promotions and modelling. Most model agencies charge 20% of your fees. £30 a year is a SMALL price to pay for the work you may receive from SFS.

Just to clarify-

They are NOT an agency

They do NOT find work

They ARE a network/community

They ARE worth joining.

Last year I had a 5 month contract working 4 x 6 hour days, paying £80 a day plus fuel at 22p per mile. I have the same contract again from April until Christmas this year.

I got that from SFS

murphy306

Yea I am in Northern Ireland and thought the work would be dry on this side, however £30 a year is nothing, I had loads of work off that site and it paid for itself over and over again. In fact I still do work for agencies who took me on through SFS. It depends on how much you really want the work, and I really really wanted to work but as I say it was recommended to me.

Not saying you don't want to work by the way

Jonnytwotimes

danijenner wrote: »

With respect-you have to speculate to accumulate

I work full time in promotions and modelling. Most model agencies charge 20% of your fees. £30 a year is a SMALL price to pay for the work you may receive from SFS.

Just to clarify-

They are NOT an agency

They do NOT find work

They ARE a network/community

They ARE worth joining.

Last year I had a 5 month contract working 4 x 6 hour days, paying £80 a day plus fuel at 22p per mile. I have the same contract again from April until Christmas this year.

I got that from SFS

I totally agree with you. I dont wish to offend the OP but Im struggling to understand the reason for for getting hung up on the legalities in paying for this service especially since the OP is looking for work in this field.

I can only add to what other posters have said, its £30 a year I have been inundated with requests to work agencies over the next 4 weekends paying over £10 per hour plus travel expenses. As well as that I have been offered a 3 month contract 2 days a week at £80 a day plus expenses. To quibble over £30 for this amount of work is crazy.

performer-emma

I'm not against paying for a service if it's worth it, it's just that I paid to join a load of similar websites when I was modelling and dancing and a lot of them turned out not to be worth the fee! Looks like stuck for staff might be different - it's great to get some advice from people in the know so thanks for that!

I've got a couple of days sampling work from an agency next week and I've registered for an audition day with iD in a few weeks which sounds very promising. They've also given me a discount to complete some training on the Fieldstar website so I've signed up for that too.

Thanks for the advice everyone!