Temporary Work

Andrew555

Hello,

I am currently looking for temporary work whilst I look for a permanent role but I am having problems getting any temp role and have now been out of work for six months.
I'm looking for roles in IT for perm and any basic role such as data entry, admin etc for temp just to put me on.

I haven't done temp work for a while and would usually just walk in to a reed branch, say that I was looking for both perm and temp work with the same CV and I would usually get something within the month.

I am emailing recruiters asking to be considered for temp work but I don't hear anything back.

Please can someone give me some advice?
Should I have two CVs, one for perm and one for temp?

Thanks
Andrew

MattMattMattUK

Andrew555 said:

Hello,

I am currently looking for temporary work whilst I look for a permanent role but I am having problems getting any temp role and have now been out of work for six months.
I'm looking for roles in IT for perm and any basic role such as data entry, admin etc for temp just to put me on.

I haven't done temp work for a while and would usually just walk in to a reed branch, say that I was looking for both perm and temp work with the same CV and I would usually get something within the month.

I am emailing recruiters asking to be considered for temp work but I don't hear anything back.

Please can someone give me some advice?
Should I have two CVs, one for perm and one for temp?

Thanks
Andrew

Find an agency that specialises in placing temps in jobs, they will have plenty of options, from some very basic manual labour, to office work, to potentially some more skilled jobs. What you take depends on how fussy you are about the work you do.

ButterCheese

I used to work in recruitment, and have also used agencies to find work.  We were always inundated with CVs which a recruitment consultnat then had to sort and code in order to match them to a job. It might be that there are just more applicants than jobs at the moment.  Or that they are very behind. I would try phoning every week or so, and asking why you've not had any offers, and if there's anything they can do.  At the very least it will separate you from most other people who don't want to phone them up.  You'd be surprised at the number of young people who just send an email and wait - it doesn't scream urgency to them, and you might stick in someones head when a job does come up and they know you are at the end of the phone ready and willing

Brie

I agree that if you are willing to do extra and sell yourself the recruiting agency might see you as an easy option to get them their commission and so put you forward for more.  

DullGreyGuy

I do "temp" work all the time but it's more aligned to your perm role than what you are considering and inevitably entry level may be a little different. 

Apply for jobs not just randomly register with an agency, they will have more CVs than they will ever need already and you'll just be another one of thousands that their search bot looks over and won't pick up because you dont have recent related experience. 

Last time we advertised a role without an agency we asked for 10 years experience dealing with CxO, an ACCA or MBA qualification, experience of managing £50m budgets etc. Job was posted on Friday, was a bank holiday weekend which I'd extended a couple of days. When I came into the office and logged into the system there were over 1,000 applicants. Your CV will be lost in a sea of others again, even for me where I have over a decade of doing what I do if I just submit a CV then there's 10% chance of a call. Always try and follow the CV up with calling the agent and stand out. 

You may want to consider how you are selling yourself, recruitment is expensive for businesses to do and they often do want to have their cake and eat it in that they want the flexibility of a temp but want one that is loyal to them. They dont want to spend a load in agency fees, a couple of weeks training you on their systems, processes etc, have experienced staff off the job to oversee your first few weeks of actually doing the job for you to then quit because you've found your replacement perm job.  You may be better off looking at the absolute bottom rung where training is absolutely minimal and so their sunk cost is less and they're less picky. 

gwynlas

Rather than be out of work altogether you should take on anything that you can do such as bar, care or retail roles.

You will then be able to prove you have a good worth ethic re tteam work, dealing with customers etc with current refernces.

As above agency recruiters need you to be pushing as well.