You may get calls for assignments in the late evening or in the early morning. Let the service know how late they can reach you and how early. It is not unusual for an AM to wake his or her temps up and send them on a same-day assignment. Learn to expect this. Furthermore, get yourself a telephone answering machine if you don't already have one.
When you are offered an assignment, ask what it pays (not every assignment will be at the same rate) and ask about the client.
- What does the company do?
- What is the atmosphere like-conservative, casual, creative, and so forth?
- Is there anything special I need to know about the client?
- How do I get there, and whom do I report to?
A Word about Attitude
While researching this, we spent a considerable amount of time with our own temporary division asking questions and observing the staff in action. At one point, we asked what the biggest problem was in meeting and working with temps. In chorus, the group answered, "Attitude." "What about attitude?" we probed. "Don't have one" was the response.
If you want to get your relationship with your service off on the right foot, the best advice we can give you is to come in their doors dressed professionally, smile frequently, and stress your flexibility. In the course of one day, we were truly surprised to observe applicants with limp handshakes; people who wouldn't look the interviewer in the eye or speak audibly; and most annoying were those individuals who came in with the proverbial chip on their shoulder.
A temporary help service wants to hire you-don't give it excuses not to. If you are openly hostile or just plain unhappy about the prospect of temporary work, maybe you should reconsider whether it is a path you want to take. If you decide to temp, be positive about it, since you can always walk away from it with minimal risk.
Some Tips From Assignment Managers
Who can better offer you advice than the people who will be sending you out on assignments? We asked the Career Blazers team for a list of things every AM's "Dream Temp" would do. Here is what they told us? Come in for an interview dressed in corporate attire.
- Accept calls as late as 11 p.m. and as early as 6 a.m. ("I remember last-minute favors and always pay back with a great assignment the next time.")
- Call in regularly if you are hard to reach.
- Get an answering machine, preferably one you can check in with by remote.
- Ask for details when you are given an assignment.
- Show up on an assignment. (The AM's nightmare is the no-show temp.)
- Call in when you arrive your first day on a new assignment.
- If you are forced to cancel an assignment you have already accepted, give your service as much notice as possible.
- If you have a problem at a client, call your service first. Let them decide what to do; let them be the heavy.
- Let your AM know if your assignment is continuing beyond the original date.
If you want to ensure that you are only called for those assignments you are likely to accept, tell your AM during the interview what your special preferences are. We have known a New York City legal secretary who will only work on Fifth, Madison, and Park avenues between 42 Street and 57 Street, a temp who will only work in publishing companies, and still another who is available for work only on Mondays and Tuesdays. All of these individuals made their requirements known up front, and their services have honored them. However, keep in mind that the more flexible you are, the greater your opportunities for employment.
Once you accept an assignment, it is your duty to let your service know if you cannot make it or complete it. If you get sick, don't call the client. Call your temp service-it is your employer. Most temp services open before 7 a.m. and close well after 5 p.m., and many maintain twenty-four-hour answering services.
When a service tells you an assignment is of indefinite length, it is usually asking for a minimum two-week commitment. Don't be afraid to say that two weeks is all you can do; once you've finished your two weeks, you can always agree to stay if the assignment is continuing. If you don't like what you're doing, you’ve already told your service you couldn't commit to anything longer, so you are safe either way.
Asking for and Receiving Favors
You won't regret becoming friends with your assignment manager. If possible, go in person to pick up your checks once in a while instead of always having them mailed to you. Enable your service to match your name to a face.
Some temps never see the inside of their service after their initial interview. If you go on vacation, send your AM a postcard or a Christmas card or birthday card. You want him or her to like you. Why? It often means better assignments and higher rates when he or she can be flexible.
Some temps report that they often feel pressured into taking an assignment. Or worse, they feel their service misrepresents the assignment just to get them to take it. We won't say this doesn't happen because we know it does.
What are typical favors your service may ask of you?
- To take on a "rotten assignment"-the client is difficult.
- To take a lower rate than usual for an assignment, particularly one that doesn't make maximum use of your skills.
- To accept a boring assignment.
- To be at a clients place of business in less than an hour.
- To work at a location that is hard to reach or off the beaten path.
Our favorite story is about one of our own temps. She came to us with her degree in journalism and had a burning desire to get into a newsroom. Sandy was asked to take on a difficult client, a woman known to be a "screamer." We warned Sandy about her and promised that the next order that came through at one of our area's prize-winning dailies was hers. A little over a month later we made good with our promise. We had an order that put her in the heart of the newsroom of a well-known newspaper, amid the craziness and frantic pace of editors and reporters. Originally, it was a three-day gofer spot; but Sandy loved it, and the paper loved her. She's now a permanent employee there. Says Sandy,
I hated every minute of that first assignment, and I called in every day and told my AM how awful it was. She kept telling me to hang in there, that she would have something good for me. I told her if she had the faith in me not to walk-and it was really a miserable job-then I had faith in her to get me a publishing spot; hut I never expected her to come through the way she did!
