Attention, All Current & Potentially Unemployed DUers - Do this asap!

[elehhhhna]

Register with a temp staffing company. We can argue the merits of temp staffing some other time, please. Here's the skinny --

There are temp staffing companies who serve virtually every market/skillset you can imagine. Employers (our customers) are bottoming out, layoff-wise. In general, they've shed enough people and are becoming aware that they'd better hang on to the employees they have. The work doesn't always go away, so they use "contract' or "temporary" staff to fill in where needed. They're going to delay direct/permanent hiring for as long as possible, btw. This means temp will BOOM. Then comes "temp-to-hire" (like auditioning on their payroll), and finally direct-hire (headhunters, etc.). Keep in mind that there will be incredible pent-up demand for staff once we hit the elusive turning point. I think, as my customers do, that the turning point is looking close...Q3 is the most common guesstimate.

Anyway, temp will skyrocket, thousands of temps will convert to full-time corporate employment and then -- wait for it -- the folks who avoided being laid off in the first place will all play musical chairs! Most EVERYONE has a bad taste in their mouth about work after the last 12 months, right? People who want to make a move aren't budging right now due to fear. Once the cycle's hit bottom it will move up very quickly.

Here's my advice: register with any and all temp companies you can. Depending on your skills & the size of your town or city, there may be, literally, hundreds of them. Do some homework and select those that are specifically temporary/contract staffing companies -- not headhunters who also do temp on the side. The temp vendors have pricing advantages and they simply do more volume. The national companies are only concerned with top line growth right now, so they'll give their services away at a discount, but can't cheap-out on the pay rates -- you can't keep good temps with bad pay rates.

Call for an appointment. If you need a bit of a makeover, do it. Get that hair cut & colored, find a smart cheap resale BUSINESS outfit, and use the whitestrips. Ask the staffing manager for advice about your resume. How can you improve it? Do it. The exception on the resume rule is unskilled labor. You don't need one, and yes, there are tons of temp companies who provide exactly that. It's not about shoveling and climbing, btw. Unskilled labor often means assembly work, and their clients seem to prefer women and mature candidates.

Be flexible. Will you accept a same-day assignment? Weird hours? Let them know. Then follow up. Not stalking, just squeaky wheel.

The pay is not fabulous but it IS competitive. The boost in self esteem is dramatic. The potential to land a dream job is strong -- seriously! I've been blessed to be a part of that miracle for many, many people. That's another thread.

I'm back in temp staffing (business development) and working my pumps off...that's why no Elehhhhna on DU lately. I love this business. We help people. Once in awhile a miracle happens. I want those miracles for my DU friends.


Been meaning to write this for ages, sorry it's so off-the-top and random.

[MADem]

1. It depends on the individual, really. Some people want to

hang with Mister Unemployment Compensation for awhile, and rethink their priorities. They don't want to risk losing their unemployment benefits on part-time or occasional work.

You take a temp job, that lasts a day, a week, whatever, it fucks up your unemployment benefits and can put one's elegibility at risk. Temping is an option when those benefits are exhausted, IMO.

[elehhhhna]

5. pont taken, but state unemployment won't suspend you for a short temp assignment.

They generally do adjustments and extensions -- you don't lose the benefit. Worth checking into first.

[MADem]

13. The key word there is "generally." I think anyone who takes temp work and eschews unemployment

insurance is taking a HUGE gamble. HUGE. Frankly, if I were advising anyone, I'd tell them FUCK NO--don't do it. Sit at home and think about your life for a bit. Take the whole mess as a forced vacation. Think about economizing to stretch that check. Reevaluate your priorities. Figure out what you NEED, and what you simply WANT.

Think about what you want to do for the rest of your life. Don't rush into ANYTHING.

With state agencies getting more and more strapped by the burden of unemployment approaching double digits, they're going to start looking for REASONS to disqualify people. If I were an "intrepid" unemployment department wage slave who had been ordered to cut the rolls, I'd say that after a few temp jobs, that the applicant had, in effect, "changed his occupation" from full time cubicle whore to "temp worker," and consequentially, is no longer entitled to benefits. Does that sound mean? It sure does. It also sounds VERY plausible to me.

I've got three members of my family out of work. Two of them had to fight like HELL--and that included going to court--to GET their benefits. See, companies are trying to avoid having to pay out, so they'll lay people off, and then tell the court it was "for cause." Even when it wasn't, and the employees had been given raises and awards over the course of a decade or more.

FWIW, both relatives got their money, but it wasn't a day at the beach.

[EstimatedProphet]

7. Those are my thoughts

My job ends next Wednesday. I'm not yet ready to go to a temp agency, since I've got unemployment coming that I've been paying into for the last few years, not to make half of what I would get on UC. I've done temping, and it is a worthwhile option, but not just yet.

[Sherman A1]

Good Advice

I will pass it on to a couple of friends that were just laid off....

[ddeclue]

2. That's how I normally work as a contract engineer through temp agencies

but hiring is pathetic right now - I've been unemployed since 12/15/2008.

:(

[elehhhhna]

8. where are you & what type of engineering?

keep it simple, I dont work that market.

[ddeclue]

10. I specialize in test engineering and writing software in a programming language known as labview

I'm in Florida and I want to stay here - the only place outside of FL I'm considering is metro Atlanta where I lived from 84-96.

On the bright side I'm supposed to finally start on a really high paying gig doing this kind of work for environmental emissions monitoring this week or next but all the details haven't been settled yet so I'm not out of the woods yet.

[elehhhhna]

12. Cool! Good deal. Perhaps you could comment here to our bro's & sisters about

keeping your name out there, birddogging new agencies, and keeping sane between assignments?

[ddeclue]

15. Dude... I'm really at my wits end... I really hope my dealio works out

because I really don't know what I'm gonna do if it doesn't.

I can hang tough with the best of them but 3 months is a hell of a long time for me. It hasn't been this bad for me since the early 90's and at least back then I could still afford to live cheap.

I use all sorts of tools: monster.com, dice.com, careerbuilder.com, aerotek.com, adecco.com, kellyservices.com, craigslist.com, USAjobs, floridajobs.org, linkedin.com, facebook.com, my political connections from working campaigns, etc., etc. but it's still slim pickins so I can understand people's frustrations.

Here in FL unemployment just hit 8.6% in January and I'm sure it's actually much higher than that in reality (see my OP on this).

I don't know what to say but that lately my best luck has been through craigslist but you really have to be careful there because every other post is a scam artist trying to rip you off.

Doug D.

[elehhhhna]

22. April 1, 1991. The Mr. & I were BOTH out of work!

He in commercial construction management, I as a headhunter. I'd made great money placing Corporate (M&A) bankers. Gulf war didn't help the markets, either.

I'd snobbily thought that "temp" was disgusting and exploitive, but the owner - a previous coworker - had asked me several times in several years to come do sales and I finally had no good alternative. I got the best job of my life - so far - out of that terrible situation. You see, headhunting is helping people who are already just fine. Temp (administrative & legal including attorneys) staffing is helping people who are dealing with major transitions. More gratifying results, to be sure.

Rambling again, sorry.

[cannabis_flower]

32. I wouldn't work for Aerotek

I had a coworker that had an incident with them. She had a minor dispute with them while she was working for them with my company. They called her at home and told her she had been released from the contract because she failed her drug test and so she did not show up for work.

Her supervisor called her to find out why she hadn't come in. She told him about the drug test and told he told that they had never requested a drug test and they wanted her back and would take care of the temporary agency and they never used that agency again.

They had spent a lot of money training her and she was doing a good job. I don't think she works here anymore but she wasn't fired because of the drug test. My company doesn't drug test unless their client requests it.

[Donnachaidh]

3. been there, done that -- potentially, the temp agencies in our area regularly

FUCK with people more than they get them work. You personally may be very sincere in wanting to help people, but considering the crap my family and friends have taken from temp agencies -- if they should burn to the ground tomorrow it would be NO great loss.

Temp agencies SUCK. They USE people, and then toss them away.

[Fumesucker]

6. Umm.. how does that make them all that different than the great majority of employers..

"Temp agencies SUCK. They USE people, and then toss them away. "

I'm serious, that is the standard business plan in the USA and has been for quite a while now.

[elehhhhna]

9. we don't toss people away. if we can keep them employed, we do.

[Donnachaidh]

20. that's not the case in my state.

Temp agencies DON'T try to get people into permanent jobs. If anything, they keep sending them out to bogus, bullshit daily jobs so people looking for REAL work haven't the time to do interviews.

Temp agencies here are looking for BODY counts.

[liberalhistorian]

30. That is, indeed, true for most agencies and thank you

for doing your part. I'm sure there are a few that aren't that great, but fortunately they're not the majority.

[Donnachaidh]

18. if your employers act like temp agencies -- you have my pity

Because it ISN'T the case, or at least it wasn't the case, before this meltdown.

[Fumesucker]

23. Life According to Dilbert..

Scott Adams bases his cartoon on the stories real people send him.

Dilbert inhabits a world where Kafka would have nervous breakdown.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

28. Temp agencies do suck.

I've had temp jobs before. They usually fire me for doing something to help the client save money and time, when I violated some stupid rule nobody told me about.

Competence is always punished.

I wasn't getting any unemployment bennies, either.

Just as stressful as a regular job, or moreso, if you know the job will be ending soon.

I can't handle it anymore.

[Roland99]

4. Every IT recruiting firm here in town has my resume. Plus in Orlando/Tampa

I'm looking to relocate...if I had the money to get a short-term apartment down there, it would be easier to get a job as i'd be local to that area. But, I can only do what I can.

[elehhhhna]

11. ever think about

Houston?

[Roland99]

26. One of the last places I'd ever live is there.

Been there a few times on business. Don't care for Texas at all.

[noiretextatique]

14. i worked for Accountemps for 8 years

before i got my current job. i worked with some very high-profile companies, and i got invaluable experience that really sets me apart from the pack.

[Control-Z]

16. KnR

I think it's great to offer every possibility for opportunity here on DU. What will work for some may not work for others, but someone is bound to find new opportunities with post like yours. Thanks.

[Hekate]

17. KnR for a great post. Elehhhhna, this is sure to help a lot of people

Kudos to you for reaching out.

Hekate

[philly_bob]

19. Worked for maybe ten different temp agencies in the 90's --

finally found one I trusted. Stuck with that agency -- based on relationship with head of agency/counselor -- and it paid off well.

There are lousy agencies, but I found it easy to recognize the good one when I found it.

[elehhhhna]

21. great job,Bob!

[AwakeAtLast]

24. They kept me afloat in the early 90's

How soon we forget that the economy wasn't so great after Bush I, right? I was just out of college and there was not a job in sight in my field. I temped until I could find something, and I've been there eleven years.

I don't think it could hurt anyone to try it - thanks for suggesting to those who need it!

:hi:

[blues90]

25. Been there done that .

With the way the economy is now and all the closings and lay off's and downsizing not to mention outsourcing still going on how can anyone say that the 3rd quarter is the turning point good or worse?

I know a fellow in IL who is a head hunter and it's been so bad he is filing bankruptcy.

[wildflowergardener]

27. temp agency

I did that when I was laid off. I don't know - it may vary from state to state - because I was doing temporary work, I got the difference between what the temp work earned and what I would have gotten in unemployment plus an extra $20 or something like that. I didn't earn more than I would with unemployment. The one thing it did do is to stretch out my unemployment benefits so they would last longer.

[liberalhistorian]

29. Excellent suggestion, one that I hope many here

will take. It wouldn't work for me, personally, since I live in a VERY rural, isolated area where there are no agencies within 200 miles. But for many others, it's a very good idea and would help to build skills and experience and references that will be a real plus in seeking permanent employment.

And there are, indeed, agencies for almost every profession and type of job you can think of, and not just clerical and light industrial. Just be sure to treat the initial interview with the agency in the same professional, well-groomed manner that you would for any other job.

[Stephanie]

31. Not true. I temp and there are no jobs.

Temp jobs started to fall off almost a year ago, came back over last summer and fall, but since early December they are non-existant. The firms I was working at cut the temps first before they proceeded to lay off the full time staff. Temping is not the answer, believe me.

[calico1]

33. My company got rid of all the temps. n/t