When I graduated from college, I was able to easily get a job in just about anything I wanted. As a result, I worked a variety of positions, in several industries. Certain common themes did exist within my career path, but overall, my resume has a lot of diversity.
In the past few years, however, finding a suitable full time position proved to be very difficult. I would occasionally find advertisements for compelling positions, and would seem to interview well, but somehow, never made it to the point of a job offer.
So I started temping. I kept applying to temp agencies, and once completing an induction interview process, pressed them for work. I'm pretty prolific in my efforts at finding work, so it stands to reason that I have interviewed at a lot of different temp agencies. I discovered that some of the problems that plagued me in my full time job search extended into the temp world.
The induction interviews are often 2-3 hours long, and always include tests, both on paper and computer. The actual interview process is somewhat muted, as it's more of the interviewer getting an idea of the kind and scope of work that you want to do. Most temp agencies accept a business casual dress for these interviews; the ones that don't tend to be a lot more brash with their perspective temps, but don't necessarily have better work.
One such temporary service, which seemed to have a lot of positions available, was one that I worked pretty hard securing an interview. My testing went fine, and during the talking phase of the interview, I explained some of the problems associated with my arrest for domestic battery that had occurred over ten years ago. The interview ended well.
My efforts at getting an assignment were unsuccessful. I called several times per week for about two weeks. I finally asked why I wasn't getting assignments, and was told that it was 'difficult to get work for convicted felons.' I tried to explain that I wasn't a convicted felon, and in fact didn't even have a conviction, but I could tell by the tone of her voice that she didn't believe me.
Once, while working at the reception desk, I discovered that the company had a tradition of buying lunch for all employees once per month. I asked my contact if that included me, and she told me she didn't know, and that I should approach the company's chief accountant and ask them.
Another office I worked in was a phone bank. I was one of eight or so employees and temps in a bank of cubicles that was closely watched by two supervisors at desks facing our workstations. They constantly told us to keep calling, and would occasionally walk over and examine our tally sheets. Breaks were rigidly enforced at set times—and employees weren't allowed to leave their desks while not on break.
I worked at one assignment for two days doing some data manipulation on a spreadsheet. Several weeks later, another assignment came up—and the temp agency asked me if I wanted it. It was a longer term assignment, and close to my home. Unfortunately, when the client heard that it was me, they requested someone with less experience.
My current assignment isn't too bad. It's a medium sized call center, with about 150 employees, of which about 35 percent are temps. The office has no HR department, and they take on about 6-10 new temps per month. The training is pretty complex—they have multiple systems with different requirements, and training takes about a month. Once temps 'get the picture' they leave the training department and are assigned accounts. It's not uncommon to talk to a temp that's been there for over a year—there are at least ten of them. This company contracts with several temp agencies, so not all temps work for the same agency. The fact that I was the inaugural employee of my temp agency worked to my advantage.
The environment is rather dreary, so the perm staff try to liven things up. They constantly have events where they provide lunch or some kind of treat, as well as have various trivia and puzzle contests. Staff takes care to not remind temps that they are temps. But it's not all like that—when I open my web browser, the corporate page displays link teasers that I can't view because I need to log in as an employee. When I fill out my corporate time card, my name is listed as 'Christopher Temp Buxton'.
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