Being the temp in lay off time

Well, this is a stressful time for everyone, including contractors. That being said, sometimes companies will lay off employees over contractors, and some companies will lay off the temps (or contractors).

I found it interesting that a friend of mine (who I can not name for business reasons) asked me for my advice on being a contractor. Wow, my advice? Really? Who'd a thunk that after all this time, that someone actually wanted my advice.

Well, I basically told him the deal. Here are my tips if you are thinking about contracting;

1. Most of the time, some agencies WILL NOT PAY the benefits! Unless it is a national agency, but most of the time, this is not the case.
2. That if you decide that you do want to contract, that the agency will ask you what you are looking for, but know that they will ask the company for their own negotiating price, what ever that might be.
3. Know that tomorrow could be your last day, or today, depending on the situation. If you are in a long term temp role, they could extend you, but you never do know.
4. You will hardly ever be invited to partake in meetings, unless you are the executive admin for that group, and good luck putting in your two cents.
5. Know that you will be asked to do outside of what you are required...you are not just an employee to the company, but you are really the employee of the agency.

So, that's my tips for now, please do make a comment if you have any...I would love to hear what you think.

Thanks.

My temping career so far

First of all, welcome to my new blog. This blog will be all about my temping career so far, as I have been the temp (contractor) for over 4 years.

This is nothing to say against being the temp. In fact, it's a good way to make money (especially these days) and a great way to have experience in your pocket.

It used to be that you could get a job by temping for a period of time. In fact, many companies do that, but only if the temp (temporary) is really good, or just can learn the job in a quick matter of time.

In fact, temping was the way for me to go, when I first got my real first job, it was through temping. I had a career at the Courthouse, and after 4 years, I just learned that it really wasn't for me, so I went back to the public sector.

But, now, four years later, I'm still just the temp.

There are a few things to know about being the temp.

1) You will do anything asked of you, and they expect that.
2) You will cover for any position, as long as you can do the job.
3) You will need to learn very quickly all new things, proceedures.

Oh yes, don't forget, that most agencies will test you on your knowledge. Even after all the many years of being the secretary, they don't care, they want to see how fast you can type, or if you know Excel, oh, and by the way, it's not the version you're used to, it's some weird test program, that if you know it, great, and if you're not so good at it, well...good luck.

That's it for now, I will post later on this week.

And by the way, remember, it's only temporary.