Has anyone had any experience dealing with a temp agency? I recently responded to an add and when I showed up, it was a temp agency which was looking to find people who are applicable for "temp to hire" work for Nation Wide Insurance. The deal is, I am not sure how this works. I figure is that I work for so long at said company, and if I do well, I get hired for sure. The thing is I figure, some companies hire temps, use them up, fire em, and get a new batch just so they won't have to pay benefits and such. I'm just interested because the job that I did get pays $11.50 an hour full time 40 hrs + a week. I'd be getting way more than my current wages. $8.75 / 37.5 hrs a week. I have a friend that works at the insurance company and he says that how the company in hiring right now. That's how he got his permanent job.
Yeah, that's usually how it works, you get a specified amount of time (say 6 months or a year) and at the end of that time the contract is up, then it's up to the company to either renew the contract again, hire you on a permanent basis, or let you go. Thing is that lots of big corporations go for that first option, which turns people into "contractors" (which is what I myself am at the moment) so they don't have to pay benefits. Like my current situation, I technically work for a temp agency however the contract is automatically renewed every year, thus I'm a contractor. When I worked at THQ last year it was on a Temp basis for 1 year. Temp agencies are also notorious for being utterly useless when it comes to benefits, raises, promotions, etc, as in whoever is in charge usually has thier head up thier ass and you spend a lot of time on the phone trying to get answers to simple questions. Such is the nature of the modern working world though.
To summarize what Hawanja said, temp agencies are good to make a bit of cash, get some experience, and maybe make some connections. They're a stepping stone. When you get serious about your career, you'll have to tell them to fuck off when you find a full-time job.
Well the benefits of going via temp agencies differ a lot depending on what career field you are in. If you are in the medical field like a medical coder/biller or in the administration/office manager type of stuff then there are lots of companies out there looking for temps and some places eventually hire you permanently if you make a good impression and show them that you can become a valuable member of the company. Most temp agencies higher because either someone is on medical leave or is pregnant, etc.
Would you be working in their San Antonio claims call center? ---My current summer job involves getting calls from them all the time. ---Anyhoo, temp services can be interesting, because you'll get to try a lot of neato stuff... ...but keep in mind its a TEMP service. You might not be around for long. Ie: Insurance companies are busier in the summer because theres more claims coming in. Things will slow down a lot over the next month or so.
My brother tried applying to different companies as a contracter, but the first business that called him wanted him to skip the temp business and go full-time. He now has a house and a sweet new job, although I'm sure he's in the minority.
