Finding temp work

[JeanSeberg]

I left a senior role at the end of last year after 11 years with the company and deciding the time was right for a change. (I was on a 6-month notice period so made it difficult to job search whilst I was still there.)

After taking January off, I naively thought I would be able to take up temp work in February whilst I look for my next permanent role. I'm happy to do any admin/secretarial/PA role.

It's proving impossible to even get a temp role - I've registered with several agencies, posted my CV on all the job sites with no success.

Although I have enough savings to keep me going for now, it's proving disheartening - any tips on where I'm going wrong?

[JeanSeberg]

Bumping... Are there no successful temps on MN to inspire me that it can work out?

[boredwithabrokenfinger]

Did you do admin or PA work before?

There are few fewer roles now than ever and the market is swamped with candidates because the world and his wife think that type of work is easy to get into/doddly little job. Reality is, most people do their own admin and the PAs who have managed to cling on are doing the work of five people.

I'd look at other avenues to be honest.

[LiefieLiefie]

Agree with bored. I worked in recruitment and caught up with a friend who owns a big recruitment firm in the City recently. He was saying that they have seen a massive drop in temp contracts for those types of roles - those that do come up are normally snapped up by experienced PAs or virtual PAs.

There's always tons of temp customer service or data entry roles floating about on reed and indeed.

[JeanSeberg]

Thanks for the replies.

By 'trade' I'm a bi-lingual secretarial (post-grad diploma) and have plenty of experience of admin, customer service etc before moving into operations director roles. I've made it clear to agencies I will take on any role but suspect they just consider me over-qualified. It's difficult to even get into register with some agencies, no doubt they are swamped with CVs as you say.

I appreciate things aren't going to work out as planned with regards to temping - what other avenues would you recommend bored?

[boredwithabrokenfinger]

Ah okay. Well, you should be a perfect candidate really.

I hate to say it but what age are you? It has got a lot harder to find temp work and I've put it down to lack of jobs but I should imagine that age plays a factor.

I also think those roles just aren't valued. I've been a senior PA for a long time but most people assume I make the tea and type a few letters.

What about NHS or Universities? They always seem to need bank staff.

I'd seriously advise against sticking with PA work going forward tbh. Project management is a similar skillset, double the salary and lots of jobs (around here anyway).

[flowery]

"By 'trade' I'm a bi-lingual secretarial (post-grad diploma) and have plenty of experience of admin, customer service etc before moving into operations director roles."

If the most recent job title on your CV is Operations Director you are going to struggle getting admin temp work.

As you have savings, could you not focus all your efforts on finding your next permanent role quicker, rather than devoting time/energy to looking for temping?

[daisychain01]

If you don't have Project Management experience and qualifications (PRINCE2 and PMI are widely respected), you might struggle with competition from PMs with 2+ years experience under their belt.

I would look out for the entry level role Project Coordinator , who tends to handle administrative / progress tracking aspects of projects (supporting the PM). This could be a good start, normally paying around £28-35K compared to the £38-48K that PMs get, depending on area.

[boredwithabrokenfinger]

Oops, didn't see the last role...

[Polarbearflavour]

It's not a great market right now, according to one recruiter I know. I've been looking at jobs in London and Bristol and there's quite a lot of admin/secretarial/PA/EA stuff around - although fewer vacancies than 10 years ago. I do wonder what kind of office jobs will exist in 10 years as according to the Bank of England 15 million jobs will be automated?!

Big companies / Civil Service will often pay for training and sideways moves into business management/HR/finance/projects etc are possible and less likely to be automated or outsourced (maybe)

In the short term - have you tried hospital temp banks - NHS and private? They often have assignments for audio typists, data entry and ward clerking. I know of a couple of NHS Trusts in London who are always short of bank workers!

[JeanSeberg]

Thanks for the advice about hospital temps, I didn't know there were temp banks for admin staff as well as clinical. I've signed up with the NHS so will see what that brings.