To not accept this "fantastic opportunity"

[frogspoon]

I recently quit my full time teaching job to do supply teaching, and have registered with a couple of agencies. On registration I stated that my upper travel limit was 15-20 miles or more than 1 hour.

The agency phoned me yesterday evening to offer me a "fantastic opportunity" to do a day's supply in a "lovely private school". I took down the name of the school and checked it out. Yes, it is a lovely school... but it is 35 miles away, and more than an hours travelling time.

This morning I contacted the agency to let them know that unfortunately as the journey was too far, I would not be able to consider this job.

I then received another phone call this evening, asking me again if I could do the job which I had turned down earlier. I reconfirmed that I could not do the job, and that they had received my message. The guy from the agency spent some considerable time trying to bargain with me for this job even though I had made it clear that I could not accept it, and did offer some money towards the cost of petrol.

Whilst I appreciate that he was in a difficult position with nobody to cover this vacancy (apparently another person had accepted then pulled out last minute) he made me feel guilty for not helping him out. He also said that helping him out would help me be "recognised" by the agency, implying that perhaps if I did not help him out, it would be a bit more difficult for him to find me work.

AIBU to not agree to travel almost double the distance I agreed with the agency. I live in London, and there are over 500 secondary schools within 15 miles of my postcode. I do not understand why it is so hard for agencies find me work locally.

Err..... no dont ring back and grovel.

The reason you just got offered a job in a rough academy an hour away was because no one else wanted it on the agency books. The reason they are now offering another job outside your travel limit is because the agency knows you took the last job and they are dumping on you. Don't make yourself their patsy that always gets offered the jobs that nobody else wants.

My BIL is a long distance lorry driver and he works through an agency. He is super reliable, turns up on time and does not have accidents and he routinely turns down work for certain retailers that treat lorry drivers badly.

The agency know this and they don't try it on with BIL.

I think I'd find a new agency.

I also have alot of errands to catch up on before the weekend. (I did tell the agency this but they were unsympathetic as apparently they are in the office before I am out the door!)

There is the problem. Their job is to find you work. Moaning to them about catching up on errands and what not leaving you tired is not their problem.

Tbh you need to start keeping your head down and do the work (that you choose to) moaning you are tired is not going to endear you to anyone.
Dh was a supply teacher and tbh, the nature of it is to get as much work when you can. Sometimes you may be tired, but the next week there may be no work.

frog - to put it bluntly. Employment agencies of all kinds don't give a stuff about the person they place in a job. They only get paid a commisison by finding someone to do thw job. They are brokers of people. Simple as that. They get paid by the employer who needs someone quick at short notice and hence are willing to pay the agency fee. The agency will call whoever they think is most likely to say yes.

Don't make yourself the person on their list who says 'yes' to anything that get sput in front of them.

Sign up with as many agencies as possible. Dozens of them if necessary and make yourself unavailable sometimes and makl it clear you have had better offers elsewhere. Make yourself valuable - not the cheapest easiest option.

I think you're being incredibly naieve about how agencies work.

1. You have absolutely no way of knowing how many of your '500 local schools' are on their books. They might not have any.
2. You have just joined. They will have x amount of regular staff whom they know are reliable (This is the number 1 priority for an agency, it trumps qualifications, skills, everything - the main thing is knowing the person you have placed is going to turn up on time). The x amount of people will be ahead of you on their 'list' so any jobs that come in will go to the people they have relationships with.
3. They don't care if you're tired or have errands to run. Not their problem.
4. I respectfully suggest if you refuse another job you'll become 'the awkward one that won't travel' and you won't get offered another, unless they're really stuck. And if they're really stuck, it'll likely be another job that's 40 miles away. Which you'll refuse. Sending you to the bottom of the pile again.
5. Agencies want warm bodies who are cheerful on the phone, are flexible, make a good impression when they arrive, etc. If you're being as picky and inflexible on the phone as your posts sound, then that's not going to be the impression you're leaving with them so, again, they're less likely to think of you.

So, it's up to you what you do, of course, but that's the reality of what's happening in the agency.

moreBeta that's a risky strategy tbh, and one that will only work if demand outstrips supply - I'm not a teacher in London so I don't know if that's the case. But if there's another 30 teachers in the door behind the OP, they'll be the ones getting the work.

Gosh yes don't go on about feeling tired and having errands to run. Doesn't make you sound serious about looking for work at all.

I think when the next thing comes up you need to consider it on its merits, and what it could do for you.

I can understand why you wouldn't want to take a whole term's placement with an hour's commute (that sounds like a pretty normal commute to me, TBH, but it depends where you are). But a one day job sounds to me like a perfect opportunity to be very visibly putting yourself out to help them out - put them under obligation to you, if only by social suggestion. I took anything I was offered when I first temped, including stuff which did put me out, and pretty soon I was only getting the good stuff because I'd played it up about how much I'd scratched their backs. I don't recognise MoreBeta's experience at all.

WilsonFrickett If they do not have any local schools on their books, they are probably not the best agency for me to be working with. I do not think I am 'the awkward one that won't travel', as I have travelled 2/2 times to distances further than I initially agreed to. I don't think IABU to not travel 35 miles, that is a 70 mile round trip.

I am reliable, once I have committed to do a job. I have never let anyone down at the last minute, and I am always punctual. Both schools I have worked in were happy with my work. Being reliable is not the same as being a pushover.

I am reliable, once I have committed to do a job
That isn't the only sort of reliability they want. They want people who they know will accept work. Not refuse because their errands will tire them out. Its great you never let them down when you have committed, but they need to commit to work.

Wilson - this how it actually works.

The agency has two teachers on its books and both are eually good and well qualified. One is called Softfrog and she is always flexible and willing to go outside her stated travel limit and work in rough schools. The other teacher is Hardfrog and is never flexible and never works in rough schools.

The agency has two jobs. One in a rough school miles away and the other in a good school nearby.

Guess who always gets the first call for the rough school miles away? It is always Softfrog_ because the agency know Hardfrog always turns those jobs down. The better jobs get reserved for Hardfrog.

You do sound very much like you're used to being a professional and expect to be treated like one. Temping doesn't work like that - you're basically the pondlife at the bottom of the food chain again, until you've proven that you're not. Reliability and punctuality is the very minimum of what they expect. It sucks, but that's why most people prefer permanent jobs I suppose.

Yeah but your 'being a pushover' is the next person on the list's 'being positive and flexible'. You are NBU to do what's right for you, equally they are NBU to do whatever they can to fill the jobs they have on their books that day. I am only sharing my experiences of working in an agency with you, of course you don't have to take any of that on board. But if a candidate phoned me to say how tired they were and that they needed to do their chores, I would probably never place them again for fear they'd be talking like that in their workplace. Agency staff are sales people - they are selling a reliable service, they are not there to make you happy.

I'm not saying that's a good thing btw and I only lasted a year as I hated it. But that's how it is.

Nope, MoreBeta, the good jobs go to SmartFrog who has done her share of the rough jobs, got brilliant feedback, come in and talked to me about what sort of jobs she's looking for and made me like her as a person and want to give her a break. Hardfrog may or may not get work from me, depending on what I have at any given point. However, I will concede I'm working on a model where there's more teachers than jobs.

come in and talked to me about what sort of jobs she's looking for and made me like her as a person and want to give her a break

Yy. That was pretty much my experience. I am not the world's most socially enabled person, but it did become clear to me that it's about building a relationship with other human beings, not about setting inflexible conditions and waiting for life to match.

I am just trying to be SmartFrog. I agreed to take on 2 jobs which were both slightly outside my travelling distance, and one was quite rough, and got good feedback. However my recognition of this by the agency was to be offered a job twice the distance I agreed to travel to.

I understand that it is early days, and it will take time to work my way up. But I would have expected after these 2 placements to be offered a job which is equal or better, rather than worse! I feel that when I help the agency out and do a good job it is not recognised, and when I don't accept a job it is penalised.

frog - coming back to my BIL.

On days where he is not offered an agency job he has a job he does from home as a chartered bookkeeper. He therefore does not feel under pressure to accept every driving job he gets shown. He always gets good reviews by the firms he does work for though and hence they always ask for him by name and the agency find him easy to place because of that - not because he will do any rubbish job that comes his way.

He has built his 'home based' business by working on the VAT and accounts of other self employed people such as builders and truck drivers. There are more truck drivers than jobs at the moment but he makes a good living.

Agency work for teachers may well sometimes also be in short supply as Wilson says and then you need an alternative like my BIL. Sorry but making yourself ultra flexible and going outside your stated criteria sends the wrong signal.

I have worked as a temp myself and I found that my biggest and best way of negotiating high fees was to work less and be very choosy. I have an alternative 'home-based' job as well. Its called a 'portfolio career' by some but in reality it is just having more than one source of income when one dries up for a while I do more of the other and sometimes I just look after my family or have a holiday.

I think it comes down to how much you actually want or need to work. I'm a professional, who currently travels 35 miles each way to work every day. I accept others would find that intolerable, but it's a job I want, and need to do, so I do it. Yes, it costs me about £60 a week in petrol, but that's my choice.
When I temped, I travelled up to 50 miles away, which took 2 hours each way, if it was the 'right' job - decent money, good employer, and possibility of a longer term contract. I only ever turned down one role, and got excellent feedback, so was always placed in good places, and got a permanent role out of it. I really don't think 1 hour commute is bad at all.....

But it was for one day. That is what I mean about setting inflexible conditions and waiting for life to match. And it was a private school, which the agency may well consider a "better" job (whether you do or not is another question.)

Doesnt sound as if you have enough of a relationship with the agency yet to expect them to reward/acknowledge you for just taking the one awkward job so far.

I do alot of private tuition, and I also do occasional work for a company which runs educational workshops in primary schools. This does allow me enough flexibility to not take every supply job offered, when I feel it would not be a good match for me (too far, too rough etc).

I want to build up a good relationship with the agency, but I don't want to be 'the desperate teacher who will take anything we throw at her'. I feel by taking the previous two jobs I was making a compromise, as both were out of my area. But perhaps my agency does not see it that way.

I think it's very important to develop a good relationship with the agency. You want them to know they can rely on you, so that you become one of the first people they think to approach when a job comes up. If you turn down their offers, then I think you will become a "last resort"

It depends how keen you are to work. If you can afford to be choosy, then I can see why you would be more relaxed about turning down opportunities

I'm wondering if they think they've offered you a genuine reward in offering you the lovely school? I do hate commuting, so I am sympathetic about that, but some people don't mind it at all and perhaps won't understand why you draw lines on that at the expense of other things, like niceness of school.

I wouldn't be so interested in building a relationship with the agency as with individual schools. A lot of work I know goes to the "supply teacher we know and like" if possible rather than via the agency.
You also as self-employed have to balance: getting more money with do you really need the money, or would you do better to do your own jobs/prepare for your evening classes/build the other strings to your business. It is a big risk of people who are self-employed, to take whatever work is offered, just because there might not be some offered next week.

Have to say, you don't sound like someone who will suit supply work. Supply teachers get paid more pro rata precisely because they will accept a job at 7.30 that morning, or travel for an hour each way to do a single day's work. Does your agency rate not reflect this inconvenience?

If you always expect offers of work to perfectly fit your exact requirements, you may get fewer of them, or none.