Have I been completely unprofessional?

[c1JSU]

I secured a temp to perm role. A few days in I realised it wasn’t for me, so I resumed my job hunt while continuing my temp to perm position. I received a job offer for another role on Friday just gone. I mulled it over the weekend and last night decided that yes, I am going to accept and in fact I think I will be very good at it. I emailed the recruitment agency that I am temping for at 10:30pm last night, which admittedly is rather late. I thanked them for the position I had been temping in but as I would shortly be starting a new role I won’t waste anymore of their time as I know they need to start recruiting again. I start my new job a week today so this week will be a week off for me, so therefore this morning I did not have an alarm set. I woke at 9:30am to 9 missed calls from the agency and a text message telling me off for ghosting then! I appreciate I gave them short notice that I wouldn’t be in today, but I was only temping and didn’t have to give a specified notice period. I thought if anything leaving quickly after I knew I wouldn’t be staying would be a good thing-it means the company wouldn’t continue to waste their time training me for me to then up and leave. Have I handled this all wrong?!

Let's just hope you don't need to use that temp agency again, or get some form of reference from them or the company you temped for.

In the current climate you never know when you'll need an agency again. You're far from bomb proof at the moment, if the new employer needs to cut costs in the near future, you're cheap to get rid of.

I am wondering if this is a reverse
That was my thought

There could have been lots of e-mails. If the title of the e-mail was not eye catching I bet it was not seen until the employer called the agency to say x not in. This is assuming 9am start.

I have worked with a lot of temp agencies over the years and if someone gave me this excuse I would drop them like a hot potato. That is simply not good enough. Yes, it is tricky to manage a temp agency inbox first thing in the morning - that's why I pay them extortionate amounts of money to do it. (Not sure if people are aware but the employer pays the agency the hourly fees, and then the agency pays a fraction of this hourly fee to the actual temp person)

Most of the ones I work with are checking their emails at 6am latest because the very nature of the job means that there will be several messages in there from people who are not going to be turning up for their 9am shift for whatever reasons, or messages from employers saying that they suddenly have an urgent requirement for someone to start that day. If a recruiter isn't able to manage these situations because they don't check stuff until 9am, or don't see emails unless the subject is "eye catching" then they aren't going to be a recruiter for very long.

What does your contract say regarding giving notice on your temp role? Usually you have to give some notice and can't just effectively walk away from the job one night and never go back. I think it's pretty unprofessional too - I would have offered to work a week unless I'd been doing zero work.

Yes very unprofessional I'm afraid you should have at least worked today for them.

I am wondering if this is a reverse
That was my thought smile

She posted about the situation last week so apparently not.

Massively unprofessional and I hope you never have cause to use an agency again, because I don’t think that one would have you back.

do you have experience with temp agencies and the manner in which they work and are intended to work? there are no contracts and no obligations.

Of course there are contracts and obligations. That's an utterly ridiculous thing to say.

(And it doesn’t matter what your contract says about notice, by the way. Morally and professionally you have massively screwed up.)

Totally unprofessional. I hope you never need a reference, because I doubt you'll get one. Unbelievable that you think this is anything other than unprofessional.

You should have at least gone in today. I bet you dropped them right in the shit.

I start my new job a week today so this week will be a week off for me, so therefore this morning I did not have an alarm set

Did I just read that correctly? You start your new job next week, so decided that this will be a week off for you, because...?

The decent thing to do would have been to turn up this morning, speak to whoever you report to at the company and also to the temp agency. If they wanted you to stay the week, you should have. If they'd said that there's no point you working the rest of the week because they're still training you up, fine, then you go home. What you don't do is send an email at 10:30PM on a Sunday night and then just not show up on Monday morning.

I'm astounded that anyone is so self absorbed as to think that would be an okay thing to do...

[quote strawberrypip]@BlusteryShowers do you have experience with temp agencies and the manner in which they work and are intended to work? there are no contracts and no obligations. OP can and should be focusing on her new job now. she told the agency she was leaving. fair enough it was late but she still told them - if she hadnt at all then yes, unreasonable. but being that she has NO contract she owes them exactly, let me think, 0.[/quote]
As a recruitment consultant, I can confirm this is absolute bollocks.

You effectively gave no notice, very rude.

Very unprofessional. Let's hope you never need their services again because memories are long with this sort of thing.

I went through the same thing years ago but gave a weeks notice to my temp employers. I know the weather is nice and you'd rather have the week off but I think it's very unprofessional. Plus the industry I worked for had connections with my temp role company and a few years later, the agency that signed me up for the temp role also arranged me a permanent managing position at a different company once I decided to leave my permanent role that I left for the temp role. Long story short, the businesses we work in are somehow connected and you will always have a bad reputation for this very reason, that's why it's very important to leave a good impression when you step foot in and out!

Wow! How would you like it if the agency/company emailed you at 22:30 the night before saying they didn't need you? And you didn't read it before you turned up all nice and ready to start work? You'd be massively inconvenienced and rightly annoyed
Exactly!

@strawberrypip yes I have worked for a temp agency for a factory when I was a student. I did my best to make a good impression on every line I was placed on and after a few weeks I had the pick of which department I wanted to work because the line managers would ask for me back.

Professionalism is important.

Really, really unprofessional, I would be appologising immediately and try to pass it off as momentary lack of judgement if I were you.

Otherwise, If your new job doesn't work out or you need to find another job in the future forget working for that company or through that agency again.

YANBU - they would do the exact same thing to you in heartbeat so don't feel bad.

The chances are you are more likely to need the agency more than they need you, either for a reference or for another role in the future. Therefore I woul have given a weeks notice and been pleasant for that time.

Very unprofessional. You made the temp agency look bad, you left the company hanging with no one there to do the job, and you made yourself look incredibly unprofessional.

But you know that.

Incredibly unprofessional. Are the agency or the company you have been temping for going to be your referees? Could jeopardise your new job offer if it's based on references.

@BlusteryShowers knowing your worth and your rights are also important. no contract - OP did nothing wrong. not saying bridges havent been burnt but OP did nothing the agency wouldn't have done first if they had no longer needed them.

I wouldn't worry OP. They would have dropped you just as easily if it had suited them.