Massive Change - Poss Hand Notice in Tomorrow - Advice on Temping Please!

[HasToStop]

I work SO hard in the job I'm in but for reasons I don't have the energy to describe it's totally broken me. Lack of staff, trying to do the job of at least 3 people with NO money to do it etc. I've been off sick with it this last week which is not me AT ALL but I have to admit defeat which is also not like me.

I really fancy the idea of temping in the short term before jumping from the frying pan into the fire. I'm highly skilled in all areas of office administration from reception work to executive PA and management and I wondered if temping is still a thing. Does anyone know if there is a market for it out there? If the agencies were open today I'd be on the phone to ask so I'd really appreciate any advice from anyone about whether there's still a market for temping.

have you tried to address the situation at work with management?

do you enjoy it?

how long have you been there?

A friend of mine does temping office work regularly. She's 71!

Oh yes! The role has grown considerably as the company has and management feel that it is still manageable by one person. They feel some small changes they have made should suffice. I am 100% confident that anyone would struggle with the workload - and indeed time will tell.

@OldTinHat thank you SO much! That gives me some confidence!

I temped from 2003-2017. It's not always easy - the income stream is irregular unless you're in a long term role, and even then you're on a week's notice; and if you're in a job you hate and there's a recession and no-one's hiring, you're pretty much stuck. OTOH, I've had a couple of jobs go permanent from temp roles.

I'm going back to temping soon (70 this year). Companies don't care about a temp's age, they care you're reliable, will turn up and do the work and not dump them without notice. From my point of view I can ignore the politics and the cliques and the aggravations and just get on and do my work. Establish a reputation for being good and reliable and agencies will regard you as gold.

I really appreciate the reply. I can imagine the income stream will be irregular but can it also be a decent wage or is it always low?

Depends. I'm looking at £16-£17 ph for my field which equates roughly to the annual salary I was getting in exjob. You should get pension contributions and holiday pay, as well. The pension won't be brilliant (the minimum - is it 3% employer contribution? and in NEST) but for a stopgap while you look around it's worth considering.

Page Personnel might be worth a look (no connection, but they're a very big recruitment agency and have all sorts of areas they cover).

As far as I know temping still a thing.

I had a bit of a rocky start with two agencies. Third one ok and actually ended up staying 18 months.

Do you know if you have an agency by you that specialises in admin etc? Some are general with only few positions. Others may be solely geared to positions you mentioned. Some for example specialise in public sector etc where you need DBS before you even start. Have you seen anything about them online? If you get an ok agency it would be good move. On the flip side you may end up somewhere exactly like you are now but without the security.

Thank you both. I am on the DBS update service already.

I don't think I could end up anywhere like I am now! And I if I did, it would only be temporary. I just need some breathing time while I find my feet and get un-bruise a bit.

Be warned, though - I've ended up with some shockers when I was temping. There was one I told the agency to say anything short of family death to get me out. You have to walk a fine line between 'ha! I only have to give a week's notice, suckers!' and being a bit of a butterfly who keeps bailing on jobs. But if you're planning for the short term you can probably tell yourself that if you get a dud.

Just to add, my fab 71yr old friend is always asked to stay on permanently after each temp job. She always says no.

She's never short of work.

Good luck to you OP!

This is absolute music to my ears.

I am SUCH a good worker - I really am but this place has kicked the stuffing out of me emotionally. The salary has kept me there but it's just not worth it. I will probably have to make some cutbacks but the thought of not feeling sick to my stomach all day every day is just too tempting to ignore. Life is too short to be undeservingly feeling this way.

I temped on and off for a few years in the 90s and early 2000s. There was always work around.

I tried again in 2016 and found it very different. There were very few 1-3 week jobs, or couple of days. What there were though were longer term contracts or assignments. In the end I gave up on trying for short term jobs and took a long-term sick leave cover for a few months, then took a maternity cover elsewhere, which eventually went permanent. I don't think companies get holiday cover so often these days - I'm an EA, when I go on holiday everyone just has to manage without me, we don't get cover in.

Some placements are awful (though out of about 100 jobs I only bailed on 2), but it is a good stop-gap and virtually all my permanent jobs came from temp to perm situations.

The salary has kept me there but it's just not worth it. I will probably have to make some cutbacks but the thought of not feeling sick to my stomach all day every day is just too tempting to ignore. Life is too short to be undeservingly feeling this way

I so recognise this feeling. Took me years to realise that nothing is or ever will be more important than mental or physical health and general wellbeing.

The other good thing about temping was that I wasn't lying awake at 4am worrying about work because it was Someone Else's Problem. Well worth a slight loss of autonomy and income, IMO.

OMG this is it 100%

Every aspect of my workplace from HR to IT to H&S ultimately falls to me. It was exciting at first but now I just want to pass it ALL to someone else and just be a bloody touch typist or something!

What I especially enjoy about temping is that all the office crises going on around me are nothing to do with me and I don't have to get embroiled and/or sort them out. I can just sit and listen. So relaxing if you've come out of a fraught perm job.

I temp but in contracts. I’ve got used to this now but yes the work can be irregular. Now I’d like a permanent job it can be harder as employers just see contracts.

Get a good agency to get you work but be warned that it may take time. Temp to perm jobs might suit you. More risk but if they work out then good.

On the flip side you may end up somewhere exactly like you are now but without the security

That's the beauty of a week's notice. In extreme cases - only ever had one - you can ask the agency to pull you out. A good agency will be concerned that their temps are happy because that keeps them working; and they want to know about bad employers, as well. At least, IME.

I'd also give some other advice. Don't take it personally if in a temp contract people are rude to you.

I've had this in 2 legal sec contracts, 1 not so much rude but hardly any training and hardly any dialogue. Another contract, lawyer (woman) was really rude to me, speaking in nasty tones, yet on the flip side being charming and lovely to the younger male lawyers. But then, on the whole, law firms are brutal!

Oh yes. The stuffy foreign bank where the LM said 'you're just the temp' when I asked for something (and on who I got revenge when the keen as mustard brought in to shake the place up finance director asked for my feedback when I left). The company where the job could be done in a morning so let's ask her to do the archiving (heaving heavy boxes around). The ones who save the shit jobs up. The one where no=one bothered to tell me what the job actually was and the bloke training me walked out to go to lunch without a word leaving me sitting there (NHS - bailed on that one after a week).

Then there are the ones (admittedly IME the majority I worked for) who made no distinction between temps and perm staff (a multinational oil company comes especially to mind here).