temping - anyone know anything about?

[fairycakes]

i want to change my job and have wondered about temping - does anyone know anything about it, and able to answer any of the following questions?

• is the pay decent, and does it vary or stay the same if you work for different places?
• do you work at different places or just do covering shifts for places?
• what kind of thing does it usually involve and do you have to be a specialist at anything? *can you choose your hours, ie is it more flexible than normal jobs?

i had more questions but i have forgotten them now! oh well, they will come to me, if anyone could answer those above that would be a great help? thanks

have done a bit of temping in my student days.

1)the pay tends to vary according to the employer
2)temping can be for care work/factory/office work/customer service work - all sorts that you don't necessarily need experience for - given you can obviously use a computer and type, there's bound to be some office work you can do
3)the good money tends to be if you have a nursing/teaching/social work qualification
4)you can tell the agency what hours you are available, and they can search for something that will match - but of course the more flexible you can be, the more likely they will be able to find you something
5)temping can be anything from a one day cover to working at a place for years - the agency will give you an indication as to likely duration/you will tell agency what sort of thing you are looking for

I've temped a few times. Yes the pay does vary from job to job depending on how much the company wanting you are willing to pay and how much the agency can afford out of that. I had loads of jobs that were just for the odd week or so. I did general office stuff or recepetion work. My last assignment lasted 18 months!

What sort of thing are you looking for ie office, IT, shop, factory etc? as different agencies specialise in different types of job.

With regard to hours, the work place you are actually assigned to usually specify when they need you to be there.

It's good fun and you get to meet loads of different people. You just have to act like you know what you're doing!!

Maybe ring round a few of the agencies from the yellow pages or whatever and find out what's about at the moment.

Yes, it really depends on the agency. At the end of the day, you are being "sold" to the highest bidder, by the temp agency to the client. I have seen differences of up to £3-4.00/hour in wage scales between agencies. I have temped on and off during the years, usually admin stuff but some media work as well. Best pay i ever got was almost £10.00 per hour. Worst, was minimum wage when i was desperate.

Good thing about temping is you get to meet new people and when everyone bitches about their job, you know you are there for a "good time" not a "long time". If you are lucky though, and you like your job, they might keep you permanently.

thanks guys

i am looking fo admin type work - done office jobs before but mainly talking to customers and really dont wanna speak to customers so thought admin prob best

sorry about typing dd sat on knee trying to type too