Guide to: Temping

What is temping?

Are you looking to gain experience to build up your CV? Do you not want to be tied down to one job for a long period of time? Temping could be for you.

Temporary work is a great opportunity to get paid experience within different roles and discover what you enjoy doing without committing on a long-term basis. Temping can also open up new opportunities and be a stepping stone into permanent employment.

What are the benefits of temping?

Taking on a number of temporary positions allows you to explore different jobs and industries, learn new skills and help you to learn your strengths and weaknesses. These skills can enrich your CV and make you more employable.

Temping can be a good experience for school-leavers and graduates who don’t yet know which career path they want to take. It’s also a great way to test out a possible career change. 

The flexibility that temping has to offer enables you to create a work life balance that suits you. You can get a foot in the door of a competitive industry and use your experience to gain an advantage over other applicants for your ideal permanent role. While temping you can also collect references and build up your contacts, who may be able to help you out in the future.  

Top tips for temping

• Make a good impression; treat any new assignment like the first day at a new job.
• Ensure that you understand your assignment and that you’re happy with what you’ll be doing.
• Let the agency know if you’re looking to get into a specific career area as they may be able to find you relevant work. When you’re on an assignment, take the opportunity to speak to your colleagues about their jobs and how they got where they are.
• Keep track of all your assignments and skills learnt so that you can build them into your CV. 
• It’s important to keep your recruitment consultant up to date with your availability. Assignments will be different lengths and some may come up at short notice.
• When accepting an assignment make sure that you can commit to all aspects of the job including hours, length of assignment and location.
• Let your consultant know if you can’t make it into work due to illness or for any other reason.
• Your first temporary position may well be a short assignment to test the water and see what you’re like in person.  Even if this assignment seems dull, work-hard and the agency will find your conscientious attitude favourable. You will be likely to find more assignments coming your way, which are longer, better paid and with a greater variety of work.

At HR GO we have a wide range of temporary positions available. Give your local branch a call today to see how we can help you.