Temp to ask for different assignments?

[iloveweetos]

Hi,
Just a quick overview. I'm currently temping for a company since mid Jan so its coming up to 6 months. The assignment I am currently on was originally for 4-6 weeks, so i'm lucky its lasted this long. However, I want to move on and the office i'm in aren't really giving me more tasks than what I should be doing so I don't feel like i'm learning much.

Should I stay here and be glad to be assigned somewhere, or can i ask my recruitment consultant to put me forward for the next local assignment? Are you allowed to do this?

TBH im very glad of the money that I am getting here, but want to experience different work places.

[QuintessentialOldDear]

I dont think the recruitment agency will like it if you leave the assignment, they employer might not want to use the agency again, and it may put your recruitment agency in contractual trouble.

[QuintessentialOldDear]

You might force the issue by trying to find out if the company might want to offer you a permanent role?

[Flibbertyjibbet]

I have done a lot of temping on and off over the years. In my own experience once a temp agency have put you in somewhere, they will leave you there as its money for them each week that they don't have to put any effort in for.
WHen this happened to me a couple of times 'oh we have this local low paid job take it for a couple of weeks till we find you something better' and then I was still stuck there 6 months later...

I told them and told them I wanted to move but they did nothing. Ikept telling them every week for about a month. So I registered with another agency, told them the situation, they found me something else and I just went to the new, more interesting, better paid job one Monday morning instead of going to the dead end job.

If you did this you could just have a quiet word with the people at your current job, on the Friday or email them over the weekend so they will know why you have gone. Say that it was nothing they did but the agency really let you down so you had no choice but to leave for more money and more interesting work. THey won't hold it against YOU.
In my case the first temp agency went bonkers and tried to get me back into that job, but I didn't feel bad because I'd given them enough requests for something better. Funny how they suddenly had a ton of better jobs for me as soon as I'd voted with my feet....

No the recruitment agency wont' like it if you leave the assignment and yes the employer might not want to use them again but that won't be your fault! Working for a recruitment agency should be a mutually beneficial experience, not exploitation!

[Wilding]

If your agency are any good they would rather you tell them than find a job through someone else and just leave - if you make it clear that you are fed up they should be able to find someone else to take your current position and find something new for you. I've temped for years and have very good relationships with my agencies, and wouldn't hesitate to let them know if I wasn't happy somewhere.

[QuintessentialOldDear]

Listen to FLibberty, she knows better than me!

[iloveweetos]

lol quint!
yeah I think i will email him tomorrow, and get DP to write a well worded email lol.
Recruitment consultant is an idiot tho, just ignores emails he doesn't care to reply to and when he needs something constantly calling.
There was someone here before me, who was in for 3 days but couldn't do the job and they replaced him with me.

I'm glad to have the job but gosh i feel as though i'm not using my brain!!!!

[Flibbertyjibbet]

I think I learned the hard way that employment recruitment agency staff are SALES based, and not at all like the HR manager that you get in a permanent job.

I set out thinking that agency staff cared about ME and putting ME in the right job and keeping ME happy. Sadly with some of them this is not the case, once they have you in a job and the £££ coming in for them each week in their commissions from it, they are on to filling the next job with someone new. Far easier for them.

However this is not a blanket statement there were others who realised a good temp should be kept happy, because if you lose the temps then you have no one to put in the jobs.

One temp agency pulled me out of a place where the employer had not been paying the bills. They told me not to go in on the Monday as they'd cancelled the contract with that employer.

'oh, ok, where am I going on Monday instead then?' I asked. Er, nowhere!!! The agency had not got me anything lined up! I think that was my turning point regarding whether to put myself or an agency first.

[iloveweetos]

oh jeez
DP worked in recruitment for a while and left because of the whole idea of how recruitment consultants are. He never dealt with the temping side so thought I would find out here. DP thinks I should stay here for now and build up experience and because its in an ideal location for us and DD. But I just feel frustrated.
Are you perm now Fibberty? and how long were u temping for?

[fedupandtired]

Of course you can do that. Part of the appeal of temping is the variety. I've done it and the company I was working for weren't too impressed but the agency was fine. Mind you I had specifically said I didn't want jobs lasting longer than a week so I wouldn't have accepted them being awkward.

[Flibbertyjibbet]

No I am self employed now doing the thing I used to do as a temp!

The temping part with all the different places to work at did allow me to build up VERY wide experience so that I am better at it self employed than others like me I have come across. Also, I do the self employed for smaller businesses that can't afford a 'me' full time. (I am a credit controller for smaller businesses).

I used to temp because my 'main' job was doing site accounts for construction companies, so each time a 9, 12 or 18m job on a construction site finished, I'd do office temping for a change till the next longer term project came up. Some agencies practically rolled out the red carpet for a temp who was always on time, picked up the work quickly, worked the hours required and didn't think that being hourly paid meant 'work whatever hours you feel like'.
Others though would bung you in any old job and lie about the duration, cos that was easy money.

Now then, temp agencies are USED to temps leaving because they get a permanent job or they only want term time work etc etc. So what I'd do if I were you is ring them up the next time you're in the office and say 'I am sstill not happy here. Can you find me something else?'

Then ring a couple of days later and ask if anything else has come in yet.

Then in another week say 'I am not being stretched and the money is not so good. You told me it was only for a few weeks and I am still here months later. If you don't find me something else more suited to my talents and skills and more money, then I'm sorry I will start registering with other agencies that can'.

Another thing you can do, if its just the money is tell the temp agency that if they want you to stay all this time then you will need a bigger cut of whatever it is that the company pays for you. I did this once and it worked. If you find another job remember that the rate from the agency is NEGOTIABLE and they will always offer you a lower rate at the start and probably find another pound or so an hour for you if you put in a good case.

Or you can go to your boss at the employer and explain whats going on. Ask if, over the summer they might be taking temps on for anyone's holiday leave cover and ask if you can maybe have a change of role for a while? Or first dibs on any better roles they may need a temp for in other departments?

Temp agencies are there to make money. They sometimes forget that happy workers = more money for themselves so maybe its time to remind them. What agency is it btw?

Some of the best to work for were either the higher-end accountancy firms, or the 'bottom end' (of the payscale) secretarial agencies like Kelly or Office Angels in Manchester, although those were in the early 90s so may not still be around. They treated good temps like GOLD DUST but I think things have changed now because there are so many people unemployed.

[iloveweetos]

Page Personnel so whether they will give a bigger cut i dont know?? I just assumed that they have a way to do it and thats the way its done? It sounds daft but i feel like i cant ask for that..lol Im just glad to be doing something! lol

I didnt write an email, had a full on weekend but will tonight or in my lunch. Just saying I'm not happy here etc. One thing i worry about is will he tell my boss here as I dont want it to affect the time i do have here shes horrible as it is
How did you get into credit controlling? its an area that i've been drawn towards.