Graduates temping

[c00ky83]

Hi all - I'm in a situation where I'm constantly applying for graduate-level positions, but having difficulty earning money in the meantime. The problems are: I cannot commit to any fixed-term temp job, as I don't know when THE job will come up. That could be next week or next year. Secondly, I cannot take up a Monday-Friday 9-5 style job as I'm being called to interviews here there and everywhere and would need so much time off! Do I sit on my arse and hold out indefinitely for THE job? What if I take up a fixed-term then have to ditch it? I tried a p/t Xmas job, but was warned about its impact on my CV.

[c00ky83]

LOL - "Your question may have been answered?" Half those questions were mine!

[NiceCupOfTea]

Take what you can get in the meantime, before your 'the' job turns up. It's not the end of the world if you can't work through to the end of your fixed term contract - just make sure you're aware of any penalty clauses they might have written into your contract. With the amount of time off you need for interviews, I can see that it will be difficult to hide the fact that you are taking on the temp job only until a 'proper' one turns up. I can only say, be honest about the commitment you can give to the temping agency. If you can give them some sort of guarantee that you will work for them for at least a couple of months (alright, just lie) they should be ok. As far as your CV is concerned, the time between your graduation and present has been spent doing work for an employer in various environments, learning many skills due to the variety of placements you have had, honing your ability to pick up new skills in a short space of time and helping you to interact with many people in a multitude of situations. Or something.

[january_bug]

Hey - we meet again!

I'm in exactly the same situation! IF the job I interviewed for last week comes good, I'll be off to law school next September, if not, then who knows!?! Either way - I have to fill the rest of this"academic year". I've been temping in offices through agencies and passing it off as "gaining a range of commerical experience". I'm hoping to be a lawyer and have been lucky to split my time so far between being a legal secretary, and working for a stockbrokers (albeit a very small one!).

Your CV is perfect (probably!!) for these sorts of jobs, so just pop around all your agencies locally and sign up (take your passport with you as well as your CV) and hopefully you'll be working in no time!!

As it's never a contract of employment, you don't ACTUALLY have to turn up on any one day. Obviously you wouldn't do this as it's rude, BUT my point is that there is a huge amount of flexibility and if you explain to your temping consultant the position you're in, I'm sure she'll (it's usually a she!) be understanding, and then you'l be allowed days off here and there when you go to interviews. Down side is, you get paid per hour that you turn up, so interviews = days unpaid. But still, better than earning NOTHING at all!

I've answered this in a hurry, so if you have any questions at all, please do post them in this thread and I'll check back later!

Right - off to work, then back home to pray that the post contains a positive letter!

[c00ky83]

Good stuff - there's a couple of 37-hour things I might look into, maybe explaining it properly will help. I guess I should be selfish - they need me more than I need them!

[january_bug]

Well, I've got myself into regular 37 hour work through temping, been at the same place for 5 weeks now. (At �7.25/hour which is't too bad) I've requested days off for interview, and they've said yes, but they weren't really in a position to refuse!

Good luck with it all! :-)

[funnywebsite]

Just get some temporary work. It will not go against your C.V as they told you in fact the opposite I would say. Employees are looking for active people not lazy people and it will be in your favour to say I have been working. At the end of the day nobody is going to pay you to watch T.V or spend all day on this website.

[c00ky83]

Mostly agreed funnywebsite... but the job I took on was a bad idea, and was warned that a string of NMW retail jobs would look like I was desperate. It was only good for convenience - like I say, agency work might get me good commercial experience but is not ideal for my "time needs".

[c00ky83]

Like I said: that job could come along at any time. It just did! F*** the temping!