Yeah, I received a survey from my temp agancy a couple weeks ago. Hell if I'm gonna respond; if I tell them how crappy they are, they won't like it. If I tell them how good they are, I'm a liar.

Assholes.

I wanted to just go postal, I swear to God. The chicanery involved, how they could say the things they did with ONE OF THEIR SUPPOSEDLY BEST PEOPLE sitting right there, not even a foot away, is appalling.

I fucking hate what I'm going through right now with my career, just fucking hate it.

A good temp agency is a rare drop of clear rainwater in a desert of irritating schmucks. And yeah, they're always going to go for the additional employee rather than an upper. They don't make any money off that.

The most irritating thing about temping is realizing how much money the agency is making off you... it can get insane.

Perhaps this guy has some advice for us.

≡ Click to see image ≡

Temp agencies. I used one in Florida. They sent me on two jobs total. One as a ticket taker at the Homestead Speedway for a Winston Cup race, where I got a free carton of smokes and saw more racing memorabilia than I thought could possibly exist and a night doing inventory in a Pequena Habana discount clothing store where I counted (among other things) 476 pairs on thong underwear.

I think Pequena Habana should be your sock puppet name, Jon. Thanks for helping me through this.

LT, can you not just independently apply for this position as if you were an outside candidate?

Poor LT! I understand well the woes of temp agencies. They're just a bunch of woolsucking fuckers.

*whuffles LT tenderly*

"Good afternoon, Tender Whuffles Adult Daycare! Oh, LT, I heard, darlin', I heard. Yes, there was no reason for that to have happened. We have your hammock, peace pipe, and red wine waiting, love. You can come by yourself, or Specklet can meet you at the pool hall, yes. Good to hear from you, too, dear."

Miko - I could, but if the agency found out, it would make me look really bad. They make you sign stuff legally saying you won't do that on assigment somewhere. It's not worth the hassle. I've got enough on my plate right now without doing battle against temp agencies.

ah yes, temp agencies. One of which fired me last week before I had even done any work for them - self link so I don't write out the whole shameful story again. I hate them. Of course, it is true that I made the mistake of being honest with the monsters: I lost it, what can I say? They are evil. First up against the wall when the revolution comes!

Oooh, I hate that. I temped for four years and it sucked. At first I was getting work very consistently, then all of a sudden it dried up. No idea why. One agency kept telling me I was OVERQUALIFIED for everything that came in. WTF?

My friend has been temping for even longer. Several times she's been on temp-to-hire assignments. Each time the to-hire part hasn't happened. Either the company balked at paying the agency's conversion fee, or the requirements changed, or the company decided not to fill the position...it was always something.

I take the fact that a company is hiring a lot of temps for longer-term positions as a bad sign. Usually it means that they lack hiring confidence or aren't sure they really need the positions, since having temps for long periods rarely makes much economic sense.

Actually, from what I understand, it makes great sense for big, well-known firms like Starbucks or Microsoft. MS used to have perma-temps who did all the same work as the regs did, but no benefits, stock, etc. Until they got nailed for it, now what they have are "9 on/3 off" deals, where you temp for 9 months and then can't apply for another 3 months after that. Meanwhile, they hire another temp.

It makes much more sense for a firm to just hire long-term temps because there's no risk to them - no benefits, or insurance, and no need to keep them on any longer than you feel like it.

Disposable employees, and the sick part is this has a negative backlash on the perms you meet at places sometimes. They're worried about their own jobs, see a bunch of temps running around, and end up treating you badly as a result.

All in all, a crap way to stay financially afloat. It's surreal, there's no respect in it, and what's worse is you take about a 10,000 dollar flop in income (or at least I have by doing it).

So hat's off to you full-timers, man. Grow old in the tooth and remember us pathetic trolls who work 6 days a month with no benefits.

I worked as a temp for maybe a year and a half when I first moved up here, during a hiring freeze at my previous employer. I then got hired full-time, worked about a year and a half, and was laid off when they closed the entire facility. In retrospect, the temps were one of many bad signs.

Due to "at-will" employment contracts I really don't see how there's that much risk in hiring "permanent" employees. I can be fired at any time, for any reason that isn't generally illegal, with no real recourse. Of course you have the health insurance benefits to consider, but that must be an extreme expense when factored against the sometimes 100% and beyond takings from temp agencies.

I guess I'd love to hear/read an analysis from a businesses perspective... clearly it must look good on a balance sheet somewhere, and you're probably right, but...

I totally agree with you on the workplace issues. It's really horrid for the temps and for the "perm." employees.

I suggest you contact your local chapter of SHRM (Society for Human Resources Management) and ask them about the "temp fee vs. permanent employee benefit" margin. Agencies make a nice tidy sum but it ain't anywhere near the expense of what the average permanent worker's benefits compensation is.

Besides, the reason you don't get fired is that it's more cost-prohibitive for an employer to nail someone "at-will" than just go through the motions of making you more productive at what you're already doing. There's time taken in interviewing, employee morale, all sorts of hidden costs.

Actually, from what I understand, it makes great sense for big, well-known firms like Starbucks or Microsoft.

And T-Mobile. Fuckers.