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The Benefits of Hiring Temporary Employees

May 6th, 2016

If you’re like most hiring managers, your company occasionally faces spikes in client demand. These spikes may happen on a regular seasonal schedule, or they may occur without warning based on market forces beyond your control. You may also sometimes find yourself in a lurch for the opposite reason; instead of too many projects, you simply don’t have enough hands to manage the standard workload, due to sudden departures, simultaneous leaves, or overlapping vacations.

So what to do? How can you handle the gap between the work that needs to be done and the employees available to do it? And how can you pull this off without breaking your budget or hurting your company’s reputation? Consider the benefits of a temporary or contingency hiring to get you through the rough patch.

Temporary employees reduce risk.

Sometimes temporary workers are only interested in temporary jobs. They want to step on board, work for a few weeks, and then move on. But plenty of others would actually like to find full time, permanent positions eventually. And plenty of employers are also interested in long term arrangements if—and only if—the two parties are mutually compatible. In a temporary work agreement, both participants can take the relationship for a test drive, and if all goes well, the agreement can become long term after the contract period ends.

Temporary employment reduces hassle.

Signing on a permanent full-time employee means paperwork, and paperwork means headaches. But if you employ a temp, the agency hires and pays them, not you. We also handle tax reporting, insurance issues, and all necessary screening and testing to make sure your candidate fits the bill before you even meet for the first interview.

Temporary employees can be highly skilled.

If you’re just looking for an honest, hardworking person who can help you complete a low skill task (like moving boxes or stacking papers), that’s fine. But modern temporary employees come with every imaginable skill set and every imaginable level of experience. From high school diplomas to Phds, and from coding to healthcare to engineering to culinary skills, a great agency can help you find the exact candidates and skills sets you need.

Temporary employment saves time.

Hiring is expensive, and a great deal of this expense is often a function of time. It takes time (and therefore money) to source positions, post ads, review resumes, screen candidates, screen them again, interview, then make a final decision. So leave the heavy lifting to us. We’re great listeners, and once we understand what you’re looking for, we can access our vast network of resources and connections to bring the right candidate directly to your door.

For more on how to handle a temporary workload or form relationships with new employees at minimal cost and risk, reach out to the Fairfeld County recruiting professionals at Merritt Staffing.

Turn a Temporary Assignment into a Full Time Opportunity

February 19th, 2016

If you’re stepping into your new temporary job because you really do only want a temporary job, and you plan to say goodbye later without looking back, that’s fine. But if you’d like to leverage this temporary role into career stepping stone, or maybe even a full time position, the power to do so is well within your reach. Here are a few simple moves that can turn your short term gig into a long term opportunity.

Ask a few questions.

Starting on your first day, make it clear that you’d like to make a strong impression, and ask a few questions to find out where this job can take you. Until you ask, you have no way of knowing if full time positions may become available here. You also have no way of knowing how to make a grab for those positions. And your employers have no way of knowing that this prospect interests you. As far as they know, you’re happy to leave when your contract period ends. So explain that, if possible, you’d like to stay.

Make a winning impression.

Again, starting on day one, demonstrate that you aren’t here to fool around. Dress for the full time job you’d like to land eventually. Or at the very least, stay as neat and professional as your workspace will allow. Make direct eye contact and offer a friendly, fully engaged smile to everyone you meet here. Show a genuine personal interest in both the job and the company.

Treat mistakes and lessons as a long term experience.

When you make a mistake and are corrected, treat this as an opportunity for growth. Most temporary employees will dismiss the moment (“I’m only going to be here for two weeks, so what does it matter?”) But if you take a different approach, you’ll send a stronger message (as in, “I’d like to get this right, so I can avoid making similar mistakes in the future.”)

Build relationships.

Try not to drift in and out of the facility every day like a nameless ghost. Make connections by remembering people’s names and recalling personal conversations. Show that you care about these people and in return, they’ll start caring about you. By the time your contract period ends, your employers will be more invested in what becomes of you. They’ll also make more of an effort to create room for you within this organization.

Ask for exposure.

If your temporary job involves filing in an out-of-the way office or moving boxes on the loading dock, try to learn more about the larger organization and how its business model works. Express an interest in expanding your skills and experience beyond your limited workspace. Even if no full time jobs are available in this space, your supervisor may be willing to shift you to another temporary position in another part of the company.

For more on how to leverage every temporary opportunity into a potential long term job, contact the Hartford staffing professionals at Merritt.

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