On the hiring line: All those temps signal good things to come

[babylonsister]

On the hiring line: All those temps signal good things to come

By Tony Pugh | McClatchy Newspapers


WASHINGTON — Last January, Rita Ruggles was on the verge of closing her temporary staffing agency in South Beloit, Ill.

She had only 25 workers placed with area companies, her billings had tumbled and she was forced to lay off all four of her office staffers.

"I was running the office by myself," said Ruggles, the president of Trinity Labor Services. "I was really thinking that we would be closing our doors."

Today, however, in the heart of northern Illinois' hard-hit manufacturing region, Ruggles is experiencing a renaissance of sorts. She's finding jobs for recycling workers, industrial welders and machine tool operators with increasing frequency. Business is back to pre-recession levels, nearly 100 of her temps are working and her office is fully staffed again.

Ruggles' good fortune is part of a national turnaround in the temporary-help service sector, which has added 117,000 jobs since July, including 52,400 in November, according to new government figures released Friday.

That's not exactly a hiring boom. After losing an average of 44,000 temporary help jobs each month from January 2008 through July 2009, however, the recent surge reflects an increased demand for labor, the kind that often precedes an expansion of the permanent work force.

"Employers will hire temporary help workers to sort of test the waters of a recovery before they make a commitment to full-time workers. And we are clearly starting to see that now," said Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal policy-research organization.

more...

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/80087.html

[elocs]

1. I work as a temp and have found most employers hire from their temps.

Some don't and abuse the use of temps, but I always look at it like dating before marrying where both sides get to find out how they like the other before making a commitment. In fact, the best job I ever had came from being a temp and I really had no experience but the employer liked how I worked. That was a Teamsters union job and our union rep kept track of the temps being used and if it became excessive he recommended that a permanent job be added and that most often was a temp who had already proven themselves.

[Kdillard]

2. Yep I had the same experience I started off as a temp and it

Became a permanent position since they liked my work.

[elocs]

3. I have also had the temp experience of telling an employer who wanted to hire me

that I really did not like the job that well. He appreciated my honesty and had no hard feelings at all because I had done my work well. It was better that he knew up front rather than hiring me on, doing the physical and everything, only to have me quit in a few months when I found something better.

I have found in being a temp and working as a full time employee with temps that they are either really bad or really good with little in between. If you are a good and hard working temp who shows up on time and doesn't miss work (many temps as well as younger workers cannot do either of those things with regularity) you will stand head and shoulders above the others and stand a good chance of getting hired on if that is what they are ultimately looking to do.

[CitizenLeft]

9. hang in there

I temped for 6 months and got hired permanently in Aug. It saved my life - allowed me to keep my house. I had been trying to make it on unemployment for 5 months prior to getting the temp job. If temps are being put back to work in even moderate numbers, that's great news - it means, hopefully, more to follow. People hanging on by the skin of their teeth just need to get that phone call.

[elehhhhna]

11. I ran a staffing co in DT Chicago for years and can't tell you

how many success sories we had, particuliarly in placing people (untimately permanently) in jobs they'd have NEVER been asked to interview for.

It's a great resource for unemployed people.

[Clio the Leo]

4. More good news. NT

[HughMoran]

5. Hiring a person at my small company last week, we responded to 68 resumes

We only heard back from 3 people!? :wtf:

I'm not saying that the market for is glutted, but it can still be a challenge to find good people. Granted NH is in better shape that some really bad hit areas of the country, but I am on my 3rd job this year after 15 years of stability at one place. Anecdotal, yes, but let's hope that the job market is heating up a bit.

We don't hire temps so I've got nothing to share there. We do call in temporary workers for "busy" times - and they have been needed more lately.

[madmom]

6. My son just last week got hired by a temp agency, to a union shop, who had it

written in their contract that temps will receive union wages. They, HR, also told him to fill out an application and bring in a resume, because they will probably be hiring in January and it will be from the temp pool.

[dave29]

7. good to hear

:)

[Peacetrain]

8. An amazing amount of small companies use the temp services to test for permanent hires

When the temp services pick up.. permanent hires are right behind

[Lisa0825]

10. Large companies too.

Support staff positions for NASA contractors in the Houston area go through staffing agencies, and the major teaching hospital near here also uses temps a lot. Also the manufacturing company I worked for briefly used a temp agency for all their assemblers. They were permanent positions, but they let the agency payroll them and manage the benefits.

[backscatter712]

12. Nice sig picture there! n/t

[Tarheel_Dem]

13. Good news indeed. I heard on NPR, when the jobless numbers came out,

that employers who had been uncertain about the stability of the recovery, were finally calling workers back, and it showed in the November job numbers. I hope this is the beginning of a dramatic turnaround.

[Kber]

14. I have another, completely personal and non-scientific, early indication of a pending improvement

I work in HR and I've noticed a dramatic increase in the # of HR jobs posted. When I recently tested the waters with a resume or two, it took about 2 weeks to land two interviews and two offers, both for positions that had been open for literally months.

In past turnarounds, some of the first positions that companies fill (from those that have been empty for some time) are in the HR department. I think it's getting your house in order before you bring in more employees and it's something I've experienced over the past 20 years as both a job seeker and a candidate seeker. If I know my company's going to be hiring soon, you better believe I make sure I'm fully staffed first.

It's not over yet, but I feel in my bones that things are getting a wee bit better and will continue to do so.

[babylonsister]

15. So companies have been posting job openings, not with the

expectation of hiring immediately, but for future hires? I have wondered, being on the lookout for a job myself, why some jobs have been opened for months when so many people are available. This makes sense, as much as anything does when applying for jobs online in this economy and decade. Whatever happened to meeting people and judging their character and potential? It's a whole new ballgame for me. I haven't applied for jobs in years, so I'm entering a whole new world. :crazy:

[Cha]

16. Well good luck to you, in your

whole new world, babylonsister!