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Testing the waters
Temporary assignments allow employers and workers to give each other tryouts before making commitments.
With an MBA and a master's degree in finance and years of working for small and large businesses behind her, LaTonya Hazel was savvy enough to know about the "hidden" job market. She knew that many jobs never are advertised because they are filled internally or by recruiters, staffing agencies or friends of employees.
"I knew I needed to do my research and start networking to find the kind of job that I was seeking, but I was new to Georgia and didn't know anyone here. Networking would take time, and, when you have a family, you can't afford to wait," Hazel said.
So she fell back on a strategy she had used to find work when she was in college. She called Robert Half International, the staffing agency that had her information on file in South Carolina, and told a local representative what she needed.
"Working temporary jobs in the summers in college allowed me to get my foot in the door at a variety of companies and gain real-world experience with financial systems that we didn't have access to in school but that future employers valued," Hazel said.
This time, Hazel was looking for a midsize company, a flexible work schedule and an opportunity to use her business and financial skills. The agency found her a temporary job with SSL Americas Inc. in Norcross, part of SSL International, a health care consumer-products company.
In December the company offered Hazel a permanent position with the sales and promotion team.
"It was a great Christmas present, and I feel very lucky to be here. They tailored the work to my skills, so I'm not stuck in the typical number-cruncher job, but [I] do multiple functions and have the opportunity to travel. I found a good fit," she said.
A good match between job candidate and company is often the result of a temporary-to-permanent hiring strategy, said Stacy Marshall, vice president of the Central Georgia Region of Robert Half International, the seven divisions of which place candidates in the administrative support, management resources, financial, accounting, technology, legal and creative fields. Nearly three-quarters of temporary professionals obtain full-time jobs while working through a staffing firm, reports the American Staffing Association.
"Temp-to-perm arrangements offer many advantages to both candidate and [hiring company]," Marshall said.
Pluses for employers
A temporary assignment gives the hiring company longer to evaluate a candidate. Managers get to observe the applicant's skills, personality and performance as he or she works.
Marshall said that Robert Half International screens the candidates for temporary jobs, which assures companies that they will be able to do the work. The staffing company conducts personal one-on-one interviews with candidates and online testing of the skills listed on their resumes so that the recruiter thoroughly understands someone's skill set, experience and aspirations. Robert Half International also checks references, including recent employers, and verifies employment eligibility.
"We do a lot of work upfront to determine if a candidate is really a good fit for the client, but then staffing is our business and expertise. It's what we do every day," Marshall said.
For that reason, more companies find working with a staffing agency a more "productive, efficient and effective way to hire people for a broad array of positions," said Phyllis Finley, vice president and regional director for Randstad USA.
Randstad uses a similar screening process to qualify its candidates.
"If a company places a job advertisement, it may get 1,500 to 2,000 applicants who may or may not be qualified," Finley said. "A staffing agency gives a client a choice of two or three candidates whose skills and career goals are aligned with what the company is looking for."
Because they are looking to recruit and retain top talent in a tight labor market and because they need a flexible work force that can change quickly to meet global demands, many companies rely on staffing agencies to fill temporary, temp-to-perm and permanent positions.
"The staffing industry is growing tremendously, because companies know we're good partners," Marshall said. "Companies don't have to worry about overstaffing and layoffs when the work levels off -- say, in the retail or tax-preparation industries. They know we can supply hard-to-find skill sets. Companies who want to streamline productivity are looking to models other than long-term, permanent staffing."
The Randstad office in Atlanta is hiring 34 new agents to handle the growing demand, Finley said.
"The temp-to-permanent hiring has been especially strong in the insurance, mortgage, real estate, call center and manufacturing sectors," she said.
Temporary assignments are a growing part of the technical market, said Miguel Boland, branch manager of Robert Half Technology in Buckhead. He used to get calls for only high-level positions -- such as network managers, developers, program managers and computer engineers -- but the requests now include midlevel professionals.
There are many reasons for hiring information technology professionals through a staffing agency.
"A company may only need someone temporarily -- say, for a new software rollout or network upgrade. It's easier and quicker to bring in a consultant than hire a new employee you may not need later," Boland said.
It's also ideal for special projects that have their own budgets. People can be hired out of the project budget and not affect the overall corporate bottom line. Doing so "can be a way to bypass a hiring freeze," Boland said.
Because temporary candidates are employed by and receive benefits (health care, holiday and vacation pay) from the staffing agency, it's much cleaner to let someone go when the need ends or the personality doesn't fit.
Pluses for employees
"We tell our candidates that a temporary or temp-to-perm assignment is really a working interview," Finley said. "Instead of just submitting a resume to a company, they get inside the door and have a chance to prove their skills and capabilities. While performing the job, they can network to find out about other job opportunities within the company.
"It's a very comfortable job-search strategy, because it creates income while you look and may lead to future permanent employment."
Having a recruiter sell a job candidate's skills to the right person to land a "working interview" gives him or her a "leg up over individuals interviewing on their own, especially if the job isn't advertised anywhere else," she said.
Staffing companies also offer training programs, allowing people to refresh or upgrade their skills during job searches.
The strategy works well for people who are new to an area or want to move, retirees seeking part-time work, career-changers, people who've been out of the work force for a while and workers who want to try out different jobs and work environments.
"By taking a temporary assignment, a person gets to experience not just the job but the culture of the company, which plays an important part in job satisfaction," Marshall said.
After being laid off last fall, Sharon Hester wanted an accounting opportunity closer to home and decided to work with Robert Half's Accountemps during the expected transition to a new job. It was a short transition.
"I ended work on a Tuesday and started on a temporary assignment as senior comptroller with a Cobb County management company on Wednesday," Hester said.
Her commute was 20 miles closer to home. "I felt like my [staffing] recruiter really listened to my needs and that he was looking out for my interests. He wanted me to get a good fit," she said.
Having had some bad experiences during her 20-year career, Hester said that the temporary assignment gave her time to get to know the company, explore advancement avenues and be sure she wanted to stay before negotiating a full-time job.
Most people are looking for permanent employment because the pay and benefits are often better, it offers more stability or it aligns with their career goals, but not everyone wants to work full time.
"Some of our consultants prefer to take a series of assignments, because it lets them pick and choose what they want to do and gives them more flexibility. Sometimes they get to work with new technologies that they wouldn't see as permanent employees," Boland said.
When her IT division from Cisco was eliminated in 2001, Roberta Fountroy grabbed the chance to become an independent consultant. She's been working with Robert Half Technology since 2004, but she also finds her own assignments, teaches college classes and writes.
"You have to have multiple streams of income, but contingency employment is really happening in the marketplace," she said.
Fountroy said that one of the best things about being a consultant is getting to choose jobs that work with her lifestyle and goals.
"I like to take the summer off to be with my family, and sometimes I teach online or in the classroom, depending on where I am," she said.
Through Robert Half Technology, Fountroy is working on implementing e-business architecture for Habitat for Humanity.
"A staffing agency gives you the cultural benefit of belonging to a 'virtual organization,' where you have peers to interact with," she said. "It can find you a greater variety of clients, but you have to be proactive and establish an ongoing relationship with your agent."
