I love an option but I hate to choose

[calgary]

Hello,

 

Basically, I worked as a temp for Company A for 3 days and thought it was brilliant, i love everybody, they loved me, i did a good job and they were all sad they couldn't keep me on longer, but i was only temping until the woman who had taken the role had finished her notice at the other place. (she finished it sooner than she was supposed to, it was meant to be a 2 week contract but she left after serving 3 days of it so i had to leave company A sooner than anticipated)

 

But a week later after the new woman had started, they asked for me back again for another week or so just to help her catch up with the work load so i happily accepted.. it got to a point where i was told they were finding i was working harder and faster than the new woman which wasn't great for her, ( but i felt good about it) so they kept me on for another 3 weeks and i loved every working day, i found the work load so simple and straight forward and i had instantly made a bunch of really good professional friends.. the problem was , was that i worked so efficiently that i sort of made myself extinct because i got through the work too quickly and they told me that they were anticipating me staying longer but the work had run dry. so i was pretty mad at myself.. this was one friday afternoon.. the following monday i had an interview for another job.

 

Job B. Which i started the Thursday after the interview, i started at 12 noon and finished at 4pm that day and the woman training me was hungover from a work night out the night before, so i didn't really learn much. The friday after, i was invited to sit in a conference meeting and take notes for 3 hours right in the middle of a 6 hour day, so again i didn't really learn much about my role,

 

The monday of this week, i had a full day, but the woman training me was going on vacation (today, wednesday) so she had to get all of her work done and up to date before leaving, and also train me so i could do her role whilst she was away, but she seemed way more interested in getting through her work load and i felt like an inconvenience. same applied to tuesday.. and today i found myself at work without anybody training me and i'm expected to do what a woman in that role had being doing for almost 10 years.. with only 2 full days and 2 half days behind me at the company.. they didn't seem to appreciate that fact and were just giving me a hard time for being slow.. on top of that the woman who was asking me to do tasks, set me an assignment in the morning and showed me an easy demonstration of what i would be doing whilst she was in a meeting.. but i found when she left for her meeting that there was alot of things in the work load to be done that she hadn't explained to me.. and whenever i asked anybody else in the office they couldn't help me and didn't know the answers.. so i was either left to guess and make an attempt, only to get the majority wrong because the odds of getting it right were slim.. or sit and wait for her to get back and not really do anything.. so obviously when she got back she was dissapointed in me.. then the computers lost connection to the main server at 2pm today and i couldn't really do anything so they let me leave early,

 

I feel like option b , they're really expecting a lot of me in a short amount of time and i feel just as frustrated with them as they probably do with me. But if i can stick it out and get good at it ( which to me comes with time and more training) then they'll offer me a full time position with a great salary and alot of work perks..

 

The problem with option A is, that it's only temporary, they can only guarantee a few weeks work for certain before the work dries up again.. but i felt more valuable and i felt as though i enjoyed my time there a lot better and only wish i could stay on forever..

 

If i choose to stay with B , then option A may never consider me for temp work again in the future.. and i might lose my Job at job b.. But if i choose B i don't know if i'd even want to stay there forever for the way i feel that they've treated me so far.

 

i'd feel guilty leaving B because they really need help.. but so do A.

 

I'm really not sure what to do, but i don't have very long to decide and would really really love some advice on this situation .

[pink_sugar]

This is a hard decision. If it were me, I'd go with B simply because I need steady income. The experience I've had with temp agencies is that it is far easier for their clients to let you go, because they can easily just ask the temp agency to find them someone else. Whereas if you were a permanent employee, usually there is good reason if you are let go and a protocol they have to go through. In general, they are less likely to let you go because unless there is good reasoning, no one wants to deal with the process of hiring and training someone else as it requires time and company investment. However, with temp agencies, since the clients have the temp agency doing all that, it's as simple as "Find me someone else with more experience". Temp jobs are not stable at all and that is why I wouldn't leave my permanent job for a temp to hire for that very reason alone and from my own experience. BUT if you have the financial resources to remain temp, then enjoy your job as it is important that a company recognizes you. However, while job B may seem challenging and hectic in the beginning, it sounds like it has great benefits and pay and could be a long term opportunity if you give it a chance. I guess it all depends on what you need most right now...recognition and enjoyment of the job...or does your financial situation require a permanent position right now? For me, I just cannot afford the instability of temp work, so I would probably go with job B.

[calgary]

This is a hard decision. If it were me, I'd go with B simply because I need steady income. The experience I've had with temp agencies is that it is far easier for their clients to let you go, because they can easily just ask the temp agency to find them someone else. Whereas if you were a permanent employee, usually there is good reason if you are let go and a protocol they have to go through. In general, they are less likely to let you go because unless there is good reasoning, no one wants to deal with the process of hiring and training someone else as it requires time and company investment. However, with temp agencies, since the clients have the temp agency doing all that, it's as simple as "Find me someone else with more experience". Temp jobs are not stable at all and that is why I wouldn't leave my permanent job for a temp to hire for that very reason alone and from my own experience. BUT if you have the financial resources to remain temp, then enjoy your job as it is important that a company recognizes you. However, while job B may seem challenging and hectic in the beginning, it sounds like it has great benefits and pay and could be a long term opportunity if you give it a chance. I guess it all depends on what you need most right now...recognition and enjoyment of the job...or does your financial situation require a permanent position right now? For me, I just cannot afford the instability of temp work, so I would probably go with job B.

i agree! but i am only a temp at job B until they offer me the salary.. if they offer me the salary. I could work my self to death for the next month and really help them out and put myself out... work way harder than job A, only to get a thank you at the end of it and be left in a similar position. I really am in a mess here. I'd love a full time role. I strongly dislike agencies, they charge the company double the amount that the pay me, my boss at option A showed me the paper work. It just seems as though most job posts these days seem to be through the agencies as companies don't want their phones / emails spammed every 5 minutes with people who are not capable of the job, they seem to want the agency to take care of refining the candidates for the interviews around here.

I just wish company A would offer me a full time role, but like my grandad always used to tell me.. wish in one hand sh*t in the other and see which fills fastest. The reality is that they haven't offered me a full time opportunity no matter how good they feel i was or how much they like me / want me back temporarily.

[pink_sugar]

i agree! but i am only a temp at job B until they offer me the salary.. if they offer me the salary. I could work my self to death for the next month and really help them out and put myself out... work way harder than job A, only to get a thank you at the end of it and be left in a similar position. I really am in a mess here. I'd love a full time role. I strongly dislike agencies, they charge the company double the amount that the pay me, my boss at option A showed me the paper work. It just seems as though most job posts these days seem to be through the agencies as companies don't want their phones / emails spammed every 5 minutes with people who are not capable of the job, they seem to want the agency to take care of refining the candidates for the interviews around here.

I just wish company A would offer me a full time role, but like my grandad always used to tell me.. wish in one hand sh*t in the other and see which fills fastest. The reality is that they haven't offered me a full time opportunity no matter how good they feel i was or how much they like me / want me back temporarily.

 

For me right now, I will do anything for full time. I had to take a second job that is thankfully mostly telecommute after training.

[GemmaUK]

There are times to hedge your bets are there are times to be vocal.

 

I think you need to be vocal in both cases here.

 

Make sure that the company you love are really aware that you would be happy to return. Network it! A company doesn't need an agency to employ you on a contract.

I got a permanent role from a company I had temped at for three months some nine months before. No agency fees involved as it was out of the time span of a valid 'agency introduction'

 

The other company, much as you hate agencies (and don't we all!) they are also your HR department so you need to translate to them the brief training you have had.

I worked in a similar role (not for long to e honest) where I had 'some' training but the woman (Andrea) I was replacing on a permanent basis had been there 22 years.

 

In the end it came down to one item of work that she had never kept any control over - a bank reconciliation which was out of balance by £300K!! I got it down to only £75K out. Bearing in mind some of the differences had no description whatsoever and went back years...

 

Christmas Eve my new boss Steve told me that it wasn't good enough and rather than go for a Christmas drink with all the other staff he set me a deadline of the day after Boxing Day to figure out the £75K.

 

I stayed late on my own and wrote my resignation letter.

I was on a month's notice and went through the entire reconciliation with the dept supervisor Sue.

I hadn't had much contact with her before that.

 

One of the last things I heard Sue say to Steve the boss was 'you are an ar** for telling Gemma what you did. Andrea made this mess with not paying attention. Gemma cleared most of it up in just a week of working on it and now she is legging it...and I don't blame her!'

 

Sue was my HR that time.

When temping use your agency though.

Tell them how it is!!

 

On a note of 'how you can learn' is there anything you are able to refer back to where it has been done before that you could then 'follow'?

I always always refer to previous things when I am learning.

 

It takes a little time but it gives you a framework to follow.

Edited August 6, 2014 by GemmaUK