Get a Temp, Get Your Money’s Worth
You have a pile of boxes in the back room that you must deal with and your staff is working flat-out. They have no time to sort through that stuff, and you have a deadline.
Lucky you, you can hire a temp.
To make sure you get your money’s worth out of the agency, do keep in mind how a temp agency works. You may be paying $18/hr for that temp. Remember that it’s more like $12/hr that’s going into the temp’s pocket. Don’t mentally tag expectations at an $18/hr job when you’re getting a $12/hr worker! (The temp, by the way, doesn’t know how much you’re paying per hour and most agencies have a NDA about telling them).
That being said, is it really worth it to hire a temp?
My goodness, yes! You see, the temp agency goes through the interview process, background check and skills assessment for you. The really good temp agencies often have specific skills tests so that if you ask for a person who is skilled in a specific word processing program or spreadsheet application, that’s exactly what you’re going to get. It saves you a lot of time you don’t have to train people, deal with payroll or the interview process.
To get your money’s worth when it comes to hiring a temp, keep these things in mind:
Know what you want. If you don’t know what you want, you’re probably spelling “temp” wrong anyway. It’s spelled C-O-N-S-U-L-T-A-N-T, and is going to cost you at least three times what you’d pay for a temp. Consultants are worth it, as are temps, but don’t confuse the two professions!A temp is not going to know what’s going on in your organization. What might be obvious to you with your intimate knowledge of your organization and its goals may not be so to an outsider who is not invested in learning such things. Remember your temp might be going from job to job, and isn’t going to take the time to learn your organization’s structure. The person has two goals – do the job well, and get paid.
Settle who supervises the temp beforehand. Your temp is not going to know a thing about office politics and whose word gets priority. Make sure your temp knows to whom he will report, and settle who that person will be before she’s brought into the office. You do not want to waste your money or her time with any foolishness with conflicting orders.It is not unusual for the person who contacts the temp agency to be a different person than the person with whom the temp will be working. It is often helpful to ask the temp agency to let the temp know to whom she will be reporting.
Have tasks outlined specifically. If you cannot break down exactly what you want, you’re not ready to bring the temp into the office. Know what it is you want, rather than hiring a temp out of a feeling of being overwhelmed and wanting an extra pair of hands for an unspecified time. It’s a waste of money and makes your company look disorganized. A sad reality of temping is that we’re often called in when planning has gotten so bad as to be out of hand. While we don’t mind the extra money, constant change in task focus over a period of a few days makes it difficult to deliver a good product.
Make sure the temp has the skills to do the job. You’ve got to know what you want, first. It is the temp agency’s job to find a person for you that has the skills to so a specific job. If it’s a “detail-oriented” job, say so. Don’t be shy. If you really need someone who is proficient with a specific version of a software application, tell the temp agency. If you need someone who can be charming under pressure, speak up!However, when they come on board, check with the person. Don’t be shy about asking about specific skills. You don’t want to waste your time and money, and it’s okay to say that the specific temp is not exactly what you’re looking for.
Make sure the temp has the equipment to do the job. If there’s a lot of packing of boxes to be done, make sure he has a tape gun. Make sure he has the right software, office supplies and what have you. You’d think this would be obvious, but I cannot count the times I’ve come into an office to find that I had to download software, order supplies or even find that I cannot complete the work because I did not have the materials necessary. While most temps are creative and like to find ways to get the job done, it’s only wasting your money and time if your temp has to do this.
I encourage the use of temp agencies as an excellent way to get intermittent, non-routine or overwhelming tasks out of the way. If you use them properly, you’ll find them a great boon to your organization, and can help enhance your reputation as a problem solver.
Good luck and happy hiring!
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