Learn How Working a Temp-to-Hire Position Can Benefit Your Career
The past year and a half has been tough for many people, with employers forced to cut staffing in the face of COVID-19 shutdown requirements. What do you do when you’re looking for work but aren’t sure where to go next?
Maybe you feel like it’s time for a change in your career, but you don’t know how your skills can apply to a different work line.
The answer might be to consider a temp-to-hire position. These are jobs in which a company is looking for an employee to help fill a vacancy, but the right person could be offered a full time position.
How can this benefit you in the long run? Is it worth considering?
Here are a few things to keep in mind.
You might be eligible to be hired faster than if you’d applied through traditional practices. An open position means a company needs help. Suppose you sign on to fill in temporarily. In that case, you’re getting valuable on-the-job training while also showing the manager, and your supervisor, that you’re eager to learn and capable of doing the job. If the contract is a temp-to-hire position with, say, a six-month window, you might prove your worth in a shorter amount of time.
It provides great work experience for your resume. Every job provides you with new work experiences, regardless of whether it’s in the same field or something brand new. Every job you have gives you a chance to learn something new and the opportunity to add new skills to your resume. Learn all your can, even if you don’t stay in the position very long. Learning new things adds flexibility and new tools to your skillset.
It’s a trial for you as much as the company. A temp position is a great way to see whether you like a certain kind of work without the commitment (upfront) of expecting you to stay with a company for years. Temp jobs give you the chance to potentially try a few different kinds of positions over time, all while earning a paycheck and learning new skills. If you find something you unexpectedly love or feel passionate about, so much the better!
Temp work can help you find out what’s important to you. There’s plenty of conversations as of late about “company culture” and “workplace values.” This might not seem like something worth considering — you might never have thought about it before! But company culture basically boils down to what an organization priorities and values in itself, its workers, and how it fits into a community. You might start working a temp job at a company and learn they value giving back to the community in the form of quarterly volunteer opportunities. That could become a big perk for you! Or you might find that they embrace ideas that don’t match what’s important to you. Either way, you’ll have a chance to learn and see the kinds of things you’d like to be associated with while at work.
The possibilities are endless! Taking a temporary job means, from the start, the expectation is that you’ll be in a position for a set amount of time. There’s no immediate obligation, from you or the company, for anything more than that. If you hate the job, you’re only there for a short time. You can try something else, maybe even something wildly different, next time around. Or you might stumble into something you’re surprised to find that you love. There’s no downside.
Trying a temp-to-hire job is like auditioning for a play. You can try out a character for a while, see if it suits you and makes sense to you, and if it doesn’t work, there’s another one around the corner. You learn some new job skills, find ways in which the abilities you already have can be applied in different ways, pick up some new networking contacts, and, maybe, just maybe, you can find a whole new career when you aren’t looking.
Personnel Staffing, Inc. works with great companies, with plenty of temp-to-hire opportunities. If you’re ready to try something new, either for now or for the long haul, find your nearest Personnel Staffing, Inc. location today and let’s get started.