Popular convention says that doing temporary work through an agency (known as temping) is a last resort, that nobody would do it voluntarily.
I respectfully disagree. I think you just have to know how to do it right.
I have (she said modestly) very successfully done temp work. Four times it led to me being offered a permanent job. It's a great way to learn to new skills, meet new people or, yes, just earn the necessary income to keep yourself out of the poorhouse. If you're considering temp work, maybe you can learn from my experience.
Working with an agency seems pretty simple. You come in, you fill out paperwork, you have an interview and they assess your skills. They call you when a job comes up for which you're qualified and you take it or leave it.
I'm here to tell you, though, that just filling out the paperwork and taking the tests is not enough.
The agencies also keep a list of who has called in and when. It's not a FIFO (first come, first served) system, as people often seem to believe, it's more of a LIFO (squeaky wheel gets the oil) system. That means that what you have to do is call, and call lots. Call when they're open, so you get to talk to a person. My experience has been that it's best to find one friendly/helpful/kind person and ask to talk with him/her when you call every time, and if he/she is not available, ask if there someone else that can help you.
So, say you go in for the battery of tests on Monday morning. Tuesday morning about 7 (most temp agencies are open by 6), get up and call them, tell them you're available and ask if they have any work for you. If they say "no," ask if they've finished processing your application. Ask if there's anything else you can do to improve your chances of getting work. My experience has been that (unlike when you're doing a "real" job search) they are usually quite honest about this kind of thing, including telling you if you have gotten a bad reference or the like, and what you might do to improve your image. They don't make money unless you're working, so in a sense they're in the job search with you.
Ask how often you should call. If they say "every day," then call every day, even if you feel foolish about it. (If they don't give you a specific answer, here's mine: In a busy big city office, you should call every day; if you live in a small town, check in no less than twice a week.) If you actually call every day, they'll get to know you pretty quickly, so it can be a short, "Hi, this is Jan, just calling to see if you've got anything for me for tomorrow" kind of call. The trick is to keep your profile in the front of the agent's mind. If you're nice and personable, they'll try harder for you. Desperate doesn't hurt either. :)
Once you get one job, don't forget to keep calling. I made it a point to start calling 2-3 days before my current assignment was ending to let the temp folks know when I'd be available again. I'd call late in the afternoon usually, especially on the last day of the job. A lot of times this eliminated the gap between jobs, which can be painful financially. If you've done good work (and please, do good work), let the client know that they can ask for you specifically next time if they want.
