March 2012
1 post
3 tags
Drip Tray Admin.
I’ve come up with this term- it’s where your tmep role doesn’t have enough work to justify it, but you’re helping with the overflow from a couple of other people. That spreadsheet or proof-read might be way too much for someone buckling under a huge in-box, but for someone with nothing to do it’s a 20 minute job. If that.
As such I’m surfing whatever sites I...
February 2012
7 posts
4 tags
IT
The end of the world won’t be induced by horns and breaking seals, it’ll be the day a temp starts a new role and doesn’t spend half of it on the phone to IT and then watching remote access dance across the screen.
I’m sure some of the cave paintings found that look half-finished are actually those which a temp was meant to be doing but the berry-paint ran out.
3 tags
Temptation
So - I did the normal thing on a Friday morning and checked my bank balance. Agency X paid me an entire week for a single day’s work.
Called in and told them - screendumped my bank balance to pretend it’s real. Would have been nice.
Handover went well - office is nice though I’ve forgotten everyone’s name already.
4 tags
Handover
These are never fun, no fun for the person handing over who has someone perched on their shoulder all day and can’t check hotmail or enjoy the shortcuts that come with a stable working environment.
No fun either for the temp who sits on edge hoping to have something to do and tip-toeing over the easiest of tasks. Photocopy this? Easy in a normal setting but during a handover the buttons...
3 tags
Dubious offers
So I have been called a few times from different agencies over the same sort of role. As ever the debil was in the detail and you can tell the minute you’re being sold a naff role by the fact that the consultant will take ambiguity to near olympic levels.
Unimportant stuff like salary, hours and such are waived in preference to “great fun environment” and so so. Anyway, this...
4 tags
Job Application Virus
A rare foray into something serious - a few weeks ago I replied to a job I’d seen on Gumtree. My spidey-sense started tingling with the salary which was way above the norm but I applied anyhow.
Two days later I got a reply from someone who was recruiting on behalf of the client. They had seen my CV and wanted me to fill in an application form.
According to the email I would need to...
4 tags
Lame rejections
Part of the game is rejection and genuine honest feedback is deep fried gold. I was fortunate that the recruitment consultant dealing with my application for a role seems to be a Nice Consultant (see Origin of Species).
Apparently the fact that I held a couple different roles in my last company (due to relocation and reasons explained in my CV) meant rejection due to moving around too much was...
3 tags
It's scary on reception
Recent temp role saw me on reception in a health clinic. This wouldn’t be a problem but there was no handover, the experience can best be defined as minimalist. Here are the toilets, the kettle and the reception desk.
On the upside I was given the log in details of the person I was covering so I could “browse the net if bored” (oh joyous words). This also gave me access to the...
