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Entry tags:
employment and the hunting thereof (fairly boring stuff)
Yesterday's weather was definitely better than Tuesday's weather would have been for hiking around downtown for a couple of hours in a long silk skirt and a suit jacket. It was still hot, but at least I wasn't cursing the humidity constantly.
Today I have a sore ankle; I turned one slightly on an uneven sidewalk yesterday, but it didn't hurt at the time, so I don't really remember which ankle it was. It was more of a "right, you're wearing something like heels, be careful" moment than an "ow, dammit, so much for doing a lot more walking" moment.
If everything goes the way it ought to, I might have an actual interview tomorrow. (I hope.) Temp agencies seem to have changed tactics a bit since the last time I worked for one. I've never had to interview with a company before they hire me as a temp, even though it is a temp-to-permanent position. Last time, the company took me on as a temp sight unseen, and I proceeded to prove I was useful enough to hire permanently. I wonder if the whole "probationary period" thing has changed too? Is it easier (or cheaper) to keep a temp for three months and then hire them permanently, than it is to hire someone with an "employment may be terminated by either party for three months following the date of hire" clause? Probably, considering unemployment and all that.
When I wandered through the translation job board the other night, I turned on the option to send me new listings. I thought it meant new listings in my language pair, but apparently it means new listings in my specified fields, in any language pair that has one of my languages in it. Now I remember why I turned that option off in the first place. I got an interesting listing that wanted a translation of some dialect they speak in Ghana into English. Not that I'm qualified for that, of course, but it was interesting.
I wonder how much notice I'll get about the translation contract job? Will they even bother to tell me if they didn't get it?
Today I have a sore ankle; I turned one slightly on an uneven sidewalk yesterday, but it didn't hurt at the time, so I don't really remember which ankle it was. It was more of a "right, you're wearing something like heels, be careful" moment than an "ow, dammit, so much for doing a lot more walking" moment.
If everything goes the way it ought to, I might have an actual interview tomorrow. (I hope.) Temp agencies seem to have changed tactics a bit since the last time I worked for one. I've never had to interview with a company before they hire me as a temp, even though it is a temp-to-permanent position. Last time, the company took me on as a temp sight unseen, and I proceeded to prove I was useful enough to hire permanently. I wonder if the whole "probationary period" thing has changed too? Is it easier (or cheaper) to keep a temp for three months and then hire them permanently, than it is to hire someone with an "employment may be terminated by either party for three months following the date of hire" clause? Probably, considering unemployment and all that.
When I wandered through the translation job board the other night, I turned on the option to send me new listings. I thought it meant new listings in my language pair, but apparently it means new listings in my specified fields, in any language pair that has one of my languages in it. Now I remember why I turned that option off in the first place. I got an interesting listing that wanted a translation of some dialect they speak in Ghana into English. Not that I'm qualified for that, of course, but it was interesting.
I wonder how much notice I'll get about the translation contract job? Will they even bother to tell me if they didn't get it?
no subject
Yes, that's true, but there's other reasons for it too. Quite simply, it costs money to hire people and it's even more expensive and more complicated to fire people.
Some factors that work into it:
- If a company lays people off and then rehires with a certain period of time, it may be required by law or severance rules to rehire people who were laid off. Hiring temps avoids this issue in many circumstances.
- The temp period demonstrates whether it's worth the company's investment to make you permanent.
- Managers can often get temp budgets more easily than headcount budgets.
- Many companies will not fire people until they've exhausted every possible means of remediation. Temps allow them an easy out on a bad hire.
- Temps allow companies to dodge their severance rules.
We have very few temps in our office but we have a fair number of contractors. The contractors get hired when no headcount is available but a demonstrated business need exists for additional bodies. When headcount becomes available, the contractors get hired. If headcount shrinks, they let go the contractors and negotiate with the Powers Above to reduce the number of bodies to be lost.
In my old group, we went to temp companies because we had a hard time finding people to hire, but that was 2000 when things were entirely different. Now, many people do it because they want to avoid the cost of sifting through 200 resumes for one position. Why interview 10 people when you can interview the top 2 or 3 that are pre-screened and sent your way after all?
I think a company that does not use temps in this day and age is a company that does most of its hiring through word of mouth.