The Unemployed And Staffing Agencies: Who Fits Who's Needs

You come to work at 08:30 a.m. one Friday morning, just like every other morning for the last ten years. You get your coffee, sit at your desk, and log onto your computer to start your work. You are confused when the Human Resource Manager left a sticky note on your keyboard saying to head to the conference room as soon as you get in. You don't believe you did anything wrong, so you shouldn't be written up. You did not have any kind of meeting scheduled. If there was a last minute meeting, the HR manager would have texted you on your cell phone for a heads up. A million thoughts are going through your head now because this was way off for a Friday, and it is not your birthday so you're not going to be surprised in a "happy" way. You get up from your desk and walk not so steady into the conference room to find the HR Manager and Vice President of the company sitting at a round table. You take a seat with fear and uncertainty in your mind. Then the VP starts the meeting; then you know exactly what will happen next. As your heart drops to your feet, he says, "I am sorry to say but due to the economy situation lately, we are going to have to eliminate your position". WHAT!!!!!!!!!???

I really did lose my job in 2010, and had been working for that company for 13 years. In 1997, I feel like I "grew up" in that company. I learned all my work skills and gained a lot of experience with this company. When I lost my job after 13 years was heartbreaking, especially since I was then a single mother of a three year old. I was more fortunate than others since I had some money saved and I would get a severance pay due to the longevity of my career. Even though I knew money would be coming in, I was still depressed, shocked, and felt very insecure. I had no idea how to act, what to do during the day, or even when to wake up. If I had to worry about money plus the drastic change of losing a job, I probably would have gone insane. I look back now and think, "what if I didn't have that severance pay coming in?", and "what if I wasn't able to get unemployment?". I was blessed in my situation, but many people are not. When I did run out of my severance pay, I wanted to start working again. I felt lazy not working even though I was taking care of my daughter.

After my job loss, I don't know why but it really bothered some of my friends and family that I was not working. Many would ask me, “Have you thought about going through a staffing agency to help you find a job?” I never had to think about going through an agency for anything since this was the first time I had lost one. Besides, I thought of staffing agencies as only hiring for seasonal or temporary work and I wanted my job to be permanent if I was going back to work. My thinking was wrong anyway because According to The Annual Staffing Association's Webpages, New survey data confirm a powerful truth about the staffing industry: Temporary and contract work is an effective bridge to permanent employment. So when my funds started running low, boredom was at it's highest, and I did not want to get too comfortable being unemployed, I began looking. I also decided to try out some agencies that could help me. What did I have to lose, right? It wasn't as though I was super busy anyway. I just had to remember to schedule an interview before "Judge Judy" came on. Only kidding.

Since the loss of my job, I have had approximately ten experiences with different staffing agencies. I will tell you of one experience I had. So, I decided to get in touch with a local staffing agency to help me find a job that would fit my skills and experience. The staffing agency had me register with the agency itself, which meant filling out an application, completing an assessment on the computer, interview with the agency, and filling out I-9 and W-2 papers. After this, I was registered with the agency and they were ready to do my job searching for me. A couple of days later, I received a call from the staffing recruiter, and she had a job for me all ready! The next day, excited with hopes up, I went to the interview for the company itself. I did get the position. The thing of it was, on the first day of my job, the office manager told me she still had the ad in the paper for my position. What??? My position was supposed to be the payroll administrator, and it was supposed to last 6 months to possibly permanent. I did not think I had any reason to worry even with applicants applying still since I was a good worker, always showed up and on time, and would give the job 100%. Why would they choose someone over me? My head was too big at the time since I had worked so long for a company. Also, there is a different way of hiring now. I probably should have been worried….

I worked as the payroll administrator for probably a week. Within that week, that same office manager brought in someone and interviewed her for my position. The woman I was supposed to work with (on payroll) would introduce me to other employees as "the temp". The labeling made me feel non-important and I felt like well, just a temp. Random workers in the office had me packing and storing boxes of files during the time I was there. I was not once trained on payroll. The last day of my employment, I was driving home and received a call from the staffing recruiter. She told me that day was my last day working there. She said the office manager emailed her and said I just wasn't a good fit. This made me feel wonderful! Not really. I wasn't used to someone just calling me and saying, "well, today was your last day". The recruiter said she would keep her eye open for other positions that fit my skills. I told her not to bother. The staffing agency had no control on what that company did. She did, however have control of how she let someone go from a job. I began to feel bitter and upset at the agency as a whole. If you are ever in this situation, try not to look down or talk bad about the Staffing Agency. Try and move on and get over the bitter feelings. I always tell myself everything happens for a reason, and this was probably for the best anyway.

As I did the research for Staffing Agencies, I found they really do help people. Whether you like to job search on your own or go through a Staffing Agency, I don't think there is a wrong way to do it. If you are the unemployed, finding a job that fits your needs is all up to you, with or without recruiters.