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Temp Facts
February 04, 1999
How many people in the US work part-time, as temps, or as independent contractors?
Figures vary, of course, depending on your source. The National Association of Temporary Staffing puts the number at roughly 26 million, which would represent nearly twenty percent of the work force. Employers are the driving force behind the move away from traditional employment patterns, though some workers are eager for differing modes of employment so that they can pursue other interests in time of their own choosing.
There are a few advantages for Employees in working as a temp - you can check out a company to see if it's a good fit for your personality and career goals. Part-time work frees up precious time for Employees to turn their hobby into a small business. There are millions of ideas for small businesses swirling around in the US, trapped in the heads of people who have neither the time nor money to pursue them. Contract work or short-term engagements may allow you to start work on something you really love doing.
Employers increasingly want to know what they're getting when they hire someone without getting caught in bind if they want to fire them. Most Jobs generally are 'employment at will', that is, either the employee or the employer can terminate the contract whenever they want. But the guidelines are vague enough that Employers don't want to risk a wrongful termination lawsuit, so the path of least resistance leads them to find better and better ways to 'test' Employees before any oaths of fealty are exchanged.
Temp & contract/contingency work resembles a couple who decides to live together before tying the knot. It's just that in this case the Employer is usually the one with the dowry to protect, and the Employee has the freedom to end the relationship at any time without penalty.
"According to a recent study by the Conference Board, a business research group, only 12 percent of companies surveyed used contingent workers for at least 10 percent of their work force in 1990. By the year 2000, 35 percent are expected to do so. And half the companies surveyed use contingent workers long term." This tidbit and several other sources of information about the changing nature of employment are at
http://www.contingent.com/links.html.Other interesting temp facts:
70% of temp workers are women, and the nearly half of all temp Jobs last less than 10 weeks.
http://workflex.monster.com/links/ has more on the subject, including some of the better links to temp jobs that are available. You should check out the Monster Board if for no other reason than to help justify their recent Super Bowl ad, I'm sure they're counting on tons of traffic for the money they spent.Film At 11
February 03, 1999
So, you ought to be in Pictures. Like everything else, there are places on the Net to access Jobs in the field of Entertainment. Or as people from LA say, 'The Industry'. Unfortunately for all you budding actors, many of the Jobs listed are not what you might think of as Show Biz Jobs. The most common listings I found were for Information Systems and Programmers, rather than ads for stars and stand ins.
Still, getting your foot in the door at a company in one department often leads to the necessary contacts within the company. I saw forty plus listings for MGM and Paramount combined, with a smattering of Job Listings at smaller companies at Showbizjobs.com. Many of the Jobs listed here are centered in the logical locations, Los Angeles and New York, with a few in the DC area.
Another place to look is Playbill Online, which has hundreds of
Job Listings throughout the US. You can browse by category as well. Everything from casting calls, to theatre production, to administrative assistants. This site has a better feel for the flavor of hands on work in smaller stage productions, and most likely is a better starting point.For Theatre Companies, Events, and Festivals, try the
WWW Virtual Library. This way you can look all over the world for small groups, and join their email discussion lists. Find out some of their background before you waltz in, and see if they're looking for some help. There are several hundred theatre companies listed on this site.I always wondered what to do with that Liberal Arts Degree.
Negotiating
February 02, 1999
At some point in the Jobhunt, you will be offered the position you are applying for.
Now what? It's time to negotiate your salary. Many out of work Jobhunters are so happy to land a Job, and Job, that they will sidestep this issue and take whatever is offered. Employed Jobseekers generally have more patience at this point, and are willing to 'walk away' from the negotiating table. This, of course, is the easiest way to evidence the strength of your negotiating position. You'll have to decide whether you can afford to turn down the Job offer as it stands, or whether you need to find out exactly how many days until your first paycheck arrives.
Many career counselors suggest avoiding the question of salary completely until the Hiring Manager indicates that they definitely want to hire you. Unfortunately, some Employers are not so understanding. They may begin your first interview with "This Job pays $12.00/hr. Is that in your pay range?" You are approaching wages from an altogether different angle: you'd like to be paid as much as possible. But asking for the high end of the pay range (assuming you have some indication of what the range really is) may disqualify you for the Job. So what do you do?
One answer is researching the pay scale for the position. Tips for negotiating a better salary are available at several websites. One I like is http://jobsmart.org/tools/salary/negostrt.htm#Web This site is useful for both finding out what the market thinks you're worth, and gives you some pointers on how to negotiate yourself into a better wage, rather than out of the Job.
Hopefully you have done some research in advance of your interview, so you'll feel confident that the wage you're asking for is not out of line with what you're being offered. Don't be afraid to negotiate - prospective employers will respect you more for defending what you perceive as your value to the company. Employers will see your ability to research a topic, clearly lay out support for it, and justify it to a potential customer (the employer).
This is not necessarily the end of the Interviewing process, but should be seen as part of it. In effect, you are showing your prospective employer some of your sales skills. They will want to know how well you can define, market, and negotiate closings for their products, and this is a good first example for them. Since you are negotiating a sale of your future work, you want to postpone any mention of price until you've convinced the buyer of your worth to their company. Every Interview should be an opportunity to find out what the Job entails, opportunity for growth, working environment, etc. Mathematics aside, $15/hr at one company may be comparable to $20/hr at another.
My Dad would never tell someone what he was willing to pay for an item, He'd always ask "What do you want for it?" Which worked well enough until he ran into another Depression era seller who responded, like clockwork, with "Well, what will you give me?"
Posting Resumes
February 01, 1999
There are literally tens of thousands of different places to post your resume to on the Net. Some of the sites listed below will also give you tips on writing a more effective online resume - use these resources and you'll be less likely to be screened out immediately.
One of the key principles in Online Resume writing is to target your resume to a specific job or industry. Your resume is being selected based on how well it matches a predefined set of criteria. Certain keywords will make the difference between your resume being selected or not. There is no harm in posting several different versions of your resume on a number of sites, varying slightly your field definitions and skill sets. As long as there isn't any fee involved, all it takes is a little time in word processing to make the adjustments. This can be an excellent test to see what skills employers are looking for from week to week.
Here are some good sites for posting resumes:
- http://www.tripod.com/explore/jobs_career/network/net_969512_best.html
- http://www.tripod.com/explore/jobs_career/resume/
- http://www.yahoo.com/business_and_economy/companies/employment/resume_services/
- http://www.job-hunt.org/resume.shtml
- http://www.careermosaic.com/
The good news is, at the moment, you only need one job. So post away.
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Materials written by John Sumser © TwoColorHat. All Rights Reserved.