Temporary assignments are a staple of the New Zealand Construction, Engineering, Manufacturing and Industrial sectors. While some people choose to undertake both regular and varying flexible assignments (“temping”) to fit lifestyle and circumstances or a stop gap or fixed term projects in between life choices (travelling, study, holidays, career milestones, etc), others use this channel whilst either looking for the right permanent job or to gain experience across the wide and diverse range of industries, companies and role types that are available. What is often ignored is how the use of temporary assignments can be beneficial for further career progression, presenting you with opportunities that might otherwise have been either unknown to you or that build toward your career goals, or perhaps as a stepping stone or step up to roles you may have considered out of your reach given your current experience. Read on for our guide on using temporary assignments as a pathway to a great career in New Zealand.
“Temping” to Great Careers
Temporary assignments don’t have to be just a stop gap or a lock into a single type of role. In fact, undertaking varied temporary assignments can be an amazing way to open doors for your career progression. Varied or project roles matched to you from a reputable and caring team of recruiters can provide you many valuable skills otherwise unavailable, and both reveal and safely prepare you for a wider world of opportunity you may not have considered. Project work allows you to focus on a core area of skill and role type, building your capability over time and digging deeper into the skills required for that industry.
With varied assignments, you can safely become very adaptable to change and learning new skills, with adaptability and confidence being skills necessary for almost any job. It’ll also help you figure out exactly what you like and don’t like and leave you better prepared to make better career choices and decisions as to where to spend your precious time (which is the one critical factor in your career plan we can’t create more of!).
With varied roles, you can also avoid wasting your time with industries that aren’t right. If an assignment isn’t right you can talk to your recruiter and get them to work for you to find the next opportunity perhaps better aligned with your motivation, without leaving a gap between the current role and one better matched. The recruiter is your career resource to assist you on this track. It’s a two-way street. For sure you’re helping them by being a part of the team and they will manage you, but they should also be there for you just as much, somewhat like a career P.A of your very own! Make sure the person you pick understands what you want, and will work with you, and that you also have great communication with them delivering reliability and a committed attitude. By working together you can create better career outcomes.
In addition to this, we find that a high percentage of our top performers on assignment can be offered the opportunity to transition to the client as a permanent employee which is fantastic news for everyone. Often, this can be for jobs that haven’t even been advertised, or that you may not have had the required skills for on paper, but having had the opportunity to get in front of the hiring managers at a company and show them what you can do and how you fit the team often makes all the difference. Temporary assignments are a great way to build capability, get around a possible lack of experience, demonstrate your team fit and attitude, and build your reputation in person rather than being a faceless CV or another name amongst the masses.
For example, let’s look at a typical starting point, such as a labourer with no experience that is taken on for a temporary assignment to help out with a construction project. Due to their hard work, great personality/attitude and fit within the team, they are then offered a permanent position or perhaps training opportunities within the assignment to get on the tools as a Hammerhand – they are subsequently developing all of the same practical and theoretical skills required to be on the way to becoming a full-time tradie. We’ve seen this happen so many times, it’s a thrill for us, and it’s a great starting point for an ongoing career.
“Temping” to Great Careers
If you’ve decided that temp assignments are for you on an ongoing basis, then you’re not alone. In fact, 8.1% of 26 – 64-year olds are in some kind of temporary employment. There are many reasons why people choose this style of career. Maybe they are travelling on working visas or living in an area for a limited time. For some, they have regular seasonal work and are looking for something to fill the gap between their chosen profession or during shoulder seasons.We have many people working with us to allow them the flexibility to work as and when they want, or to source hard to find shift patterns or requirements to fit around their life circumstances (study or family care during the day, school pick up times, partners on alternating shifts, short holiday periods from study, sporting commitments etc). Whatever your requirement, by discussing your availability and motivation for work, a good recruiter can work with you to try and source something that will fit.
You’re not locked into just using one agency either. Reputable recruitment companies have no restrictions on your ability to sign up with many different agencies to best allow them to help find you the right assignment for you. A good agency will work hard to get you the best opportunities so that you will prefer or trust to work only with them, but it’s always your choice.
You’re also not obligated to accept any assignment. Any obligation to an assignment or commitment of time only starts once you decide an offered assignment is right for you and you agree to do it based on the agreed terms of engagement associated with it (and at the time of agreeing you should have a contract, know the pay rates on offer for the role, the safety considerations of the role, have safety gear provided to you, know the indicated timeframes for the assignment, understand and be comfortable with the type of work, and be comfortable in the indicated environment etc). All of these factors combined with great communication and understanding on both sides are what will let you know you have found a good recruiter.
For most people, it’s critical to avoid unwanted periods of downtime between assignments, which is why it’s important to have help finding the next role and to work together with good communication to minimise gaps, or perhaps to refine the type of work you want.
Often this type of assistance comes in the form of a temporary recruiter like OneStaff. With us, you’re treated as part of our team. We keep in touch to ensure we are working to have the right type of temp job for you when you need it, to help out with getting settled and any issues that might arise while you’re o
n assignment, and then be proactive in working toward what you tell us are factors important to you. Remember that as much as we will help you, building your reputation with us and on assignment is vital, and the easiest way to do that is through excellent communication, attitude, and reliability. Working together like this is what we call “Working as One”.
Summary
Temporary assignments can be many things to different people. For some, it’s a flexible way of life, to others it’s a stop gap or a door opening opportunity. It offers the chance to develop a wide range of useable skills and experience as well as allow you to develop ideas on what you want and need from your career. As a high performing temp, you may even be able to open doors and progress in ways that would otherwise have been closed to you. You should remember to work with reputable and caring recruiters and to work together with understanding to get the best outcome for you.
Regardless of whether temping is a permanent solution for you or an in-between step in your career, the right help goes a long way. Get in touch today to see how we can help you.
