Odd and temporary jobs?

[StarryNightshade]

I'm curious to know how many people here have had experience in odd and/or temporary employment?

I'm currently in retail saving up money for traveling in the fall, as well as for applying to graduate programs for next spring. I was looking into finding another permeant job, but decided to wait until next year due to the aforementioned reasons. As well as to put focus on my religious studies.

That being said, I am looking into saving up more than what I can get at my current job, and have considered looking into odd jobs or temporary employment.

As such:

1.) How can one go about finding temporary or odd employment? I've tried a local temp agency, but they haven't contacted me back.

2.) How can one make sure that what they look into isn't a scam? I tired to find a job through a certain site that begins with a "c" and quickly found out how full of garbage it is.

 

[Quintessence]

Yes.

It sucks.

And I'm sorry for anybody who has to go through it when that is not their preferred means of employment.

If you work with temp agencies, be aware that the squeaky wheel gets attention. Visit them and make inquires regularly. Also be aware that not all temp agencies are created equal. Only one of the many temp agencies I worked with actually treated me like a human being as opposed to a cog in a machine.

It is easy to avoid scams. You should only be applying for a job if it comes from one of these three places: (1) it is directly listed on the employer's website, (2) it is listed through a government agency, or (3) it is listed through temp agency or contractor. If you must deviate this, do in-person shadowing and ground work to verify that the employer is real and that they are legitimate.

Of course, the other alternative is to utilize your own network to find temp jobs. All sorts of things get passed around word of mouth. You can be self-employed, though there are other hoops and rules to deal with if you do that sort of thing on any significant scale.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I'm curious to know how many people here have had experience in odd and/or temporary employment?

I'm currently in retail saving up money for traveling in the fall, as well as for applying to graduate programs for next spring. I was looking into finding another permeant job, but decided to wait until next year due to the aforementioned reasons. As well as to put focus on my religious studies.

That being said, I am looking into saving up more than what I can get at my current job, and have considered looking into odd jobs or temporary employment.

As such:

1.) How can one go about finding temporary or odd employment? I've tried a local temp agency, but they haven't contacted me back.

2.) How can one make sure that what they look into isn't a scam? I tired to find a job through a certain site that begins with a "c" and quickly found out how full of garbage it is.

My weirder short-term jobs:

- I was a bike courier for 3 days. The company I worked for was pretty much a scam. I thought "60% commission" sounded like a lot, but I actually spent more on food and bike maintenance than I made.

- I did shipping in a coffee maker factory for a few weeks. I got the job through a temp agency. The work was fine, though not particularly challenging.

- I was on the local crew for Lillith Fair's Toronto stop one year. It was fun and paid well compared to the retail job I was working at the time. I got it through a friend: one of my friends was already working for the venue. When one of the crew didn't show up for the gig, the manager asked if anyone knew someone who knew what they were doing and could get there in a hurry. He put my name forward, I got a call, and rushed down.

I'm not sure what to do if you aren't hearing back from temp agencies. I didn't have an issue in that department.

As for how you can tell whether a job's a scam... I'd say that the biggest thing is to know your rights and health & safety rules. If they're cutting corners, take this as a warning sign. If they want to pay you under the table, remember that this means that you'll have virtually no protection from being scammed.

 

[Akivah]

First, when you work with a job agency, you must be proactive with them. I called them a minimum of once/week. Typically, I called every day as early in the morning as possible. That keeps you on their radar and lets them know you're eager, willing, and able.

Second, I've had several temporary and part time jobs. Most were through job agencies, but some I found in the newspaper (Yeah, I'm an old-timer). Though I was trained as an office professional, from what I can remember I've worked:
- as a janitor at a department store
- sorting through parts and labeling inventory for a photo development company
- staple pulling and making copies of old documents
- trying to sell vacuum cleaners
- data input
- distributing flyers door-to-door
- painting houses
- teaching college courses

I'm sure there were others, but that's all my fuzzy memories can recall.

 

[Revoltingest]

I used to love temporary work.
Advantages:
- Variety
- Always a light at the end of the tunnel.
- Generally higher pay.
- Frequent vacations.
- Greater respect received than "captive" employees.

You can go thru agencies & even start your own company.
I did both.

 

[Wirey]

I have been:

- a shoemaker
- a bouncer at country bar
- a fisherman (lobster)
- a well digger
- a fur trapper (take care of your beaver, ma'am?)
- a seagull chaser at an airport
- a lumberjack (and I was okay)
- a torpedo repairman

I recommend never living somewhere with a high unemployment rate.

 

[Quagmire]

--- Ride operator with a traveling carnival (hardest job on the planet and the pay sucks)
--- Game operator with a traveling carnival (possibly the easiest job on the planet and the pay's a lot better)
--- "Lumper": that's someone who hangs out at truck stops and helps big-rig drivers load and unload their rigs. I also made a tidy sum polishing the chrome (tanks, mirrors, wheels) on the trucks. Back in the 80's when a lot of truckers owned their own rigs, I could spend 2 or 3 days at a truck stop and make enough $$$ to stay on the road for a month without having to do any other work.
--- Recycler: a little over ten years ago I took a year off from reality and wound up living rent-free on a commune in central cal. Every night I would go into town with my bicycle and trailer and collect aluminum cans for a few hours. I was only making between $100 and maybe $175 a week, but it only cost me about $50 a week to live at the time. By the time I left I'd actually saved up a few hundred bucks.