Sign up with a temp service?

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What are your experiences with signing up with a temp service?

I started in my current career via a temp service.

What happened was I took a typing test and a test for microsoft office... I had higher scores than the recruiters at the temp agency so they gave me a job doing data entry at $8 per hour... this got my foot in the door at a company that while privately owned would be a fortune 500 company otherwise... (so billions of dollars in revenue type company)

in my little meaningless job... I optimized then I had no job to do and asked what else I could take on, I took on more and optimized that... eventually they hired me on as a full time employee... but I had little to do again until asking for more and got it and optimized that... eventually I stopped asking and just found my own things to optimize...

Now that's my job... to optimize things... automate and make things efficient... and I make ALOT more than $8 an hour...

My point is, someone on the spectrum probably doesn't have the same opportunities in a traditional interview as they might through the use of temp agencies. (I think interviews are absurd and don't really let an employer know about a potential candidate)

Key things to ask when interviewing with a temp agency:
- What type of jobs do they fill (if you are clumsy it's bad to sign up with a temp agency that does physical work that requires precision)
- Do you get holidays off
- What are the terms for going permanent
- How often do employees get hired on permanent
- What are pay days based on (daily, weekly, bi weekly, or simi-monthly, etc)

Some temp agencies are better than others. Do not sign any contracts that say that you have to only get temp jobs through a specific agency and then if an agency doesn't match your needs be willing to move on to the next one. You will be a dispensable worker, in return you should have the right to dispose of the agency or assignments if they don't work for you.

Yeah I applied for a data entry job too.

I am a rather slow typer. Would this negatively affect my ability to get a data entry type job (or any other type of job that requires a lot of typing)?

Probably. They're looking for fast speeds. Like 7,000 ksph kind of fast.

I've had no luck with them.

With one agency, I took a typing test (unlike another poster, I am a fast typer) and Microsoft Office test....aced all of it. Yet they never called me back

Why do I have to waste my time taking their stupid tests if they can't place me?

I've signed up with temp agencies a few times. The first time, I was only looking for temporary work, which they got for me; the second time, my placement led to a permanent job.

WhoKnowsWhy, they often only place you at first if you chase them up. Good times to do so are Friday late morning, when they're about to allocate work for the following week, and Monday early morning when they may have last-minute assignments to fill. Once you've done a job or two for them, they'll call you.