Wichita State University Career Services

Five Reasons to Consider Temporary Jobs

I often suggest students and other job seekers work temporary jobs as part of their career exploration and/or job search. Five good reasons why:

1. Temp jobs give you the chance to try out different jobs and different employers.
2. You can actually make money – and even more importantly – contacts, while searching for a job.
3. It gets you out of the house and around people. Which can be much more upbeat than searching for jobs online all day long, day after day. . .you get the idea.
4. Temporary jobs fill those gaps on your resume—periods of time which otherwise you might not be able to explain to a prospective employer’s satisfaction.
5. Temporary positions often evolve into full time, longer term jobs. Some employers “try out” people by hiring them in temporary positions. If the person in the temporary role performs satisfactorily, they may be hired on to work directly for the employer.

Last week, I met a Recruiter who now works full time for a company he started with as a temp. In my own career, three of the jobs I’ve enjoyed the most and stayed at the longest began as temporary assignments.

Think about it. . .a temporary position may be “just the ticket”.  Just the ticket to cash, contacts, career moves.