The temp position in a company is a contradictory one. They are the least paid of employees, with little to no perks, often do not get benefits, and work the "scrub" jobs. On the other hand, temps handle crucial aspects of a company in which a lack of good attitude or professionalism can cause far-reaching calamity far above their “pay grade.”
How is this possible? Well, who answers the phone when a customer calls? Who greets them when they walk into your store or office? Who handles the mail? Who makes sure your internet is up and running? Who files important documents? Who copies and collates the binders for the big meeting?
That's right, temps do. Imagine the havoc a temp could make if they were particularly disgruntled or creative. Are you thinking of someone right now that might be overworked, underpaid, and is right now making a back-up of your vital financial files?
The point is that finding and hiring the right person to temp in your company is an undertaking that should not be taken lightly. However, it's still a temp position so you can't pour too much time and money into the process. What are you to do?
In one of the Bnet blogs, The Corner Office, there are suggestions on how to hire better temps. The first step is to know your market. Which industries have a glut of professionals on the curb, and which have a shortage of available hires? Be realistic in terms of money. You can't waste time talking with someone, only to lose them when you can't afford them. You should also be open in what you want the temp to do. If, realistically, you are hiring them for answering phones, but expect them to file, make spreadsheets, and pick up your laundry, you need to be honest about that. And if they are fine with the extra duties, make sure you're paying them for it as well.
Don't waste time. Identify what you need, then advertise, interview, and hire quickly. Using Recruiters and Headhunters can help save time, especially if they know about your company. Let them tour your office, or at least spend some time detailing what you are about.
Since you should want this done quickly and efficiently, use conference calls and video conferences to greatly speed-up the process. On all of your advertisements and classifieds, include the information to attend a conference call at a certain time and date. This is the first vetting call. You address all of the prospects as a group, detail the job and pay, and answer any questions.
At the end, announce an email to use to send resumes, as well as good times for an interview. There will be people who aren't interested in the job after this conference call, so they won't go any further. You've just saved yourself days of meetings and phone calls that ultimately lead to a “No, thank you.”
After you've received the resumes, make a tight back-to-back schedule of the still-interested temps, and send them video conference connection information and blocks of time to be ready. Now you can sit at your desk and go from conference to conference quickly. This will save you the trouble of herding interviewees in and out of your office, as well as saving them a trip.
More to the point, you will be able to get through two or even three times as many interviews as you would have face-to-face. This will give you time to concentrate on the temps with potential so you can pick a winner.
