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> 10 Tips to Temping
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10 Terrific Tips to Temping
By Chere B. Estrin
You're about to start looking for your first position and youre in a quandary. Should you go into litigation? Personal Injury? Corporate? Do you want to work in a law firm? An in-house legal department? Or, perhaps youre having some difficulty landing a job in a slow market and you need to get to work right away. What can you do? You might consider temporary work a great way to gain entry into the field.
In todays downsized market, many corporations and law firms have cut back on permanent staff and are instead using temporary staff as a means to provide a broad scope of services without incurring increased overhead and salary costs. Futurists have predicted that the 21st century will see only 35 percent of the workforce in full-time (permanent) positions. Twenty-five percent of all U.S. jobs will be on a contingency basis and 15 percent will be contract professionals or specialists. So much for job security.
An interesting trend for paralegal hiring is the contract paralegal. Temping allows you to experience a multitude of environments and practice specialties. It gives you the opportunity to decide whether a major law firm, small, boutique firm, in-house legal department in a corporation, government agency or solo practitioner is best suited for you. One caveat, however, is if you are an entry-level paralegal seeking full-time employment, you might not want to go too terribly long working as a temp. Some firms may start to wonder if you will stay put once they hire you. The healthy side of the picture, however, is that these various hiring trends lead to opportunities you might otherwise not have experienced. Its all a matter of your choices and future employer attitudes.
If you are seeking temporary work, sign up with a reputable agency, preferably one that specializes in paralegal assignments. Many of the agencies now offer employee perks such as medical insurance, retirement programs, bonus, and paid vacation or sick days. Because temporary work is more valued by employers than in the past, the temp isnt always receiving the worst assignments. The length of an assignment can be anywhere from one day or longer, sometimes months at a time. Many firms have chosen temporary staffing organizations rather than hire independent contractors, lessening firm liability for workers compensation and unemployment insurance. One popular trend today is temp-to-full-time. Employers want the opportunity to evaluate job performance before deciding whether the candidate fits with the firm. Employees have a reciprocal attitude: Its always nice to be able to evaluate the potential employer.
Here are 10 tips for temping:
- Always be ready to work on short notice. Make up your mind yes or no before the phone rings. Tell the agency if you need a days notice when you sign up.
- Be prepared to interview for long-term assignments. Firms look for personality as well as skill matches.
- Be prepared to fill out conflict-of-interest forms and confidentiality agreements. You may have to be a U.S. citizen to work on some government sites.
- If the firm does not provide a point person, seek out the office manager, supervising attorney or senior paralegal. Get someone to demonstrate how to use the phones, library systems, photocopying, faxes, e-mail (if required), computers, office supplies, couriers, access codes and client matter numbers. Most importantly, find out where you can turn for help.
- Get the billing system straight. Be sure to use correct key codes, lingo, measures of time, and client matter numbers. Understand what is, and most importantly, what is not billable. Get very specific directions about administrative time.
- Get correct signatures for timecards and be sure to turn your timecard in to your agency on time. Otherwise, paychecks may be delayed. You may also be required to fill out timesheets separately for the firm.
- If you dont have anything to do or dont know what to do next, do not sit and read a magazine or book. Seek out your supervisor and ask for more work. Its annoying to most full-time staff to see temporary employees sitting with nothing to do.
- Say no when self-respect, health or safety is jeopardized.
- Bring a resume to the job even if one has been forwarded by the staffing agency. Your co-workers or supervisor may not have received your resume.
- Get kudos letters from supervisors when possible. These are great tools for finding other temp or full-time positions.
Above all, have a good time and make some great contacts. Heres a wonderful way to learn new areas of law and make new friends who will be with you throughout your professional life. Now, theres a fine way to start a career!
©C.B. Estrin 2002
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