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How can a temp job boost your career prospects?

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A temp job is definitely not ideal. It’s not something you want to be into for your whole life, it doesn’t offer job security and it probably pays less too. This is as true in the higher education sector as it is in any other sector. But there are good news too. In fact, a temp job can boost your career in more than one way s. I’ve seen it happen time and time again – including in my very own career.

Here’s why:

1)    Your foot is already in the door: Even with a temp job, you are gaining valuable exposure and work experience that can apply to the roles you will go for in the future. Your chances are much better than someone’s who’s completely out of the industry.

2)    There’s a good chance you may be noticed: Good temps often end up being offered permanent roles in their institution. Their managers often don’t want to lose them and so, given the chance, they will promote them to suitable permanent roles that are available.

3)    There may be a better chance for career advancement: This exact thing happened to me. I worked for a University on an 8-month contract and after that my experience helped me land my present job with my present institution for a more senior, permanent and much higher-paying position. Not bad for just 8 months!

4)    You have the perfect excuse for leaving your present job: My contract is terminating. Contrary to what most employees have to face when looking for a new job – the all-time classic question: “why do you want to leave your job?”, you will actually have the best, most credible and easy to prove excuse, and you won’t need to lie. Imagine having to cover up your bad relationships with your boss, your bad working conditions, or a redundancy?

Read more articles about Graduate Market, Higher Education, Job Hunting, Non-academics, Recruitment, University Careers

Written by Christina Tsirou

I work for Roehampton University in South West London as the Research and Business Engagement Officer. The Research and Business Development Office, which forms my department, was created recently, and therefore I am the first holder of the above mouthful-of-a-role. This is very exciting, as I get a lot of freedom in forming tasks and developing areas of responsibility for the post. At the same time, it is also very challenging, as how things will be organized and work in practice remains to be seen. Together with the rest of the team, I contribute to various aspects of the so-called “third stream income generation activity” on behalf of the University. Third stream income is a relatively new term, meaning revenue that comes from outside the traditional sources of government funding and tuition fees. Some sources of third stream income can be Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, IP Commercialization, business start-ups and spin-offs, Development and Innovation Grants, executive courses, and partnerships with the private and public sectors. I am also heavily involved in the team’s efforts to encourage entrepreneurial thinking and work across campus by coordinating internal and inter-collegiate events and workshops for both students and academics. Finally, part of my work is devoted to fostering strong links with the local community, mainly through relationship-building events.

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