New Beginnings

I AM NO LONGER A TEMPORARY EMPLOYEE! I am so excited to have accepted a job offer as a Marketing Assistant for a local paper converter. I am now real, and it feels AMAZING. To know that I am a valued member of a workforce really means a lot to me, and I haven't even had my first day yet!

Being a temporary employee really affects more aspects of your life than people realize, at least for me it did... For almost three years I was working as a temp at a major paper manufacturer, and it's lead me to great opportunities, but I never felt like part of the team. I would listen to the VP talk at conferences, get motivated, then realize he isn't talking to ME, but to all the real employees around me. It was really discouraging. I was unable to get a personal loan for a vacation to Mexico, and the banks couldn't count my income for our mortgage, so the houses we knew we could afford we couldn't get approved for. I always knew that more than likely I would be let go first in the event budgets were cut, since I was just a temp. I did not have insurance, vacation days, I worked holidays, nights and weekends. Yuck! It was just awful watching Mike run free on the weekends, while I was stuck by my computer. I missed family time and doggy dates working. And for what? I wasn't invested into the company in the slightest. 

When I was first recruited to work as a temp I did not understand what temporary meant. I thought these agencies recruited employees for companies and then the employee worked FOR the company. It wasn't until I was signing paperwork that I realized I was wrong. I was also lead to believe (because it's what I was verbally told) that I would be hired on within six to eight months of my employment. Nope. I wasn't even working as the title I was under the impression I was hired for. Neither were the other five people I met, who were all hired on at the same time as me with all the same impressions.

I can understand that companies may use temps for small projects, side jobs, etc, and that totally makes sense. Someone working through college, or in between jobs, or a stay-at-home mom that wants some extra cash... There are many reasons to use temporary employees, but I believe the operative word here is TEMPORARY. To me, "temporary" does not mean three years. If you have not let these temps go within that amount of time, I think it's safe to say their work is justified and needed.

Well, that's the end of my rant about my woes of being a temp. On to new, better and permanent things!