Turning agency work into a permanent job.

Monday morning dawned and a review of work showed that while I had done my work for the audit, my colleague hadn't and there was still 2 weeks work to do. Needless to say my 2 weeks trainging evaporated and eventually was condensed into 1 day.

Somehow I managed to fathom enough from my notes to work out what to do and how, and week 1 went reasonable to plan, week 2 was better. I was then due to go in on the following Monday to handover to my colleague on his return from  holiday.

Only, he didn't return, instead he sent in his resignation with immedaite effect. So, again I was summoned to 'the other side' and asked if I could stay on placement doing the weekly accounts and at the same time assist in the re-distribution of the work between existing staff on 2 sites. 

In all this, I could see that having my contract extended and again would look good on my CV and so, although I knew no permanent job would come from it, I was happy to continue. I had also been flexible with my days. I initially started 5 days a week, covered on 3 days a week and then went up to 5 days a week again. I decided an element of flexibility would also help with assignments, rather than be rigid in my requirements.

In all the assignment lasted 8 months - not bad from an initial 3 weeks and certainly other agencies were starting to consider me for roles that they had previously dismissed me without discussion. Still, that permanent job evaded me. I was firmly of the opinion that my best chance at a permanent role was through a temporary one, maybe the next job would be different.

I was offered another temporary assignment, 3 months with a view to permanent - and although there was a long commute, if it worked out it would be easy to relocate as our rental house would have been beyond the minimum term. The worst of winter was over and the increased hourly rate would cover the extra petrol costs - I agreed to take the assignment.

Week 1 went very well, but I could quickly see that there was no long term job there for me. They thought thety had bigger problems than they had, but really it was a timing issue and once we had re-done the way various work was done and reports were run, there suddenly wasn't a problem anymore. After 4 weeks they left word with the agency that they didn't need me to go back. 

 In the current economic climate it was no surprise that they would cut out agency costs as soon as they could, especially as even I could see no long term job there, even after only being there a week.

Back to all the agencies on Monday morning and by mid-morning I had an interview for the following day at another local company, so no more long commute. I started with them later that week on a 13 week contract with possible permanent, 4 days a week. Halfway through the assignment they started making positive noises towards me being kept on premanently. I almost held my breath as I worked those final weeks. I loved the job, got on great with the people, had less than 5 minute commute and so wanted it to be made permanent.

At the end of the 12th week they confirmed they wanted me to stay on and on a full-time basis. My flexible approach had paid off.

If you are returning to the UK and need to look for work after being out of the job market for a while, it is not easy but being prepared to do any form of work through agencies and getting some current work experience on your CV should not be under-estimated. Had I not been fortunate enough to get assignments that ran into each other, I was planning to do some voluntary work just to show I was willing to work and could get that detailed on my CV.

I do consider myself lucky to have found a job I really enjoy, working with people I get on with and so close to home. It had taken me 11 months from returning to the UK to getting a permanent role.