The temping option

Temping can be a great opening into permanent work

Temping can be a useful and flexible way of paying the rent while you are looking for work, or between jobs.

It also gives you a chance to try out different roles and companies to see what suits you best.

Make the most of this by changing your job, agency or area of work frequently. You can learn a lot about a company by the way it treats its temporary staff.

It is also a great way to get a job by the back door. Temps, if they are any good at all, are always being offered permanent positions because the employer is so used to them that they prefer to pay the agency fees rather than go through the recruitment process.

Skills

If you haven't temped before or if you are worried that your skills are not up to it, practise with various computer packages - Word, Excel and PowerPoint are the most useful.

Practise your typing and try to pick up speed (50-55 words per minute are what you will need to get basic secretarial work). The great thing about agencies is that most of them will let you book time in their offices to train on computer packages, and it's free.

Remember, you will be paid one week in arrears on a weekly basis so this is the time to get your finances organised. Ring your friends, talk to your bank manager, whoever, just start budgeting - you need to set aside rent and bills money for starters every week and not blow it down the pub on Friday.

Agencies

Some temping agencies are great - they keep in constant contact to check your availability, they check everything is going well at a placement and they seem to have an endless supply of work to throw your way.

Other agencies never ring or exaggerate your skills so you turn up to a secretarial placement and discover you were promised to them as a graphic designer. Dump these agencies quickly - there are many more out there.