Are temp agencies considered a black mark?

[rph3664]

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During my phone interview yesterday, which I do think went well (and not just because the pharmacy director didn't know what a PGY-1 was), there was enormous emphasis placed on the fact that I have worked for a certain temp agency, and for more than one stretch of time. When I was with that agency - and I will say which one if you PM me - I did hear a lot of real doozy stories about agency people who had preceded me.

The main times I worked for them was after I was laid off my from mail-order job when the facility relocated, and when I later had and left (after just 4 months) a job that led to 2 doctors saying I probably had post-traumatic stress disorder, and really didn't want permanent employment. They have morphed into a placement agency, and while I did sign on with them once again after losing my job in March, they have only called me with 1 job - at my last employer after one of the overnighters was fired! 😱

I wonder if recruiters and pharmacy managers see that I have worked with this agency, and automatically assume that something is terribly wrong with me because of this.

😕

 

[All4MyDaughter]

I think it's their way of trying to hone in on the reasons for your periods of unemployment and short tenure at certain jobs. Employers want to see long(er) periods of stable employment because past performance predicts future performance. Having had a lot of problems at multiple past employers is also a red flag because people (rightly or wrongly) assume that it's YOU (the employee) that has the problem. I'd downplay those things for that reason and definitely do not tell them that you might have PTSD.

 

[rph3664]

I did not mention PTSD. Anyone who had ever worked for her (and there are a lot, for obvious reasons) would understand, however.

I also got the impression that their issue was with the agency itself, and not the reasons why I worked for them. Perhaps they had used it and had bad experiences; IDK.

p.s. A few years ago, we had an interim director who, when she heard about a prior job experience in another city, was a bit skeptical and e-mailed some friends of hers who were classmates and a married couple to see if this was really true. With just the little bit of information she gave them, both of them replied separately within the hour and said that the stories were absolutely true, and probably a lot worse than anything she was told, and they also knew exactly who we were talking about. To this day, I have met students who grew up in this city who wanted to return there upon graduation but wouldn't because they knew what kinds of people they would be working for.

 

[Momus]

How did he get fired? Unless you are stealing, or VERY poor work performance/customer service...

 

[rph3664]

How did he get fired? Unless you are stealing, or VERY poor work performance/customer service...

Is this post in the correct thread?

 

[Momus]

Well, we all know temp rphs do jack **** in the pharmacy, always leave problems, and normally worse than a floater... "Oh, this is my 2nd time using the system", "I don't know what you normally do with this so I just leave it for the next person". They have the mentality of "just do my time as if I am in jail and leave"

So, I just say whatever interesting from your post at the time =p

 

[rph3664]

Well, we all know temp rphs do jack **** in the pharmacy, always leave problems, and normally worse than a floater... "Oh, this is my 2nd time using the system", "I don't know what you normally do with this so I just leave it for the next person". They have the mentality of "just do my time as if I am in jail and leave"

So, I just say whatever interesting from your post at the time =p

There are plenty of people who have that attitude, and they're NOT temps. I heard so.many.stories about temps who never showed up, walked out in the middle of the day, etc. Several times, I had long term assignments and they wanted to hire me permanently, so I must have done okay. I declined because it involved relocation, which I did not want to do. Maybe I should have; hindsight is always 20/20.

 

[J ROD]

not a black mark...but not great either.

Not considered "stable"

 

[rph3664]

Hey, I needed to make a living and that was how I went about doing it.

 

[rph3664]

I posted this question on another message board (it's actually a website for crafters and it has a sub-forum for pharmacists and techs) and one response came from someone who said this was how her employer did their hiring - through agencies.

She lives in Canada, however.