The Fast Track 50: The Get-Ahead Guide for Temporary Employees

By Tim Whitney

The Fast Track 50 is a simple system, designed by an in-the-trenches procurer of temp services, to substantially improve a temp's chances of achieving a full-time position. The 50 tips are designed to help any temp get quickly up to speed on any employer s basic team-building requirements. These 50 steps are considered minimum requirements by many of today's employers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bancroft Press
• Release date: Dec 14, 2011
• ISBN: 9781610880442

Book preview

The Fast Track 50

The Get-Ahead Guide for Temporary Employees

By

Tim Whitney, MBA

Copyright 2011 by Tim Whitney

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by electronic means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote passages in a review.

Published by Bancroft Press Books that enlighten

P.O. Box 65360, Baltimore, MD 21209

800-637-7377

410-764-1967 (fax)

www.bancroftpress.com

Cover illustration, design, and interior design:

Tracy Copes; Daft Generation

[e-mail]

ISBN: 978-1-61088-042-8 (paperback)

ISBN: 978-1-61088-044-2 (ebook)

Printed in the United States of America

First Edition

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Disclaimer

The Fast Track 50 is a simple system designed to improve your chances of achieving a full-time position.

The 50 tips are designed to help anyone get quickly up to speed on the basic team-building requirements for any company. These 50 steps are considered minimum requirements by many of today’s employers.

TABLE of CONTENTS

Introduction:

What Makes Me Qualified, and How I Know This Works

Temp Treadmill or Career Escalator?

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Why Do You Need The Fast Track 50?

The Fast Track 50 Tip List and Plan

Bonus Tips

Tips for Employers

Introduction

Let’s face it, as temporary or even permanent employees, we all have the same basic needs, wants, and desires:

a nice place to call home

food on the table

new clothes

a reliable vehicle

a cell phone

a little spending money, so we can go to the movies or have dinner out

decent health insurance

a computer

and maybe, just maybe, a nice vacation once or twice a year

In seeking to be successful, productive, and profitable, companies also have basic needs, wants, and desires. These apply first to their overworked front-line managers, then carry over to their hourly employees, and finally to their temps, which they hope to use to form effective, high-performance teams and, when growth becomes stable, potentially hire as full-time employees.

Unfortunately, if you look at a company’s priority list, temps are often at the bottom. With managers tied up in managing change and resolving conflict, and focusing on the bottom line, they have little time to orient, train, or evaluate. In fact, the most they can do is apply the basic job expectations to most temps on a consistent basis. As a result, companies quickly cut loose temps who don’t have basic team-building skills to fit their needs.

In short, if temps don’t walk in the door as reliable, high-performing team members, they are quickly replaced, and their job prospects grow dimmer and dimmer. It is what I call the temp hire-fire cycle. That is the harsh reality of life as a temporary employee.

Fast Track 50 is a valuable insider look at how you can break that cycle, and become part of the temp-to-permanent employee cycle.

1970’s Motto

The harder I work, the luckier I get.

Fast Track 50 Motto

The SMARTER I work, the luckier I get.

In today’s tough economy, more than 2 million Americans are forced to use temporary agencies every day to seek employment. Some even have college degrees and years of respected work experience.

If you are reading this book, chances are your ultimate goal is to quickly obtain permanent employment.

There is one main difference between temps who are retained or hired permanently and temps who are replaced: the ability to immediately step in, know the company’s team-building rules, and adapt. The quicker you can demonstrate your knowledge and acceptance of these rules, the greater your chance of transitioning into a permanent position.

To do that, you must do one thing: work smarter to quickly become a team player. Temps who quickly show themselves to be team players in their new environment reduce the amount of stress and work for a manager; reduce company conflict; and save companies time, aggravation,