On occasions, temporary staff can be offered permanent roles, or offered a role on a temp – perm basis from the outset. Some people do end up making careers out of ‘temping' and during my time working in recruitment, I remember reading a story about a temp who had worked through one recruitment agency for 40 years! However as good as temping can be, there are definite advantages and disadvantages to temporary work. Check out our list below and hopefully this will help you decide if temporary work is for you…

Advantages

Gives you freedom…Depending on ‘where you are at' in your employment career, temporary work assignments can be an advantage to anyone not wanting to commit to a long-term position or responsibility. It can be an advantage to any ‘stay at home parent' who perhaps only wants to work during school term time, or commit to part-time and flexible work, or a recent Graduate who wants to work for perhaps 6 months, before going travelling.

Make a career out of it… This is only specific in some areas, where you can be guaranteed to find ongoing temporary work, but it is true that some people prefer the option of an ongoing temporary career. They may find work through 1 or 2 recruitment agencies over a period of 10 -15 years, and the recruitment agency, knowing that they are a committed temp, will generally give the loyal few temps they have, first refusal on any temporary work they know that they would be interested in.

Can pay you more… Some people may scoff at this one, as sometimes temps can be paid rather less than the company's permanent staff, and recently, due to the recession, little or no more than the national minimum wage. However, there are some careers, often vocational or professional positions like teaching, nursing, medicine, pharmacy, engineering, and consultancy work, which may pay much more than the permanent equivalent. Why? You may ask – well like anything in life, the cost of the supply is generally based on the requirement, necessity and urgency of the demand.

More benefits for temps now… If you are based in the UK, Agency Worker Regulations were introduced in 2011, with the intention of giving temporary staff more rights, after a small period of time temping in one particular business. In essence, it was to give temps similar pay and working conditions.However, having left recruitment in 2011, I am not 100% sure how the implementation of the AWR has impacted the UK temping industry. If you are needing official advice on this – then you should check out the AWR rulings online.

Varied work and experience + Meet new people… A permanent job gives you security and stability, but it also can give you a mind numbing sense of repetition and conformity. Some people love the security that this gives you, other people would prefer to experience different workplaces and work experiences and to constantly meet new people. You are also therefore not so tied to where you work and live and many people consider temporary work as it can take them to new places and environments.

Disadvantages

No security… Without stating the obvious, the recession and the financial crisis has had a knock on effect on the recruitment market. Now, most Recruitment Agencies will argue that their temporary work force has been stronger than their permanent business, as companies have been less confident about taking on staff for the long-term. However, it is not so easy to be able to walk straight from one temporary job to another, or even get a temporary job in the first place. Also as the candidate pool has grown larger (as more skilled people are made redundant) the short-listing criteria for getting a temporary job has increased and therefore graduates and the unemployed are fining it tougher to be as employable as they were before.

Not good for the mortgage…Banks like people to be in permanent jobs – simple. A permanent job gives you security and also gives a bank or a mortgage provider the confidence that you will be able to pay your mortgage monthly and on time.

Depends where you live and what you do… During the recession there have been some towns and cities that have remained pretty buoyant and some places in the UK and further afield are not really in recession anymore. Therefore your chances of finding temporary work are increased or decreased, depending on where you live. It's the ‘have' or ‘have nots' in terms of places and employment opportunities…

Some places can be terrible… Especially if you are in a temporary job that is only expected to last for a few days or weeks, so employers can be really bad to work for. As you are only seen as a ‘short term fix' you can be given little attention or care (until you are needed for something). The permanent staff may not be bothered to communicate too much to you – because next week you will be gone anyway! This can be rather disconcerting.

This post originally appeared on the employment and careers blog TheEmployable