temp agency question/advice wanted

[redbird]

Okay, I was poking around, and one possibly plausible agency has a Web page that encourages people to just stop in and talk to them.

If I do this, should I go the full interview-suit route? Resume, I assume, but how many versions can I reasonably take? I'd be telling them "I'm an editor, proofreader, and tech support person, and can also do word processing": does that mean three different versions of the resume, or the full-bore include everything and figure we'll both know that it can be edited down as appropriate?

Comments

[gconnor.livejournal.com]

I would not plan on them editing it for you before sending... but they will probably understand what to do if you give them three versions, possibly with post-its attached saying which job title it is. Ask them if this is for their records, or if they will be faxing it to customers, and if so what versions would they prefer to keep on hand. (There will probably be one or two people there who understand everything written on it, but they may not be the ones answering the phone when customers call...)

[ailbhe]

The full whack on paper, and seperate ones on floppy? It's hard to get recruity people to read resumes anyway; getting them to read 3 straight off might be impossible.

[sraun]

I'd take the full-bore everything, and then ask them if they'd like your trimmed-down versions. They're going to want the full-bore version for putting you in their database - the question then becomes what do they do when telling a client about you. Either their computer prints something out (in which case they don't need your versions), they get to just send you (unlikely), or they pull a copy from files and fax it (in which case your version would be handy).

If they want your versions, I'd be paranoid - do you have any clear plastic paper sleeves? Put a customized resume in one, then write "Proofreader" on the sleeve in big bold letters. Repeat for all the other versions you give them.

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

If I were you, I would treat it as something like a job
fair. Wear the interview costume, or a slightly toned-
down version of it, if you're not comfortable in your full
interview costume. I only know you online, so I don't
have any sense of your clothing style...but dressy trousers,
blazer, and polished shoes are acceptably businesslike in
most situations. The pretense is, "I just stopped off
to give you my resume, and we can chat about it if you
happen to have time. I'm not particularly dressed up - I
look like a respectable professional person all the time."
(Respectable professional people look somewhat different
in different fields and different cities. But unemployed
geeks in fandom rarely look like them unless they have a
particular fondness for clothing, or are making an effort.)

Take all the versions of your resume with you, in a
folder. Have several copies of the most general form.
This is what you'll give to the "gatekeeper" who talks
to you first and decides which of their people would
be best to work with you seriously. Temp agencies,
headhunters, and so forth aren't just evaluating your
direct job skills in a situation like this...they're
evaluating your resume-writing and interviewing skills
as well.

So when an agent looks at your kitchen-sink resume, and
says, "Hmmm, you've done proofreading? We have a
proofreading opportunity we could put you in for, but
you'd need to rewrite this resume..." That's when you
open your folder, hand over the proofreading resume, and
ask if it would be appropriate, or if the agent can
help you tailor it to the specific position.