How a one day Reception cover can lead to your dream job!

Posted on 29/12/2020 by Breeanna Noske

For various reasons, a person can find themselves unemployed at periods throughout their life. And whether this circumstance was your decision or not, you will come to a point where you are looking for your next permanent working opportunity.

Temporary work may not be on your radar. Your focus might be landing the next long term chapter in your career. BUT, there are benefits to engaging in temporary work “temporarily”.

Aside from the obvious benefits being consistent income, keeping busy and remaining involved in the corporate “world”, there is one VERY enticing benefit to accepting short term, even “lower level” temporary work:

It can lead to your dream job.

But isn’t most temporary work filing and reception cover?

More senior temporary roles do exist, to assist with workloads or company projects. But yes, a lot of temporary work sits at a reception and junior administration level. And these opportunities can still lead you your dream position!

Take Entrée Recruitment candidate Jodie for example. Jodie* registered with Entrée Recruitment two months after having immigrated to Adelaide from South Africa. Jodie was seeking permanent working opportunities that matched her skill set and experience from South Africa, which was within Human Resources Management and Risk and Compliance Management. However, Jodie made it clear that she was open to accepting temporary positions at any level in the meantime.

Jodie’s Entrée Recruitment Consultant offered Jodie a one month Administrative temporary assignment assisting an organisation with filing, scanning and printing during an office move. Jodie happily accepted the role despite the position being at a different level to both her experience and her long term objectives.

The one month role turned into a 4+ month role once the organisation discovered Jodie’s skills in Risk and Compliance, and she recently accepted a permanent position within the organisation’s Management team.

Jodie’s advice to fellow job seekers? “Be creative, open your mind to new ideas, industries and learnings! And…… Get involved!”.

Just as incredulous is Melanie’s* story. Melanie registered with Entrée Recruitment after a self lead two month work break. She had previously worked as an Executive Assistant in the healthcare industry and was keen to find a similar role in a different industry.

While Melanie’s aim was to explore other industries through temporary work and see what excited her, Melanie’s Entrée Recruitment Consultant offered her a one day Reception cover position in another healthcare organisation.

Melanie describes what happened next as follows: “It just happened that I met the CEO in the lunch room on that particular day and he made sure I returned as Project Officer temp while a permanent role was being organised.” That temporary Administration role lasted 5 months giving Melanie experience in all areas of the healthcare organisation before a permanent Executive Assistant position became available.

Melanie says “Never say no to opportunities as you don’t know what can come out of it. Also, don’t be afraid to talk to people - you never know where a friendly chat can lead!”

You might only plan on accepting temporary or permanent work at the same level as your last role – whether in terms of responsibilities and duties or in terms of pay rate. However, it may be beneficial to consider temporary work at a lower level. The people you meet, the connections you make, the knowledge you obtain or the impression you make can sometimes just lead to your dream job.

*Names altered for privacy