When working in a temporary role, you have many opportunities to turn something into a permanent position. Short term roles can often open the door to long-term careers. In fact, temporary roles (temp roles) include opportunities to be brought on full-time, but these prospects are usually only offered to those who stand out.
So, how do you stand out? We have the answer: developing 5 work skills and habits to get you noticed in a temporary role!
Today, we’ll go through the 5 work skills and habits to truly make you stand out against the crowd in any temporary position. By following these rules, you could turn an opportunity to simply gain experience into a thriving career.
Without further hesitation, let’s get into the 5 work skills and habits to get you noticed in a temporary role.
The 5 Skills: Things that Set You Apart from Other Talent
Temp roles can be competitive; that much we can pretty much guarantee. You’re not likely the only person being brought into a temporary position, meaning you need to set yourself apart from other talent. This isn’t about stepping on anybody’s toes – Rather, it’s ensuring your unique skillset shines through the crowd.
You don’t necessarily have to be the most skilled professional with decades of experience to be a valuable, long-term prospect. Rather, you need to have the base skills to show a great degree of potential, with the ability to transition from a beginning position and beyond.
"Every master was once a beginner. Every pro was once an amateur." — Robin S. Sharma.
By mastering these five base skills, you can almost ensure that you’ll be recognized by the higher-ups.
1. Communication
Do you know how valuable it is to just be able to connect with others and talk to them? It might sound silly but having the ability to communicate with your team and express your ideas, concerns, and needs ensures everyone knows you’re on the same page.
Many temps worry that raising their voice is going to put them in a precarious position, but the truth is that management is likely to look for prospects who have ideas and opinions because it shows they aren’t complacent in their roles.
Not only this, but good communication allows you to show that you listen to instructions and care about your clients' pain points by bringing it up in regular discussions and planning. You also have to have the ability to interpret what people on your team are saying, absorb their knowledge and insight, and allow them to express themselves clearly. This includes emails, phone calls, presentations, day-to-day talks, meetings, etc.
These skills take a great deal of practice, and if you're not sure where to get started, make sure to always ask your team leaders for feedback. They can give you a general outlook of where you're successfully communicating and where you can improve. If you work with a recruitment agency, you can also seek guidance from them.
2. Critical Thinking & Deduction
When a challenging situation comes your way, are you able to assess it and come up with solutions? How capable are you when it comes to analyzing and interpreting new information? If you took a look at current systems and processes, could you improve them? Critical thinking, ironically, is a critical skill employers look at when hiring a full-time employee.
Having the ability to analyze a situation and find a reasonable conclusion makes you an asset for any company, especially those seeking problem-solvers and forward thinkers.
The ability to be rational and remove your emotions from a situation makes you a top contender amongst your peers because it shows you can put your work first. When you can find solutions independently and reflect on where you can improve, you prove you're capable of putting out fires and moving a business forward.
Not only this, but by being able to deduce where areas of improvement are needed in communication or processes, you show your value as a potential leader.
If you feel this is a skill you can work on and don’t know where to start, start by just asking questions about current processes and general assumptions. This will give you an easy way to dip your toes into developing those critical thinking skills.
3. Working Within a Team
Listen, being a superstar/one-man show is great, but a very desirable skill is being able to work with others. Yes, teamwork is a timeless and extremely valuable skill, and to be employable, you need to be able to play well with others. It’s not only about being likable, either – it’s also about being able to connect with your peers and playing to each other’s strengths. If you’re the type to bulldoze over everyone and ignore their input, you’re going to create a mechanical failure in the overall system, like a cog in a machine that gets jammed.
Even if you think you have more knowledge and skills than the rest of your team, not working with them shows poor sportsmanship. Poor sportsmanship = you aren’t putting the company first. The best way to achieve business success is by ensuring everyone working under it is reaching their maximum potential – not by a single person outshining everyone else.
4. Ethics
If you want to turn a temporary role into a permanent position, you need to make sure your business practices are ethical. Ethical business practices can include having a good work ethic to ensure everyone in your team is successful.
When you're the type of worker who puts the business first, you show your potential long-term employers that you're in it for the long haul.
Show that you're a person of integrity who cares about others and practices self-discipline when it comes to your day-to-day tasks. It's also beneficial to avoid distractions like office gossip and trash-talk about other employees. This shows a lack of maturity and an unwillingness to support the success of the company by preparing your team for maximum success.
Remember, ethics is about caring about the company and the team you work with. While you want to stand out, you don’t want to seem like the person who puts others down just to shine brighter.
As a matter of fact, a working paper conducted by Harvard University shows that individuals with high social intelligence (often called “team players”) consistently contribute to team performance that exceeds expectations.
5. Ability to Learn New Skills
We live in a technology-driven and high-traffic world, so this means learning new skills is an absolute must when it comes to taking yourself from a temp role into a permanent position.
Your job and your industry are always going to be changing, and employers at the top are going to want people with the ability to pivot and learn as changes occur.
Luckily, access to free or relatively accessible courses exists online, meaning you can always take charge of your skill set and learn new things.
The 5 Habits: Realistic Practices that Make You Employable
OK, we’ve talked about skills – now let’s talk habits. Skills are tangible items you bring to the table – expertise in certain areas that set you apart. Habits, on the other hand, are daily practices that support positive choices. Having great work habits ensures that, even if you’re still learning, you’re proving you’re dedicated to the craft.
1. Keep it Positive and Personable
Your skills are important, but no one wants to work with a jerk. There’s a difference between being curt and forward with your opinions and being overbearing and forceful. You need to make sure you’re keeping company morale up while also communicating areas for improvement in a way that’s clear and constructive.
You can be blunt without degrading or putting down anyone else’s missteps or ideas. Identifying problems is a method to improve processes, not hyper-focus on someone else’s shortcomings. There is a time and place to offer someone criticism, but it shouldn’t be your focus. Instead, you should be focused on how things can be improved.
2. Always be on Time
It’s a small habit but showing up when you’re expected shows dedication. If you’re the type to always be 15 minutes early, people in your company are going to notice. Temporary workers sometimes feel that because their position isn’t guaranteed, they don’t need to “show up” the way permanent employees do.
But here’s the thing: if you want to be a permanent employee, you need to act like one. That means being early for shifts, on time for meetings, and even staying late when projects run over deadlines. Things happen and showing you’re capable of managing your time proves to your employers that you care about your job.
3. Check in with Teammates
Your success is obviously important, but what if we told you that making sure the rest of your team is succeeding shows leadership? A good way to make sure your team is performing well is to take the time to check in and see how they’re doing. This can be as simple as a status email or even just asking a fellow employee to grab coffee over lunch. This opens up the opportunity to see how your team is feeling and performing while also giving you the chance to provide support.
4. Request Tangible Goals
Never just show up to your job and do your “required tasks.” Rather, go to your team leads or upper management and make a point to ask for ways you can improve. Showing that you’re willing to do things to maximize your performance sets you apart, as it shows you’re already interested in growing with the company. For example:
Meet daily productivity targets
Complete assigned tasks within deadlines
Improve response time to emails and requests
Maintain accuracy in data entry and reporting
Follow company procedures with minimal supervision
Enhance collaboration with team members
Demonstrate adaptability to new tasks and tools
Reduce errors in work by a set percentage
Seek and apply feedback for continuous improvement
Show initiative by identifying and solving small issues independently
5. Celebrate Small Victories
Getting feedback and receiving recognition is great, but you also need to celebrate your small victories. Whether that’s completing your first project ahead of the deadline or getting congratulations on an excellent report – making sure you acknowledge your efforts will give you the motivation to keep moving forward.
Don’t Wait, itec group Can Help You Find That Lasting Career
Career transitions and job hunting is challenging; that's why itec group provides comprehensive services to help you land a position that could blossom into a meaningful career. Regardless of where you're at in your search, itec group's specialized team is here to support you in your next leap in your career. Contact us today and see how we can help you find your career connection.
