The Permanent Problem for Temps

If you don’t care, this posts not for you. It’s for those who care. It’s for those who don’t want to cause damage and hurt peoples’ feelings irreparably, but don’t notice they already have. It’s for those who treat their temps like trash and think no one notices, because they do.

They notice. It hurts. It makes hardworking individuals feel worthless. If your temp employee sends emails that no one responds to EVER, that temp employee is likely sick of checking if something is wrong with their devices and technology, and finally figuring there must just be something wrong with them as a person. 

Just because they’re temps doesn’t mean they don’t deserve respect. Temps work hard and often feel perpetually unrewarded. Temps gain specialties just to get thrown straight back into entry level, FOREVER. No one sees their skills. No one cares; they don’t have to.

I’ve been a temp for most of my professional career, and it’s looking like that might be forever. It’s not what I wanted. Managers stopped learning my name last year. Months go by where I’ve wondered if anyone reads writing that took me hours. I’ve finally stopped wondering. 

I know attorneys who have done temp work for awhile who do a mix of making fun of the naïveté and feeling sorry for new attorneys who get temp roles and hope someone might notice them and hire them for real.

Before I ever got my first law job, that naive girl was me. 

Now I know the truth. Now I know that they need to make sure they have these inferior lawyers in their back pocket. That must be why most of the temp assignments prohibit concurrent work, right? They know no one’s impressed by the temp gigs on resumes and at interviews; now they just have to make sure you don’t get any other experience that might impress someone. I’ve told the truth to people in power, bar associations, etc, how these temp projects aren’t even fair, how huge firms shouldn’t get to dump the “not good enough to be legal work, but enough to require a law license work” on desperate lawyers who can’t find anything better, and pay them $20-$30 an hour, no time off, no benefits, never bonuses or raises, etc, while they make 6 figures and climbing. The people in power don’t care. Many acknowledged and agreed with my concerns; they just don’t care about them. They told me it’d only get worse if I tried to fix it. They said it in worse words than that. 

The story ends with me feeling functionally kicked out of the legal field or forced to take the bar again and see if another state will have me like New York wouldn’t. Studying for that years ago caused horrible anxiety that never paid off even though I passed the exam. Last time I shelled cash out to renew my law license and take CLE’s, I said it’d be the last time unless I had some sign of a career. Less than 6 months to go… 

This is NOT FAIR. This is trapping lawyers in a life of career mediocrity and I can’t believe this doesn’t outrage more of the many zealous advocates in the profession. And if outrage is asking too much, well then I can’t believe so many think maybe it’s ok.  

But then, like I said, if you don’t care, this post is not for you. 

*I advocate for ANYONE in this situation and often speak from the perspective of lawyer in this situation just because that’s what I am. This is about a lot more, but the legal industry is a major offender here.