By Gagandeep Ghuman
Published: May 6, 2014
In the last few years, Anne Richard has heard her friends tell stories of their quest for a fulfilling job—a part-time job, to be more precise.
She heard from new moms who didn’t want to work full time. She heard from those who wanted to work less and play more in the great outdoors.
“Either you can spend an hour looking on the internet or you can call me for a worker I have already screened.”
“I heard from a lot of intelligent, creative people who didn’t want to work full-time,” she said.
And through her bookkeeping business, she would hear from employers who just couldn’t find workers, despite advertising jobs in local paper and Craigslist.
“Finding the right staff was the biggest stress for many employers,” she said.
Last July, Richard realised she could solve a problem for both by bringing the two together—and make some extra income from it.
The result was Saved by the Temp, a riff on the TV comedy, Saved by the Bell.
Richard had experience working with temp agencies: She had found a job through a temp agency in Ontario, and had also worked for one as well.
Opening a temp agency also carried little cost except for a few flyers and a commitment of time. With overhead costs low, she decided to test the idea.
Her instincts were right. Without even advertising the temp agency, she started calls from local businesses asking for part-time or casual workers.
Some of these calls are last-minute requests, a situation in which Richard says her temp agency can be particularly helpful.
“Either you can spend an hour looking on the internet or you can call me for a worker I have already screened,” Richard says.
So far, the calls have been for part-time work in construction, administrative or restaurant business.
But Richard says she wants that list to expand to include other jobs as well.
Richard charges the employer a commission on what they are willing to pay to the employees.
So far, she has 30 employees in her roster who can offer help in event planning, reception duties, and construction work, etc.
Before they get on her calling lists, Richard has already interviewed and vetted the workers.
Simon Shave, a Quest University student, has worked for a few times with a local construction company after getting a call from Richard.
“It’s given me a good option to make some money on the side,” says Shave.
Besides helping her economically, Richard says Saved by the Temp also helps her contribute to Squamish by finding people jobs they otherwise may have to commute to Whistler or Vancouver to find.
“I find it very rewarding,” she said.
