Benefits of Working A Seasonal Job

By TERRA Staffing Group

Posted on October 18, 2022

There are a lot of advantages to working a seasonal job—one being that there are plenty to choose from. Last year, the U.S. reached a new record of nearly 1 million seasonal job postings. 

But they have a lot more to offer, beyond their abundance, that you might not have considered. 

We’ve put together some of the benefits of working a seasonal job, to illustrate how you can make a temporary position work for your needs. 

Here are some ways seasonal work can work to your advantage: 

1. Provides financial support.
2. Gets your foot in the door.  
3. Allows you to “try on” a job. 
4. Fills gaps on your resume. 
5. No long-term commitment. 
6. Builds your skills. 
7. Grows your network. 

If you’re considering seasonal work, these are some great reasons to go for it. 

7 reasons a seasonal job can benefit you  

Provides financial support. 

Many people use temporary jobs exclusively for income while they continue to look for long-term work—or to supplement their income on top of their primary job. And that makes sense given the rising cost of living. 

When you’re not stressed about paying your bills, you’ll have peace of mind. And you’ll be free to focus on finding a job that you really want. That can help to prevent you from accepting a job offer solely because you’re not in a position to turn down a paycheck. 

Remember, this doesn’t have to be your dream job. It can exist to provide financial relief and help you get to the next step in your career.

Gets your foot in the door. 

A lot of businesses are hiring over the holiday seasons, making it easier to find work quickly. 

If you’ve always wanted to work for a certain employer that has seasonal openings, this is an effective strategy to use seasonal hiring to your advantage. You can get your foot in the door, learn more about the company and see if it’s a place you really want to work. 

Who knows? They may not want to lose you—especially if you impress your supervisor with strong performance. 

Allows you to “try on” a job. 

Many seasonal openings don’t require any previous experience. Because there are more job openings than unemployed people right now, employers are becoming increasingly flexible when it comes to skill-level requirements for seasonal openings. 

This puts you in a great position because you can try different roles that you may not be able to otherwise. As an added bonus, it can help you identify what type of work you like to do, what kind of people you like to work with, what you’re good at, and may give you ideas on how you can grow professionally.

You might also learn that you prefer to work for a large company or within a close-knit team, for example.  

A seasonal job is a great way to figure out what your “right fit” is.

Fills gaps on your resume. 

Having a gap on a resume can be a red flag to potential employers and may hurt your chances of securing a permanent job.

In fact, research shows that some employers have an unconscious bias toward unemployed candidates. Taking a seasonal job can help fill those gaps and show that you were employed while you were continuing to look for work. 

Whether or not the seasonal position is in your industry or matches your skills, employers prefer consistency in work history to gaps.  

No long-term commitment. 

Temporary jobs are great for anyone that is unable or uninterested in looking for something permanent. They don’t have to be used as a strategy to grow your career. And some of these seasonal jobs can just be plain fun! 

In fact, we recently spoke with Erica Hurd, Branch Manager of our Mesa office, who shared her insight into the value of seasonal work:

One of our clients has recurring seasonal work around the holidays. Every year, we get the same group of people that love to work there. These candidates don’t want or need a typical year-round job so it’s perfect for them. And they say it’s like revisiting their friends!

It’s okay to think “short-term” when it comes to working. 

Builds your skills. 

Whether you’re established in your career, or you’re just entering the workforce, seasonal work is a great way to build your skill set. 

You can learn how to use certain machines, work on a production floor or gain experience working in an office. It can also give you a competitive edge if you’re looking for specific work experience that you think would look good on a resume, such as learning software used in your industry. 

It’s a solid resource for anyone that wants to grow their knowledge. 

Grows your network. 

Seasonal jobs allow you to establish new working relationships that may have a positive impact on your career.  

See this as an opportunity to get to know the people around you, whether they be supervisors or coworkers,  because you never know who you’re going to work with in the future. 

The relationships you develop during a seasonal job can lead to other opportunities. And for an immediate benefit: you can ask to use your temporary supervisor as a reference in your job search. 

There are so many reasons to consider a temporary job—it just depends on what you’re hoping to achieve. And you’re not in this alone. Staffing agencies work with businesses to support their seasonal hiring needs, and can be a great resource if you’re looking for a temporary job. 

If you’re located in the Seattle-Puget Sound, Portland, Phoenix, Denver or Dallas-Metro areas, consider teaming up with TERRA. We can help you find seasonal, temp-to-hire and direct hire opportunities across a variety of industries.

Feel free to check out our current job openings or simply contact us to speak with one of our expert recruiters. 

We’d love to learn how we can help! 

Categories: Career Tips

Tags: career tips, job seeker tips, seasonal jobs, seasonal work, temp jobs

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