First, get rid of that pesky thing you call your current job. If you're unemployed, you can skip this step.
While you're waiting for your two weeks' notice to be over, start polishing up your resume.
......wait, wait, WAIT! Back up. Sorry, I got too excited.
If you're very bold, go ahead and give your notice now. But if you're more cautious and want to make sure you don't screw yourself over, it would do to have a little padding money first.
You should be able to start working fairly quickly. But you may still face a longer-than-normal gap between paychecks. Make sure you can pay your rent and all your bills for the month to come -- whether this is in the form of a savings account, an understanding partner/roommate, or a generous family.
Okay. Once you have that, THEN give your notice and start polishing up your resume. Aim to represent yourself as a jack-of-all-trades. If you've had a variety of jobs, or jobs where you did a variety of things, mention those. For your strengths, use keywords like "adaptable" and "fast-learner."
Your first inclination might be to go to Google and type in the name of your city and "temp agencies." Sure, that works. But if you want to find someone a little more reputable, try these ideas.
1. Go to the website of the American Staffing Association or the Association of Canadian Search, Employment, and Staffing Services. Search for member agencies in your area.
2. Find your local Chamber of Commerce website, and browse the members for temp agencies. Look for keywords "staffing agency," "temporary employment," and the like.
3. Call companies you'd be interested in working for, and ask them where they get their temps from. I've heard of some people doing this, but I've never gotten it to work. I usually get a response something like "All our hiring is done online now *click*." But maybe it's worth a try.
4. If you have any very large employers in your area (and I mean very large, like your state's leaders), it's possible they have their own temp staffing department. This is how I got involved with the University of Washington, where I've done most of my assignments.
5. Your state could have resources, such as a job bank, where you can search for companies online by type. You can probably find it on the government website in the same area where you'd apply for unemployment benefits. Do your search using the same keywords of "temporary employment" and "staffing agency."
You might think it's a good idea to go with big agencies, since they already have a lot of clients and a good reputation. But you should also take a chance on newer and smaller companies. They're eager to make a name for themselves, and will likely send you on lots of assignments right away.
I'd say 3 or 4, and wait a couple days to get a response. The ones who are interested will call you in for an interview. If all you've done is filled out an application online and there are no further steps, don't expect to get jobs from them anytime soon. You must see someone in person before you can consider yourself as having a relationship with the company.
Generally, once you interview with a place, they will want to send you on an assignment right away so that they can see how you fare. This is why you shouldn't hit up too many agencies at once -- that, and you probably don't want to be swamped with interviews anyway.
When your first assignment ends, or if you haven't gotten a response from your first few after a few days, send out another small batch of applications. Keep this cycle up until you have a few agencies that are offering you assignments regularly.
This is really critical to keeping a steady stream of assignments. You must remind the staffing agency of your existence, because otherwise, they will forget you quickly.
Keep a list if you need to, to keep track of them all. Whenever you are available and willing to work, start calling your staffing coordinators and letting them know. "I just wanted to let you know that I'm available for an assignment this week." At which point they will let you know if they have something then, or promise to call you if something comes through.
If you have one agency that you prefer and that gives you most of your jobs, call them first, then give them a chance to call you back for the next day or so before you get in touch with other agencies. Unless you need work immediately, in which case, let everyone know right away.
Also in the case of an agency you work with a lot, let them know if you're going to be unavailable for any length of time (assignment with a different agency, going out of town, need serious lesuire time, etc.). This not only maintains a good working relationship, but it gives you an excuse to call them up whenever you're available again. "My last assignment finally ended, and I'd love to work with you guys again."
I made that up myself, you like it? ;) Okay, no matter how many assignments I get sent on, I always spend the first day or two with a horrible feeling in my stomach. "They hate me. I'm doing it all wrong. I'm going to get a horrible evaluation." When, in fact, I'm always doing fine and I always get great evaluations. I have come to believe that this is a natural part of temping. Just relax and do your best. And hey, if you do screw up for reals, it's not the end of the world. If the temp agency that sent you there already has several good evaluations in your file, maybe they'll just consider it a fluke. And if you're just starting out with them, well, that's why you have other agencies to fall back on.
Provided you're a good worker, you should be rolling in the offers before long. Happy temping!
This is what has worked for me, and of course I can't guarantee it will work for you. And as in any freelancing job, it's expected that you will have some dry spells. Remember what I said about having a savings account?