Placing shelves, selling, collecting, serving, cleaning - these are typically temporary jobs. Be it during the holidays (schoolchildren), semester break (students), or to earn some extra money and to supplement the household budget: As a rule, you can still apply to work as a temporary worker. Here we will show you how you can write the perfect application for a quick job and perhaps find a way into your professional life or gain your first professional experience.
What does a temporary worker do?
Temporary workers do simple tasks that do not require any particular prior experience, knowledge, or qualifications. There is also no need for a more extended familiarization period. After a short briefing, temporary workers can start work immediately.
Sure, when you apply to work as a temporary worker, it's not about a steep career but simply about the money. However, they are usually only remunerated with the minimum wage.
Simple temporary workers are often only employed temporarily. Until the task is done. In the retail trade, in supermarkets, in the catering trade, or the hotel industry, temporary jobs are regularly required so that temporary workers are constantly sought, who seldom remain permanent.
As a rule, there are no prerequisites for a job as a temporary worker. For some jobs (e.g., when coming into contact with food), a health certificate is expected. Sometimes also a police clearance certificate or a valid driver's license.
What do I have to consider when applying as a temporary worker?
Since you do not need any special qualifications for a quick job, you score in the application above all with high motivation, physical resilience, punctuality, hard work, and friendliness.
The application itself is also subject to less strict rules and formalities. Nevertheless, there are a few rules of thumb to keep in mind:
- The text in the cover letter can be fresher and more relaxed. Spelling or grammatical errors are not welcome here either (but more of them are tolerated).
- If you have no previous knowledge or experience, you should compensate for this with the will to learn and perform. The attitude should be: "I'm not too good for anything."
- Because a temporary job is often about physical work and service jobs, you should shine in the application with practical and social skills - resilience, reliability, friendliness, flexibility.
If a suitable position is then available, there is hardly anything in the part-time job.
Help wanted: templates and sample letters for the application
For the application documents for an application as a temporary worker, similar rules apply to the so-called short application. So you are not sending a "complete" application folder but a significantly reduced version.
This is made up according to the following pattern:
- Cover letter (maximum 1 page)
- resume (ideal: only 1 page)
- Application photo (optional)
- NO credentials
- NO qualifications, certificates
You can either staple everything together in a folder or put it in a transparent sleeve. That's enough. After all, it's about a temporary job and not about applying as a specialist or manager.
Edit templates online in the browser
You can edit, rewrite and then copy or print out the following templates and sample texts online in your browser. To do this, click anywhere in the box. Then the text can be overwritten individually and personally.
Template: Letter of application temporary help without experience
A lack of work experience is a problem with many traditional applications. Not with temporary jobs. When applying for a job as a temporary worker, you must convince with your motivation and score with a few soft skills.
Tips for the resume
The resume for a temporary job isn't that different from any other resume, either. It should be clear, meaningful, complete, and accurate.
This means: Except for your previous career and training, you can shorten and choose. Only what is essential and relevant to the advertised position is included. Everything else is unnecessary reading ballast. And no HR manager likes that.
The standard today is a tabular resume. Means: In the left column are the times (format: MM / YYYY - MM / YYYY). On the right, pure facts: jobs, knowledge, experience, interests.
The resume is then broken down into sections. This creates a clear content structure in which the reader can find his way around and grasp the essential information at a glance.
The following structure is standard:
The professional structure of a resume
- The title ("resume" or the form "resume Max Mustermann" is sufficient.)
- Personal details (first name, surname, birthday and place of birth, complete address, telephone number, email address, (application photo))
- Professional career (Profession, jobs, experience, positions)
- Education (School, apprenticeship, degree, highest degree, grade, semester abroad, internship)
- Special knowledge (Advanced training, certificates, foreign languages, IT skills, driver's license, awards, etc.)
- Interests and hobbies (Private engagement, honorary positions, own projects, relevant hobbies)
- Place, date, signature (Always the current date, handwritten with a pen)
TIP: Please never make the mistake of using the same resume for all applications. Experienced personnel will notice this immediately. Consequence: bulk goods - rejection!
You should continually adapt your application documents individually for each application. Although this takes more effort, it is often rewarded with more invitations to an interview.
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HR professionals like it when the application looks like you "only" want to work for this company. The more you adapt the layout and design of the cover letter and resume to the future employer, the more likely the employer will perceive it as a compliment and appreciate the effort.