The road to a staff career at UC Davis often begins in temporary employment.

Yet it's a far different world today than in yesteryear. The click-clack of typewriters has been replaced by the ping of incoming e-mail.

"We look for people with computer skills who can handle a number of broad functions," said Deb Weimerskirch, manager of Temporary Employment Services. "The market has changed dramatically in the last 10 years."

Through "temping," employees with a variety of skills are available to departments on short notice for assignments. They're often called "floaters" and they lend a helping hand when regular staff are ill or on vacation, for special projects, during peak workload periods, or to temporarily fill a staff vacancy.

The main trend is toward technology-oriented jobs and skills, said Weimerskirch, who came to Temporary Employment Services 12 years ago and has worked on campus for 31 years.

Sure, a good telephone manner and customer service skills are vital in any day or age, but computers drive the skill sets today -- for example, spreadsheet skills using Microsoft's Excel software.

As a result, once popular skills have become less important if not outdated. Does that typing test still matter? Not as much.

"We don't look at typing speed as much as we used to," Weimerskirch said. "And, we rarely receive requests anymore for temp employees with transcribing skills."

She explained that many people, from faculty to top administrators, handle their own word processing at their desks. The relative obsolescence of typewriting speed has also been brought about by the numerous copyediting functions in any given word processing system.

Today, about one in five temp requests come from units seeking intensive typewriting skills, Weimerskirch said. That's down from years past. "It's not that we don't have great typists or transcribers in our temp employment pool," she said, "We do, in fact. But there's not a growth industry for these skills."

For administrative assignments, it's good to know the UC Davis Financial Information System, or DaFIS, Weimerskirch said. Toward this, her unit offers a four-hour "quick start" course in DaFIS for those seeking to learn about the system, which is used for tracking all kinds of campus business activities, from travel to accounting and purchase orders.

"A comfort level with DaFIS is something that we look for or help to cultivate," said Weimerskirch, noting that a DaFIS manual is sent with each temp employee to their new assignments.

'A transition stage'

Last year, UC Davis hired about 300 temp employees from more than 1,200 applicants, Weimer-skirch said. About 300 floaters left Temporary Employment Services, with about 48 percent of them entering career employee jobs on campus, she added.

"We're a stepping stone to careers at UC Davis," she said.

Not all of those jobs are administrative or clerical types, though about 80 percent do fall into those categories, Weimerskirch said.

Quite a few surprises walk through the temp doors at the corner of 3rd and A streets location, including applicants with doctoral, graduate or professional degrees. Writers, editors, stagehands, computer programmers and medical professionals have found UC Davis work through temporary employment.

And others have found the limelight.

Mondavi Center filled many of its positions when it opened in 2002 with the help of Temporary Employment Services. Mondavi Center eventually hired many of those employees as career employees.

"That's how one gets the foot in the door at the place they want to work full-time," Weimerskirch said. "Temp employment is a transition stage for many in search of bigger employment."

Flexibility and versatility are also prized, she said. "We need individuals who can hit the ground running in a busy office, whether that means answering the telephone or operating an electronic accounting system."

The goal is to make the experience a successful one for both the unit and the temp employee. However, temp employment is an "at will" employment condition, which means that one can be released from service at any time.

According to Weimerskirch, here's what her office looks for in floaters:

• word processing and computer skills;
• excellent spelling, grammar and punctuation skills;
• telephone, reception and filing skills;
• electronic accounting and payroll skills;
• recordkeeping skills;
• an ability to learn quickly, follow instructions and work with people and in different offices;
• medical office knowledge; and
• writing and editing.

Finding the help

About 50 percent of floater applicants find Temporary Employment Services through the UC Davis Web site, she said. Word-of-mouth, mostly friends and family, also accounts for a large number of applicants.

Applicants have their backgrounds scrutinized. And customer service and helpfulness is emphasized in interviews.

"Making sure what they said they did in their work history is true is a key element of the application process," she said.

The most bizarre request for a temporary employee?

A male nude model.

A couple years ago the art department needed a model for a figure drawing class, Weimerskirch said. Applications were accepted and interviews conducted -- in street clothes. "It worked out well for the department and the employee," said Weimerskirch.

While her unit has filled positions as far away as Washington, D.C.-- UC Davis maintains a political science program in the nation's capital -- some requests for assignments can't always be met. What then?

"If we can't find the right person to fill the job," she said, "we refer the department to the purchasing unit on campus. There they can contract with an outside temporary employment agency that would likely have the right person for that specific job."

Floaters receive sick leave and vacation accrual and holiday pay, on a pro-rated basis, in any month that they work 50 percent time or more. They are also eligible for University Core or Mid-level benefit coverage depending upon the hours worked.

For more details about Temporary Employment Services at UC Davis, call (530) 757-3000 or visit http://www.hr.ucdavis.edu/Emp/TES.