How to Get a Cloud Engineering Job Through a Temp Agency - Akraya

How does a temp agency work?
Temp agency, staffing firm, recruitment agency. There are many different names for these organizations, but they all basically do the same thing. They are organizations that partner with companies to source, screen, and place candidates in selected jobs. The employee is on the staffing firm’s payroll but works for the client company. The company may decide to convert the employee to a permanent employee and put them on their payroll. If this happens, the staffing firm then no longer pays the employee.

An applicant working with a staffing firm can either apply directly for a specific job or send them a copy of their resume to the staffing firm and let them find a match for their skill set.

Why a temp agency for a cloud engineering job?
Temporary agencies are often overlooked when it comes to looking for a job, especially an IT job like a Cloud Engineer. But that’s not always wise. And here are the reasons:

1. Many companies, including tech companies, rely on temporary agencies to find talent for them.
2. Temporary agencies usually have established relationships with their clients, which are the companies where you want to work.
3. In a job category with a shortage of workers like cloud computing, temporary jobs often turn into permanent jobs.
4. A good temporary agency has technical recruiters who know the cloud computing industry. They can provide you free guidance on your resume, experience, interviewing, etc. They want you to look as good as possible for their clients, which is invaluable information for you to have even if they don’t end up placing you with one of their clients.

Our clients include Google, Amazon, VMware and more. There’s a good chance we have a great new cloud job waiting for you.

How to find the right one

There is a wide range of temp agencies. There are large, multinational agencies that typically place talent across the board all the way down to smaller, niche staffing firms that place a specific skill set often in a certain geographic location. These are the extreme ends of the staffing spectrum with a variety of sizes and service mixes in between. The goal is to find a temp agency that specializes in placing cloud talent in the location where you want to work.

(Read The Ultimate Guide for a Successful Cloud Engineering Career)

So how do you do this? There are a few ways. You can do a few good old fashion Google searches to see what you can find, or you can use a more targeted approach by using one of the job search engines. Zip Recruiter is a good one. Here are the steps to follow:

1. Go to ZipRecruiter.com and do a search for “cloud” and designate the city that is most central to where you are looking to work.
2. Once you get the search results, look just underneath the search fields at the top of the screen. Select the “Employment Types” drop down and select “Contract”. This will give you a list of jobs at the temp agencies that are looking to fill cloud roles in your designated search area.
3. Most people would then find a job that is a good fit and apply. Which works. But if you do this, be sure to also call the agency and explain the type of position you are looking for. Ask to speak to a recruiter that can help you.
4. When you speak to the recruiter, ask who their clients are. Ask what types of cloud positions they fill. And ask how many jobs they have and how often they get new ones.
5. If the agency seems like a good fit, send your resume (it’s likely they’ve already asked for it at this point) directly to the recruiter and explain to them what your ideal job is.
6. Call or email every two weeks to let the recruiter know you are still looking.

Temporary staffing firms will have cloud jobs that the end client does not post and is not recruiting on. These jobs are usually contract, or temporary, positions that can often become permanent jobs. And you don’t have to stick with just one temp agency. Talk to a few and foster relationships with multiple recruiters in the cloud computing space. Ultimately, using a temp agency to find a cloud engineering job is an important part of any job search.