If you've never worked a temporary assignment, the unknowns are the hard part — not the work. What to bring, who to ask for, how the day runs, and what to do if something's wrong. All of it, in order.
If you have never worked a temporary assignment before, the unknowns are the hard part — not the work. You do not know what to bring, who to ask for, how the day is structured, or what happens if something is wrong. That uncertainty is why people don't show up, and it is completely avoidable.
Here is the whole thing, in order.
Before your first shift, you should already know all nine of these. If you don't, call us — do not just show up and hope.
That last one matters more than people expect. Being twenty minutes late and having called is a minor thing. Being twenty minutes late without calling is how you lose an assignment.
Bring: government photo ID, your SIN if we don't already have it on file, any certification cards the role needs, a water bottle, your own lunch (many industrial sites are not near anywhere to buy food), and a phone that is charged.
Wear: CSA-approved safety boots if the site requires them — this is the single most common reason someone is turned away at the door on day one. Long pants. A shirt you can move in and don't mind ruining. Layers, because a warehouse in February and a production line in July are very different problems, and both can change through the shift.
Leave at home: loose jewellery, anything dangling, and open shoes. If your hair is long, tie it back — around moving equipment this isn't a style question.
Tell us before the assignment, not the morning of. Some sites can lend a pair, some assignments don't require them, and for others we can point you to where to buy them affordably. What doesn't work is arriving without them and being sent home unpaid.
Do this the day before, not the morning of: look up the actual trip at the actual hour you need to arrive. A route that takes 25 minutes at noon can take 80 minutes at 5:30 a.m., and some buses simply do not run that early.
Plan to arrive 15 minutes before your start time. Not five. You may need to find the right door, sign in, or get a visitor badge, and none of that is counted as being late — but it does eat time.
If the commute genuinely doesn't work, tell us. There is no advantage to accepting a shift you can only reach twice. We would much rather place you somewhere you can sustain.
Roughly what happens:
Pace yourself honestly. Don't try to be the fastest person on the floor in hour one. Experienced workers look fast because they've stopped wasting movement, not because they're rushing. Steady and correct beats fast and wrong on every warehouse floor there is.
Ask questions early. New people almost always guess instead of asking, because asking feels like admitting something. It isn't. Two questions in the first hour is normal and expected; two hours of work done the wrong way is a real problem.
Expect to be physically tired in a way you didn't predict. Eight hours on concrete uses your body differently than almost anything else. Day two is usually harder than day one. Drink water, eat your lunch even if you don't feel like it, and use your full break.
Know where the exits and the first aid station are. Before you need them.
You do not need to be the best worker there. In practice, being asked back comes down to four things, in this order:
Do those four and you will be offered more work, at better sites, and you'll be near the front of the line when a site wants to hire someone permanently.
Call us. Not at the end of the week — the same day. Specifically, call us if:
You will not lose work for raising any of these. You have real legal protections in all three provinces we operate in, including the right to refuse work you reasonably believe is dangerous — those are covered in your rights as a temp worker.
The fastest way to make a small problem into a lost assignment is to say nothing for two weeks.
It happens often, and it is not luck. Most employers who hire from their temporary staff do it because they watched someone work for three weeks and decided. Which means the interview is the job.
What actually moves it along: showing up consistently, learning a second task on the floor, saying yes to a certification when it's offered, and telling us you'd like something permanent so we know to put your name forward. That last one gets forgotten constantly — we can't advocate for a conversion we don't know you want.
Next: how your pay, hours and paycheque work, and how to get hired faster.
7Sardar never charges a worker a fee to find or accept a job. If any agency asks you to pay for placement, that is a serious warning sign — see your rights as a temp worker.
Government photo ID, your SIN if the agency doesn't already have it, any certification cards the role requires, a water bottle, your own lunch (many industrial sites aren't near food), and a charged phone. Wear CSA-approved safety boots if the site requires them, long pants, and layers.
Often yes, and arriving without them is the most common reason someone is turned away on day one. Tell your agency before the assignment starts rather than the morning of — some sites can lend a pair, some roles don't require them, and otherwise we can point you somewhere affordable.
Fifteen minutes before your start time. You may need to find the right entrance, sign in, or get a visitor badge. Also check your transit route at the actual hour of your shift the day before — a trip that takes 25 minutes at noon can take 80 minutes at 5:30 a.m.
Call the agency the same day, not at the end of the week. Work that differs from what you were told is something we need to correct with the employer, and you will not lose work for raising it. The same applies to a pay rate that doesn't match what you were told.
Four things, in order: show up on time every day, call if anything changes, ask questions instead of guessing, and work steadily rather than trying to be fastest. Reliability is the scarcest quality in this industry and it is what gets you better sites and first consideration for permanent roles.
Applying is always free. Tell us what you can do and when you're available, and we'll match you to shifts near you.