I love meeting people at new companies and talking to them. Some people are so interesting. It is like opening a box of chocolates with fillings. You never know what you will get when you bite into one. Will it be cherry, caramel, or in the case of some companies — a disconnected phone? But, there are also many roadblocks as well. I have various criteria that I use when selecting a new company. Since I have more experience now than before, I interview more companies and expect more, because I know how happy I will be if I pick someone good!
It all starts with the initial phone call. The salesperson is always so nice (if you can reach them which can sometimes be hard). I skip the companies that don’t answer their phone. I also skip the companies where I can’t talk to a salesperson easily. If they call me back and sound promising then MAYBE I’ll consider them if I’m in a good mood. But, after talking to them, I realize that I need to DIG and see what I find.
My old company started me with a passable programmer. He quit, and was replaced by an idiot. I fired the idiot and the boss gave me another idiot, and then another. There were problems — I asked them to fix the problems, and they said the problems was with the server.
“You’re FIRED”
I tried one company who had a great programmer, but was so BUSY, that work didn’t get done on schedule. How will this love affair continue when I can’t predict their next move and its ETA? My verdict was:
“Indecision and Hmmmm”
A previous company took me on, but then added fraudulent fees to the bill. 3 hours extra for meetings that never took place, and another 6 hours for meetings that took place where the outcome of the meetings was never applied. No consent to pay for meetings was ever given. I’m paying for WORK buddy! Then they tried to charge me 42 hours worth of work to do a project they bid at 12 hours on, but never followed directions on.
“You’re FIRED” — NEXT!!!
At one BPO company, everything was great. I agreed to hire them and all was fine… Until I read the contract. 40 hour minimum — the salesman never mentioned that before. Hmmm. Should I disqualify them from round 1?
I told them
“I like your company, but this is too rigid for this project — maybe next time!”
Another company had a great boss. I talked with him, and we got along. Then, we had a phone meeting with the programmer overseas. The boss kept interrupting and telling the programmer not to answer my questions. What kind of interview is this? The whole point is to get my questions answered, right?
“You’re FIRED!”
The next BPO company was better, but they said they had 40 programmers who knew a particular language. Upon my next call to the project manager, I found out they only had 5. Disqualify? What would Donald Trump do in this situation? But, I liked them, so I gave them the go ahead. Nice people — great communication — super pricing — even better terms! I was able to dial a California number and be directly connected to India where their project manager answered on the second ring and spoke perfect English! Wow! Now that is service!
“We have a winner — YOU’RE HIRED”
There was only one relatively insignificant piece of misinformation here — so far. Everything else was wonderful!
So, as you can see, when you are TRYING to hire a company, and trying to work with them, many companies seem to put a bunch of road blocks in the way of YOU getting your work done. The secret here is to see the road blocks early on, so you can get rid of these bozo’s (American slang for clowns) and move on! I hope you learned something from my colorful experience dealing with the most stubborn and impossible types of BPO Outsourcing companies.
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