Outsourcing: Shouldn’t We Be Asking This?
Due to increased work load, I’ve been on a big hiring spree lately. I read somewhere that hiring employees is a c**p shoot. You never really know how well somebody will perform until they actually go the job. Resumes and experiences can be padded and well… people lie (sadly).
Thank God I have yet to have major differences with people whom I hire. Miscommunication happens but to date, nothing drastic. Everyone I’ve worked with have been super and professional. Recently, I came across someone whom I not only find very qualified, but someone who has the potential to
be a good associate.
At this point in time, I’m content with knowing limited information about this person. Thinking back, I’ve hired several people on limited information. When I say limited information, I mean
- I don’t know this person’s telephone number
- I don’t know their age (which is irrelevant I know)
- At times, I don’t even know what their address is, not even a mailing address
Wow, now that’s it’s written down, I sound terribly irresponsible 🙁 Yet, given today’s loose work environment – almost everyone I hire is a freelancer
- When does it become intrusive?
- When do you say, you shouldn’t ask that because it is private or discriminatory?
I know there are some things an employer cannot ask or take into account because of equal employment opportunity. In all honesty I want to know not to add or take away brownie points from this person.
But… I’m not hiring an employee per se. Does this all apply to hiring independent contractors too? Gosh, I am showing my naiveté in this area aren’t I?
If you know, or have an opinion, please enlighten me.
Photo credit: Spekulator
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Hi Lynette,
I think that if someone wants to work with you, asking for information from them isn’t too much to ask. If they don’t want to share it with you, then I’d have to wonder why?
Having a phone number and mailing address is important. I recently realized I didn’t have a phone number of someone and had to hunt down the voicemail they had on their website (but she did get back to me). Funny, I did have her mailing address, but in a hurry, it didn’t do me much good.
Phone number is important because as we know, email isn’t always reliable and things can happen.
Mailing address is important in case, heaven forbid, something bad does happen and you need to serve papers or something like that.
I’ve never had to do the latter, but you should be prepared.
A phone number and mailing address is not too much to ask. At the very least, you need to know if there’s a time difference for conference calls and such.
Yes, resumes can be padded and people lie in regular interviews, but lying for an internet/freelance job seems easier to do, so you need to be more diligent, IMO. In the end, this person’s work will reflect on your business so you need to know pertinent info about your freelancers.
I think knowing more info about a person, like age or things outside of address/phone number, it makes for a risher view of the person, and for me, I feel I can serve them better when I know more about them.
Even if we’re “just” working together, I think it helps thing run more somoothly when I can relate to them. And to relate, I need more info. 🙂
Wow thanks for all that feedback. You all hit on fantastic points. I think it’s not so much about trust than the ability to reach the person when you really need to.
@Alice: I was thinking about address e.g. serving papers too LOL. But at the very least, I think if I want to give my assistants a nice surprise in the mail that’s a good reason too huh?
@Melissa: I wonder too! Thankfully no one has refused to give me any such information. I have initially hired them without knowing much but now, I either don’t work with them anymore or have since found out.
@Christina: That’s actually what prompted me to post. When hiring an employee, you have face to face meetings and a real resume at hand. But online it’s all so easy to fake.
@Andrea: You hit it on the nail. I like to know things like what they did before, their age and even marital status. It is not for info mining. Just to know someone a little better.
So far, I have outsourced only to those for whom I have a personal recommendation, and for each of them, I know all the basic contact information before we start. I think it’s pretty important, not only for worst-case scenarios, but also for accounting purposes. I’m not a numbers person, so I’m a bit paranoid about keeping pristine records so that I don’t accidentally end up on the wrong side of the IRS!
I’m getting to the point where I need to acquire more assistants, though, and I’ve pretty much exhausted the personal contacts. I’m not looking forward to the training process:-(. I am also ready to outsource the weekly bookkeeping– it’s not a lot of stuff, but I just hate doing it.