How do you select who to outsource your job to?

Non-Technical Threads Chatting over the Back Fence
1

This is

a) a test to see how quickly Shaun will be ensnared by my ending that
question with a preposition

b) serious. I have to come up with a “vetting process” by which to
select the vendor who will take over my job. I have never done anything
like this before and don’t really know where to begin (aside from
listing free-association questions like “will you take care of the mac
users, too?”)

Any helpful suggestions are much appreciated. Yes, I know #1: dust off
the resume. :frowning: But if any of you have had to do this, your insight
will be particularly valuable.

PHB sat through conferences with six candidates - I assumed he already
had this process in his mind and was taking notes. Maybe he was, and
this is just a sadistic game. One doesn’t really know.

Anyway. Hi everyone! And thanks for any thoughts you’d care to share.

2

On 11/10/2015 01:31 PM, Mary Wood wrote:[color=blue]

This is

a) a test to see how quickly Shaun will be ensnared by my ending that
question with a preposition[/color]

You snared two fish with this well-baited hook.
[color=blue]

b) serious. I have to come up with a “vetting process” by which to select
the vendor who will take over my job. I have never done anything like
this before and don’t really know where to begin (aside from listing
free-association questions like “will you take care of the mac users, too?”)[/color]

  1. Come up with a plan to hire an HR firm with expertise in hiring folks
    in IT. By doing so, you will be coming up with a way to hire somebody to
    come up with a way to find somebody to come up with a way to do your job
    for you. Welcome to government.
    [color=blue]

Any helpful suggestions are much appreciated. Yes, I know #1: dust off
the resume. :frowning: But if any of you have had to do this, your insight will
be particularly valuable.

PHB sat through conferences with six candidates - I assumed he already had
this process in his mind and was taking notes. Maybe he was, and this is
just a sadistic game. One doesn’t really know.[/color]

If you have notes, go back over your last year’s worth of activities and
write down what you did in some sort of problem/solution scenario.

“The helpdesk called, and they are getting reports of XYZ service being
down. How would you identify the validity of the claim?”

“There are seemingly-random issues with some users having their passwords
stop working. How would you identify the cause?”

“The ABC department needs a new application to manage their alphabet soup.
Which solutions, of which you are aware, could possibly help based on the
following business requirements: blah blah blah”.

“How does TLS (SSL) work? What are common, and less-common problems when
setting up encryption between clients and servers? Where else can TLS be
used?”
[color=blue]

Anyway. Hi everyone! And thanks for any thoughts you’d care to share.[/color]

–
Good luck.

If you find this post helpful and are logged into the web interface,
show your appreciation and click on the star below…

3

Hey Mary Wood:
[color=blue]

to select the vendor who will take over my job[/color]

Give up. You’re irreplaceable.

–
Kim - 11/10/2015 2:39:55 PM

4

On 11/10/2015 3:40 PM, kgroneman wrote:[color=blue]

Hey Mary Wood:
[color=green]

to select the vendor who will take over my job[/color]

Give up. You’re irreplaceable.
[/color]
Awwww. Thanks, Kim! :slight_smile:

I wish TPTB would realize that. It’d make everything so much easier.

5

Mary:

First of all, if they’re replacing you with some consultant, they’re
idiots.

My inclination would be to approach it from the top down. So,

  1. A list of all of the types of hardware to be supported.
  2. A list of all of the types and versions of software to be
    supported.
  3. A list of any programming languages that need to be known and to
    what extent - beginner, intermediate, advanced, expert.
  4. A list of known upgrades, migrations, etc. that have already been
    approved and are in the planning stages.
  5. The experience level required to support each of the above.
  6. A weighting for each of the above showing it’s importance for
    performance of the work involved. Things that absolutely need to be
    known on day one, down to things that can be picked up along the way.

So, pretty much what you’d list if you were going to be hiring
someone for the position. Whether it’s a hire position or an
outsourcing, it makes no difference. The work is the same.

From this you can make a checklist for vendors to fill out, so they
can tick off what they know how to do, and give a rating of 1-10 of
their skill level at it.

The vetting process itself should be not much more than checking the
list of skills of vendor applicants to see how well their experience
fits in with all of the above, the interviews of qualified vendors,
and then the checking of the information on their checklist with
their previous employers and/or customers.

No matter how good a job you do on this, it won’t matter. Your
company will hire who they want to hire, so I wouldn’t put too much
time and effort into it.

I find it in appallingly BAD taste when a company decides to replace
someone, probably thinking they’ll save money somehow, pretty much
kicking out a valued employee, and expects that employee to happily
find their replacement and train them. It’s reasonable if the
employee is the one initiating the departure. It’s unreasonable if
the employer is, and it’s actually a pretty dangerous thing for an
employer to do, because the employee will often (you would never do
this, I know, but some people would) sabotage something.

If they can’t figure out who the right vendor is based on the types
of hardware and software and systems the company has, and the proven
experience of a given vendor, then there’s no hope for your current
employer, anyway.

If this all happens, and they come back to you at some point with hat
in hand asking you to come back, you should double your salary
requirements, and make sure you get all of the best benefits the
company has to offer, including an extra week or so of vacation,
before accepting your old position back. Make sure it’s put in
writing.

I’m so sorry to hear this happened to you. They may never admit it,
but there will be a day when they’ll regret this move. And you will
come out ahead. You’ve been overworked and underpaid by them all
along. It may take awhile, but there’s something better for you
ahead. Be patient, and don’t settle for less than you deserve.

–
Susan
Novell Community Chat Moderator

http://forums.novell.com/faq.php?faq=novfor#faq_rules
http://www.ncci.org NCCIrregulars Web Site
https://www.facebook.com/groups/NCCIrregulars

Please read the following before posting in here:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/27zopdy

6

On 11/10/2015 6:27 PM, Susan wrote:[color=blue]

Mary:

First of all, if they’re replacing you with some consultant, they’re
idiots.

My inclination would be to approach it from the top down. So,

  1. A list of all of the types of hardware to be supported.
  2. A list of all of the types and versions of software to be
    supported.
  3. A list of any programming languages that need to be known and to
    what extent - beginner, intermediate, advanced, expert.
  4. A list of known upgrades, migrations, etc. that have already been
    approved and are in the planning stages.
  5. The experience level required to support each of the above.
  6. A weighting for each of the above showing it’s importance for
    performance of the work involved. Things that absolutely need to be
    known on day one, down to things that can be picked up along the way.

So, pretty much what you’d list if you were going to be hiring
someone for the position. Whether it’s a hire position or an
outsourcing, it makes no difference. The work is the same.

From this you can make a checklist for vendors to fill out, so they
can tick off what they know how to do, and give a rating of 1-10 of
their skill level at it.

The vetting process itself should be not much more than checking the
list of skills of vendor applicants to see how well their experience
fits in with all of the above, the interviews of qualified vendors,
and then the checking of the information on their checklist with
their previous employers and/or customers.

No matter how good a job you do on this, it won’t matter. Your
company will hire who they want to hire, so I wouldn’t put too much
time and effort into it.

I find it in appallingly BAD taste when a company decides to replace
someone, probably thinking they’ll save money somehow, pretty much
kicking out a valued employee, and expects that employee to happily
find their replacement and train them. It’s reasonable if the
employee is the one initiating the departure. It’s unreasonable if
the employer is, and it’s actually a pretty dangerous thing for an
employer to do, because the employee will often (you would never do
this, I know, but some people would) sabotage something.

If they can’t figure out who the right vendor is based on the types
of hardware and software and systems the company has, and the proven
experience of a given vendor, then there’s no hope for your current
employer, anyway.

If this all happens, and they come back to you at some point with hat
in hand asking you to come back, you should double your salary
requirements, and make sure you get all of the best benefits the
company has to offer, including an extra week or so of vacation,
before accepting your old position back. Make sure it’s put in
writing.

I’m so sorry to hear this happened to you. They may never admit it,
but there will be a day when they’ll regret this move. And you will
come out ahead. You’ve been overworked and underpaid by them all
along. It may take awhile, but there’s something better for you
ahead. Be patient, and don’t settle for less than you deserve.

[/color]
I don’t have big enough letters for the “thank you, Susan” that I’m
thinking. You always give impeccable advice. I’m so grateful for your
words of wisdom and kindness.

7

Mary:

Thank you, Mary. I hope it helps.

I should probably tell you that if it were me, I’d put them off until
the last day of my employment there, and then hand them a sealed
envelope with a single piece of paper in it that says, “Figure it out
for yourselves. Bye.” LOL

But if one wants to find future employment, one should probably be
more circumspect. : )

You might consider trading your report to them with a written letter
of recommendation from them. They hand you the signed letter, you
read it and if you like it, you hand them the report. ; )

Sean will be along shortly to point out the apostrophe that shouldn’t
be there…

–
Susan
Novell Community Chat Moderator

http://forums.novell.com/faq.php?faq=novfor#faq_rules
http://www.ncci.org NCCIrregulars Web Site
https://www.facebook.com/groups/NCCIrregulars

Please read the following before posting in here:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/27zopdy

8

Mary,

this is the kind of abuse, up with which I will not put!

–

Shaun Pond
in my “day job” I work for ENGL; our aim is to make Windows deployment
easy

9

On Wed, 11 Nov 2015 08:54:13 GMT, Shaun Pond
shaunpond@no-mx.forums.novell.com wrote:
[color=blue]

Mary,

this is the kind of abuse, up with which I will not put![/color]

:slight_smile:

10

On 11/11/2015 01:54 AM, Shaun Pond wrote:[color=blue]

Mary,

this is the kind of abuse, up with which I will not put![/color]

What’s up with this comma ^^ ? If you’re going to be a pedant in this
area, full pedantry should be the standard and this seem ridiculous.

With that said, the overall sentence was great and I now hope to use it in
daily speech sometime, at least once, before I completely remove “put up
with” from my vocabulary.

–
Good luck.

If you find this post helpful and are logged into the web interface,
show your appreciation and click on the star below…

11

On Tue, 10 Nov 2015 20:31:35 GMT, Mary Wood Wood.Mary@live.com
wrote:
[color=blue]

This is

a) a test to see how quickly Shaun will be ensnared by my ending that
question with a preposition

b) serious. I have to come up with a “vetting process” by which to
select the vendor who will take over my job. I have never done anything
like this before and don’t really know where to begin (aside from
listing free-association questions like “will you take care of the mac
users, too?”)

Any helpful suggestions are much appreciated. Yes, I know #1: dust off
the resume. :frowning: But if any of you have had to do this, your insight
will be particularly valuable.

PHB sat through conferences with six candidates - I assumed he already
had this process in his mind and was taking notes. Maybe he was, and
this is just a sadistic game. One doesn’t really know.

Anyway. Hi everyone! And thanks for any thoughts you’d care to share.[/color]

No suggestions, because fortunately, I’ve not been through this. I’m
not surprised anymore, but I still find it really sad that there are
people who care so little for their employees that they would put them
in the position you are now in. I’ve seen enough postings from you to
see that you take your work seriously. Their loss, but whoever hires
you next will have a definite gain. Best wishes!

Ken

12

Ab,

the comma indicates a pause, something you should familiarise yourself
with, I would suggest :slight_smile:

–

Shaun Pond
in my “day job” I work for ENGL; our aim is to make Windows deployment
easy

13

I know, an old thread but how did this finally play out? Not too painful I hope.

Cheers,
Mark

[QUOTE=Mary Wood;30345]This is

a) a test to see how quickly Shaun will be ensnared by my ending that
question with a preposition

b) serious. I have to come up with a “vetting process” by which to
select the vendor who will take over my job. I have never done anything
like this before and don’t really know where to begin (aside from
listing free-association questions like “will you take care of the mac
users, too?”)

Any helpful suggestions are much appreciated. Yes, I know #1: dust off
the resume. :frowning: But if any of you have had to do this, your insight
will be particularly valuable.

PHB sat through conferences with six candidates - I assumed he already
had this process in his mind and was taking notes. Maybe he was, and
this is just a sadistic game. One doesn’t really know.

Anyway. Hi everyone! And thanks for any thoughts you’d care to share.[/QUOTE]

14

Thanks for asking!

I took Susan’s advice and didn’t put too much effort into this, but did
come up with a list of systems that I currently support (or procure
support for), and a list of issues I had recently been faced with
resolving, which were incorporated into the RFP as “how would you solve
this?” questions. One potential candidate phoned me to say that those
lists put them off responding at all - “if you’re looking for someone
who could take care of all that, you obviously already have someone else
in mind.” We only ended up with proposals from two companies. The one
I had some good prior dealings with was chosen. The “onboarding process”
(goodness, how I hate jargon!) is supposed to begin soon.

I am supposedly to be kept on at this same company, “managing projects,”
none of which have been named or even vaguely outlined. (Not that it
matters, but I am neither interested in nor trained for project management.)

For my wallet’s sake, I appreciate being kept on; but since this was the
absolutely messed-uppest management manglement I’ve ever personally
witnessed, and said management doesn’t seem to be going away, I would be
stupid not look for a better situation. Meanwhile, I’m trying to reduce
the number of f*&s given, and anticipating watching this situation play
out. What the outsourcer offers is quite generic (and all Microsoft, of
course) and there’s a lot they won’t be able to deal with: VMWare,
GroupWise, eDirectory, OES file server, Mac file server, Macs in
general. So there will be a lot of project cost to change our
everything to Microsoft so that they can actually do what they’re being
paid to do. My company is currently in a financial situation that makes
me wonder how these projects could possibly be funded, and I believe
that the need for these projects will come as a surprise to management.

Interesting times ahead.

On 4/6/2016 8:44 PM, homebrewer wrote:[color=blue]

I know, an old thread but how did this finally play out? Not too
painful I hope.

Cheers,
Mark

Mary Wood;30345 Wrote:[color=green]

This is

a) a test to see how quickly Shaun will be ensnared by my ending that
question with a preposition

b) serious. I have to come up with a “vetting process” by which to
select the vendor who will take over my job. I have never done
anything
like this before and don’t really know where to begin (aside from
listing free-association questions like “will you take care of the mac
users, too?”)

Any helpful suggestions are much appreciated. Yes, I know #1: dust off
the resume. :frowning: But if any of you have had to do this, your insight
will be particularly valuable.

PHB sat through conferences with six candidates - I assumed he already
had this process in his mind and was taking notes. Maybe he was, and
this is just a sadistic game. One doesn’t really know.

Anyway. Hi everyone! And thanks for any thoughts you’d care to share.[/color]

[/color]

15

Mary:

Play your cards right, and you may end up getting paid to sit in a
room doing pretty much whatever you want. Definitely look for
something that makes you happy, but keep your eye and ear open for
the opportunity to slip into an office where you are, and never be
bothered by the manglement again. :slight_smile:

–
Susan
Novell Community Chat Moderator

http://forums.novell.com/faq.php?faq=novfor#faq_rules
https://www.facebook.com/groups/NCCIrregulars

Please read the following before posting in here:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/27zopdy