Virtualistic???

Alright, I admit, the word is kind of weird; in fact, it is not even listed in Encarta Dictionary. But then who cares? nowadays with the new adjunct of new words and jargons, plus the very advanced technology ( this is an understatement, seeing how technology has been changing and evolving ), new words are created and added everyday. So if nobody else has invented this word then, I will claim to be the originator of the word.

So you may encounter these phrases from my blog from time to time like:

Virtualistic Views - views that are only applicable virtually.

Virtualistic Attitudes - attitudes that are evident only virtually.

Virtualistic Opinions - opinions that are based on virtual experience.

Virtualistic Thinking - thinking that can only work virtually.

Virtualistic Personality - personalities that are only shown virtually and not in real life.

Hey, I’m no virtuoso, but after almost four years of working online, I think there really should be a word like Virtualistic.

Virtual Wise Guys

I have noticed something funny about companies looking to outsource in Asia. First, they want cheap pay, hey that is fine because after all that is the purpose of outsourcing. But this is really the funny part, like if they are looking for writers or call center people, one of the requirement is the person has to be a native english speaker or must be educated in the US.

HELLLLOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!……..Am I missing something here or what???????

You are outsourcing to Asia, which means a lot of the citizens there are graduates of their native country. Those that have studied in the US, most often they will continue their lives in the US or of they return to their native country, most often they worked as Executives with high pay and prestige, after all, they are US educated. Look at Pres. Gloria Arroyo, she is a Harvard graduate, in fact she and Pres. Clinton were classmates. So look where she is now. The President of the Philippines and one of today’s most Powerful women.

You want a native speaker? Fine, but helloooooo…you want a Native English Speaker and pay that person according to outsourcing rates????? What makes you think that Native English Speaking person will be agreeable to this???

One thing these virtual employers should know, you cannot have the best of both worlds. Or maybe someone should tell them there are a lot of us Wise Guys in this world.

Inconsiderate Virtual Potential Employers

In the two years time that I have been working online, I have had the chance to meet various people, both virtual friends and virtual employers alike. One thing that frustrates me is the virtual potential employers.

There is one characteristic of these virtual potential employers that I hate and that is known as Inconsideration. How so?

As the term denotes, they are Potential Employer, meaning, they haven’t hired me yet or given me the contract, in short we are still in the process of negotiating. But between exchanging emails and doing chats, suddenly they thought of a new plan which doesn’t include outsourcing I guess, because then the emails stop coming in or they are not being responded or these Potential Employers are never online again, or if they are online they just choose to ignore my messages. How practical can you get? When they were interested in my services, they were the ones contacting me via emails and chats, but now that they may have formulated other plans, all of the sudden, I get a cold shoulder.

Why can’t these people be more considerate and give us a closure? We cannot keep hounding you for a final response. A cold shoulder is the rudest ( if there is such a word as Rudest ) form of “Not Interested”. Are we chopped liver? Mind you, we are well educated individuals who are also Professionals. Is it too demanding to ask for a simple email that says, ” Sorry, but I changed my mind” or “Sorry, it seems I will not be needing your services for now”. This way, we would know it’s time to move on to other contracts or contacts.

Something funny about companies looking to Outsource

As usual, everyday I check out various job sites to see what new deals or outsourcing jobs people are posting. It has come to my attention that there are a lot of companies or individuals looking for writers, web developers or web designers. A lot of these companies are looking for these talented individuals in countries like India, Philippines and China. Number one priority is of course, they expect low cost pay for quality work. Hey, that is not bad, that is how the new millenium businessmen and corporations work, their motto is Pay Low, High ROI ( return of investment ).

But someone should tell these companies that they are underestimating these highly Qualified and Talented individuals. In short, the pay these companies or individuals are willing to pay is much lower than the running price in their own country!!!

Let’s take the search for writers, one posting is willing to pay $2.00 for each article in India or Philippines. As far as I know, each article that is submitted to a magazine in the Philippines is worth more than $2.00. So how do you expect to find people to write for you when infact the payment for writers in their country is much higher than what you are actually paying? Do you think these people hasn’t seen a one dollar bill before in their entire life????

Let’s take the current price of web designers or web master, some of these postings are offering like $200.00 - $250.00 for each turnover of website. Ahhhmmmmm, let me inform you that as far as Philippines goes, each website created for local businesses is worth $400.00 or more now that dollars has depreciated against the peso.

It just boggles me how these companies or individuals can come up with such low prices. Yes, outsourcing can be cheaper in the sense, you don’t have to have an overhead for your staff, yes these highly Talented individuals live in a third world country which means compensation can be cheaper compared to your own country, but it doesn’t mean that you can just quote any price you like. Please research first what is the running price in their own country before you offer your price.

Virtually Over-Qualified???

I recently had the pleasure of chatting with the assistant of a website owner. I was inquiring about my job application as I haven’t heard from them for a week already. Much to my surprise, he told me that although I was a good candidate, the problem is they think I am over-qualified for the job. For a moment I was at lost for anything to say. I never really think of myself as over-qualified even for a simple job of data entry. As long as the pay is good, hey, I am willing to take any job that fits my resume.

One thing people have to remember when you are working online is, there is no one over qualified to do the job. Under-qualified, yes, because if the requirement is for you to know DreamWeaver or Corel or website design, but you do not know anything about it, then it means you are not qualified for the job.

But if the job is just simple data entry, then for a humble AB-MassCommunication graduate like me, I think I am able to handle it. I wouldn’t be too arrogant to think of myself as over-qualified for the job simply because I am working at home. Whatever online job I can find is good enough for me. As long as it means I can work and be with my children whole day, then it is a good job and nothing over-qualified about it.