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It's a problem here too. Even if they use their camera, it doesn't mean they don't have someone feeding them answers to questions. Phone interviews are even m

by bb88 4y ago

It's a problem here too. Even if they use their camera, it doesn't mean they don't have someone feeding them answers to questions. Phone interviews are even more sketchy since the person who may be answering the questions is a completely different person who shows up on day 1. We had one person we hired as a contractor, but then her voice changed on the phone, and started calling people by their last names in chat. It looked like it was someone that subcontracted another who then quit, and the first was trying to hold onto the contract as long as possible. Another answered complex questions during the interview, but after the start they knew nothing. A third contractor I knew was trying to do two jobs at the same time. Unfortunately while he was supposed to be working for one company he was making public github commits for the second. He was shown the door that day. Tangentially, another contractor "lost" two macbooks assigned to him. Apparently right after travelling to Colorado after they legalized weed.

claytonjy 4y ago
> while he was supposed to be working for one company he was making public github commits for the second If you're setting their hours, doesn't that make them an employee rather than a contractor, legally speaking?
- vsareto 4y ago
  May have billed a specific time span, but also had commits during that span. Dunno how they proved the github account belonged to the contractor though unless they just admitted to it or used the company email to register.
  - fsckboy 4y ago
    > Dunno how they proved people who no longer trust you and don't want to work with you any more generally don't have to prove it.
  - roey2009 4y ago
    He probably used the same GitHub for both their repos. I don't see how otherwise it could be connected. Not so bright.
    - bb88 4y ago
      His github username was easily found from his linkedin account.
- tayo42 4y ago
  Maybe it's not a real contractor. I had one job where I was a "contractor", I had set hours, got paid hourly, received a w2. It seemed like just an excuse to be cheap and not provide benefits.
  - bb88 4y ago
    You can be on a W2, but as soon as the contract ends, your employment ends since you're "at will" in the US. Usually the W2 is provided through an agency and you're getting a paycheck from them while the agency is billing the company for hours at a negotiated rate, often much higher than you're being paid.
    - dsr_ 4y ago
      Always ask your supervisor how much they're paying for you. You might not be allowed to work for that company soon (non-competes enforced at the agency side), but you can certainly get a better idea of your value.
      - bb88 4y ago
        Most likely they're going to be prohibited from telling you. The best way to do this is to take [person] out for a round of beers. Wait until 3 beers in and see what their number is. My belief is that 20%-30% of what you're making is a fair number. Though if it's somewhere where you could really get a foothold and make a lot of money as an employee, 50% might be acceptable.
yardie 4y ago
> A third contractor I knew was trying to do two jobs at the same time. I mean this literally how contractors work. Unless they were taking your IP and using it for another company I don’t see the issue.
- bb88 4y ago
  Not if you're charging hourly, it's not. Then it's time fraud. It's just like a lawyer's billable hours.
  - gabereiser 4y ago
    only if you charge hourly to two companies at the same time. Contractors can work multiple contracts, thats the name of the game.
    - bb88 4y ago
      That's exactly what he did -- charge two companies for 1 hour worked. Even if he wasn't, he was a contractor, and checking code while being on site for another company was sus. Employment is "at will" in the US for the most part -- particularly contractors.
      - gabereiser 4y ago
        yeah, bogus... proper time keeping is key to being a contractor. If you are going to work multiple (which happens when you're brought on as an expert but there's spirts of work between lapses of down time) then you can't be doing one while on the clock for the other. Wage theft.
        brailsafe 4y ago
        Not necessarily. It depends on the requirement. If I've completed or don't have any real work, but am expected to be around, then that's work. It's only if the second contract breaches the first or creates a conflict, and that's not inherent in time. Edit: Misread your comment. If you're billing for specific and granular blocks of time, and doubling that up, then ya wage theft. But if you're doing that and also expected to be onsite anyway, then no not wage theft imo.
ralphc 4y ago
We had this happen to the company I was at around 2015. I heard about it after the fact, good phone interview, a Salesforce position, he's hired (contract I think). Day one the person that shows up barely speaks English and can barely log in to Salesforce. Maybe he thought he was going to a bigger department and could hide and blend in, but it was a small Salesforce team at a large company. He lasted less than a day and was escorted out. The placement agency apologized. A lot.
duxup 4y ago
> was trying to do two jobs at the same time Happened at a company I worked at many years ago. Working from home was new, one dude who we all thought was suspect anyway got a call from his bosses boss and answered the phone with the wrong company name and it was over. To make an example of him they made him pay back some of his salary (his contract had him on call and available 24/7). Ran into him a while later and he confirmed he paid them back. Not a fake candidate but a slimy guy.
- nerdix 4y ago
  This started to become much more common post-COVID. /r/overemployed is a sub full of people sharing strategies about how to maintain multiple jobs at once. Some of those folks have 3 or more jobs. Industries of focus seem to be tech and sales.
  - duxup 4y ago
    I can never tell how much on reddit is creative writing for a cause, sometimes those stories sound more like elaborate / sophomoric morality tales / fantasies ... but I don't doubt folks do it.

by bb88 4y ago

claytonjy 4y ago

> while he was supposed to be working for one company he was making public github commits for the second If you're setting their hours, doesn't that make them an employee rather than a contractor, legally speaking?

vsareto 4y ago
May have billed a specific time span, but also had commits during that span. Dunno how they proved the github account belonged to the contractor though unless they just admitted to it or used the company email to register.
- fsckboy 4y ago
  > Dunno how they proved people who no longer trust you and don't want to work with you any more generally don't have to prove it.
- roey2009 4y ago
  He probably used the same GitHub for both their repos. I don't see how otherwise it could be connected. Not so bright.
  - bb88 4y ago
    His github username was easily found from his linkedin account.
tayo42 4y ago
Maybe it's not a real contractor. I had one job where I was a "contractor", I had set hours, got paid hourly, received a w2. It seemed like just an excuse to be cheap and not provide benefits.
- bb88 4y ago
  You can be on a W2, but as soon as the contract ends, your employment ends since you're "at will" in the US. Usually the W2 is provided through an agency and you're getting a paycheck from them while the agency is billing the company for hours at a negotiated rate, often much higher than you're being paid.
  - dsr_ 4y ago
    Always ask your supervisor how much they're paying for you. You might not be allowed to work for that company soon (non-competes enforced at the agency side), but you can certainly get a better idea of your value.
    - bb88 4y ago
      Most likely they're going to be prohibited from telling you. The best way to do this is to take [person] out for a round of beers. Wait until 3 beers in and see what their number is. My belief is that 20%-30% of what you're making is a fair number. Though if it's somewhere where you could really get a foothold and make a lot of money as an employee, 50% might be acceptable.

yardie 4y ago

> A third contractor I knew was trying to do two jobs at the same time. I mean this literally how contractors work. Unless they were taking your IP and using it for another company I don’t see the issue.

bb88 4y ago
Not if you're charging hourly, it's not. Then it's time fraud. It's just like a lawyer's billable hours.
- gabereiser 4y ago
  only if you charge hourly to two companies at the same time. Contractors can work multiple contracts, thats the name of the game.
  - bb88 4y ago
    That's exactly what he did -- charge two companies for 1 hour worked. Even if he wasn't, he was a contractor, and checking code while being on site for another company was sus. Employment is "at will" in the US for the most part -- particularly contractors.
    - gabereiser 4y ago
      yeah, bogus... proper time keeping is key to being a contractor. If you are going to work multiple (which happens when you're brought on as an expert but there's spirts of work between lapses of down time) then you can't be doing one while on the clock for the other. Wage theft.
      - brailsafe 4y ago
        Not necessarily. It depends on the requirement. If I've completed or don't have any real work, but am expected to be around, then that's work. It's only if the second contract breaches the first or creates a conflict, and that's not inherent in time. Edit: Misread your comment. If you're billing for specific and granular blocks of time, and doubling that up, then ya wage theft. But if you're doing that and also expected to be onsite anyway, then no not wage theft imo.

ralphc 4y ago

We had this happen to the company I was at around 2015. I heard about it after the fact, good phone interview, a Salesforce position, he's hired (contract I think). Day one the person that shows up barely speaks English and can barely log in to Salesforce. Maybe he thought he was going to a bigger department and could hide and blend in, but it was a small Salesforce team at a large company. He lasted less than a day and was escorted out. The placement agency apologized. A lot.

duxup 4y ago

> was trying to do two jobs at the same time Happened at a company I worked at many years ago. Working from home was new, one dude who we all thought was suspect anyway got a call from his bosses boss and answered the phone with the wrong company name and it was over. To make an example of him they made him pay back some of his salary (his contract had him on call and available 24/7). Ran into him a while later and he confirmed he paid them back. Not a fake candidate but a slimy guy.

nerdix 4y ago
This started to become much more common post-COVID. /r/overemployed is a sub full of people sharing strategies about how to maintain multiple jobs at once. Some of those folks have 3 or more jobs. Industries of focus seem to be tech and sales.
- duxup 4y ago
  I can never tell how much on reddit is creative writing for a cause, sometimes those stories sound more like elaborate / sophomoric morality tales / fantasies ... but I don't doubt folks do it.