Home Agent: news, realities and prospects

Introduction

After I wrote the first article about home agents, I received many questions related to this work. They wrote a lot, and different people. Vkontakte, on Habré, Skype, etc. I admit, I was very surprised at this level of interest in the article, but in the end I realized that I could not do without one more. When the previous one came out, many asked questions about whether it was possible to limit the minimum number of trips to the office, another (not smaller) group was interested in the possibility of working from other cities, not only from St. Petersburg.



More than a month has passed since the article saw the light. And for this month a lot has changed. Now I am ready to talk about the next stage of development of this new kind of remote work for Russia.

Brief about vacancy

Let me remind you briefly about what this vacancy is, and why it is interesting.

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Name: Home Agent or Home Agent. The duty is to receive calls from the company's clients and provide advice related to the technical component of the operation of the Iota devices and their interaction with the clients' computers. And also to answer some questions regarding finance, tariffs, payments and other smaller ones. The home agent, as it is not difficult to guess, works at home. Those. no need to go to the office, waste time and effort. He got up in the morning from bed, washed, had breakfast, and you can get to work. Schedule yourself compile yourself. There is a mandatory number of hours that must be worked out. Now it is 120 hours per month, i.e. only 4 hours a day. You can work and more, these hours will pay at a higher rate.







Under the terms of the contract, I can not tell about how much you can get. But I can say that by working more than the minimum rate of hours I can provide myself with a 2-room apartment in St. Petersburg (rented), with good clothes, the opportunity to go to the movies, send money to my bride and eat normally.

New stage of development and new opportunities

One of the parameters limiting the development of interest in vacancies was that half of the training and the entire internship required coming to the office and being there all day. But literally not so long ago everything changed. Now 90% of the time the intern is at home. 30 hours of mandatory testing in the office is no longer required. The mentor and the trainee agree to remotely connect the trainee to the desktop during the internship hours, and the tutor hears the trainee live and sees his desktop: how he works with databases, how and how correctly diagnoses the user's situation, can advise something right during a conversation with a client who, of course, does not hear these tips.



Thanks to such opportunities, the Home Agent vacancy comes to a new level. Now anyone who can talk and hold a mouse in their hands and press keys, has a desire to work and help clients, and has basic ideas about how networks, computers and the Internet work, can become part of a company.



Let me explain why I want to emphasize this fact.

First of all, because such work can be a good help and a chance for those people who find it difficult to leave the house. In our society, there is still the opinion that people with disabilities are no good, besides doing clothespins and sockets. However, this work proves the exact opposite. And this is not just talk, about how great it would be if people with disabilities could work on this specialty. This is the real reality. The company in this position are already working such people. And they work very high quality and have one of the best indicators among domestic agents. And since this is their main job, they, sitting at home, can provide for themselves, and with an increase in the number of hours worked, and their loved ones with everything they need.

Interview

I want to give a brief interview with a man who works with me. The real master of his craft. Meet Alexey.



- Lesh, tell me, please, how old are you and a little about yourself.

- Hello! I am 29 years old. From the age of 18 he worked as a driver, then as an administrator in a computer club. At the end of 2004, a thrombus formed in the left leg — two operations were performed. Returned to the post of administrator. In 2007 he became a private entrepreneur in the field of freight. In 2009 again, thrombosis of the left leg. Almost 2 years saved the leg (a total of 8 operations), at the end of 2010 amputation, a week later reamputation. In January 2011, with great difficulty, I got a job with an operator on my home phone at a firm providing household services. The schedule is hard 11 hours, 6 days a week. Weekend only on a weekday and the RFP is frankly small.



- How did you get to Yota?

- Honestly, working in a previous job, I suspected that I would be fired soon, because the firm was fading, and the “invalid” was simply a burden. In December 2011, I began to slowly look for jobs. Yota came across, quite by accident on a completely incomprehensible, some kind of site and with a very strange text of a vacancy. The description did not understand what, in principle, the work, and what is the payment. But I still decided to send a resume and find out everything.



- What did you expect from work and did all your expectations come true?

- OOOoooo expectations were met with a vengeance. I had no idea that a disabled person could work and receive a salary higher than the city average. What could be a decent human relationship and so young friendly team. Of course, in order to earn a lot, you have to work a lot, but this is not a hindrance and is quite realistic.



- Do you think there are prospects for growth in salary and career?

- Most importantly, there is no discrimination, everything is on an equal footing. And if you deserve more, then you will definitely get it. Yes, it’s hard at the beginning, but it’s like “being born again and learning to walk” - from the beginning “small rushes and falls”, and then “world records in running”. If you try, then everything will turn out.



- How does your family feel about your work?

- Well ... how everything is likely. Not very approve at first, because I worked from morning till night, "huddled in a corner." In the evening I didn’t talk to me, I was grumbling, etc. It was hard to get used to. Now he himself, and this is probably the main thing - "himself"! I picked it myself, convenient for me and for the family, the schedule and everything is normal with them and with me, and when it comes to a decent salary ... well, you, I think, understood. In general, everyone is happy.



- Do you recommend to people in a similar position to work as a Home Agent?

- Oh, yes, and how! In general, I was thinking of posting ads at a “local” rehabilitation center for disabled people. I really understand that many people with disabilities have the opportunity to work like this, to feel complete, even if they are not. Believe my experience ... no matter if you are a carpenter or a plumber or a driver. It is absolutely not important, if you understand computers and want to help people, go to us! Attempt is not torture ...

New cities

Ufa was the next city in which Yota began to recruit domestic agents.





As my colleague, Sergey, said, Ufa is a city in which there have been an order of magnitude more youth recently. I think this work will be very useful to all students.



Analysis of the labor market in the same Ufa shows that there is no decent remote work market. All that is presented, it is either not credible, or bringing real pennies to the work options like posts on the forum.



Later, in a conversation with one of my colleagues from Ufa, my thoughts on this issue were confirmed.

As for my colleagues in SPB, in Ufa the same values: free schedule, decent salary, interesting and promising company.



Now out of 130 people are home agents, 19 work in Ufa. So, it is absolutely easy to communicate with customers who call from all cities of the company's presence.





The training system is the same as in the first article . Remote internship is held with the participation of experienced mentors and coaches from the central office in St. Petersburg.



Will other cities now say not ready. One thing is clear - this kind of work is interesting to a lot of people.

New countries

When I finished the article, another unexpected news came. For the first time we have a home agent who works in another country. In France. In the town of Roz de Glaine, Ron Alps province.

So, I think that I fully answered all the questions about other cities, those who asked them. :)



I will wait for new questions. Write, I will be glad to answer. The experience and the vacancy itself is unique for Russia.

The development of a new kind of remote work for Russia continues. If there is news - I will write another article.