Welcome Handbook
This Handbook is how we work, communicate, document, get paid, and grow. Read it slowly. Attention to detail is not a slogan here. It is how you will be judged.
Remote work is hard. The work is real only when it shows up in the tools. If it is not there, it does not exist.
Over the years the company has been called MTP, MTP-BPO, MTP-BPO-ASIA, and STRATUSstaff. Those names all mean this company. This Handbook is the current source of truth.
What STRATUSstaff is Handbook
STRATUSstaff is a technology and remote-work company. Thomas Capone owns and runs NYDLA.org — telecom and IT, “all things distance learning,” including remote work — and MTP-USA.com, among other holdings. The company works with large clients and small ones. Hundreds of the Fortune 1000 have relationships with MTP or NYDLA.
The work is remote. The company sells what it uses and uses what it sells. It is a ROWE: a Results Only Work Environment. It hires experienced remote contractors and orients them into how the work is done. It is not a school, and it is not looking for temporary workers. It is looking for people who want a career. The Help Wanted picture of the right person is a cross between Pepper Potts of Iron Man and Radar O'Reilly of M*A*S*H — someone who stays one step ahead, with a sense of urgency.
The pattern has not changed: do the work in the tools, for the company and for its clients.
What a POD is Handbook
PODS means Professional, Organized, Dedicated Support. The formation of teams of three is key. The company wants to train the PODS, not the individuals. It wants to support PODS, not individuals. A POD gives you redundancy and a way to grow.
Make a perfect POD, and allow that perfect POD to be broken apart and let that perfect POD form new PODS. And we then will reward the POD leaders. Some projects will require a SUPER POD, or many PODS working on the same project.
Without PODS the company is always starting over from scratch, and that does not scale. Chapter 04 is the full picture of how a POD works.
Your Starting Rate Is Not the Goal Handbook
The starting rate is the door, not the destination. People who last and keep improving can earn more than they started at. That is earned on results. It is not owed because a certain number of weeks went by.
The rates and the path are in 08. Read the rules here first so you know what you are walking into.
What is expected Handbook
You need to be a professional, experienced remote contractor with a fully working home office now, not later. High-speed internet is mandatory, and so is the ability to make and receive quality calls to and from the USA.
You need to read. If you ask questions that were already covered in this Handbook, that will be noted in your permanent record. English reading comprehension has to be strong. You show your work in the collaboration tools. If the work cannot be found there, it does not exist and it is not paid.
Think like an entrepreneur. The company is the client. You are the vendor. The rules still apply. This is designed as a full-time opportunity. Other clients are allowed. Company matters come first.
You are paid for the value you bring to the hour, not for showing up. You are not a security guard, and you are not a babysitter.
No spoon-feeding. We provide paid orientation, not paid training. If you need training, you need to pay us for tuition. These people are supposed to be experienced professionals, not children. We are not running a school for contractors. The company matches energy. It does not do the work for you.
Read My Manager’s Creed. If you cannot agree with it, you should not work here. The Creed itself is in 10 Reference Library. The current explanation is in 09.
First 30 days Handbook
You shall be judged by your attention to detail, and your 30 day probation begins now — as soon as you are in these documents, not after a live chat, a Zoom interview, or an official start date. Slow down and read everything before a live chat or a Zoom video interview.
If you are hired as a contractor or apprentice, it is a 30-day paid probation. Performance is reviewed every week. Merit increases of $0.25 per hour per week may be earned if solid improvement is shown. They are not guaranteed, and they are not based on the calendar. They are based on progress and results. People who do not show improvement in the first 30 days may be removed. There is also a performance review every 30 days.
Day 1: the $1 test invoice must be sent and paid before any actual work. Change the invoice name so invoices go from you to the company, not TAC to TAC. After that $1 is paid, you can work that same day. Send the Day 1 daily invoice at the end of the shift. This Handbook — and Tom’s Toolbox — should be read and read again. Fit is already being asked.
Day 2: iron out errors with the tools, and check use of the timer and the Pomodoro Technique. They should be invoicing daily, at the end of a shift.
Read this Handbook more than once in that first month. Rates and Merit Friday are in 08.
Only about 5% of applicants last past 30 days. That 5% is the group the company is built for: people who found a career, who can move past the starting rate, who get the work into the tools and stay. That is the group to want to be in.
If it is not a fit, remain friends and wish everyone well.
Application Screening Handbook
Job Ad → STRATUSstaff.com Careers → Apply. Apply is the screening. Apply is the application. There is no later email and no second form. When you hit Apply you are in it: MTP Gmail, photos of the home office, resume, Presume, and the rest.
The resume is required. It must be PDF. Not Word.
A Presume is required. A Presume, pronounced just like résumé, is a small introduction video on Loom. Read your resume or LinkedIn profile and introduce yourself. We want to see you and hear you. Two to three minutes should cover it. We hire those with both a resume and a proper Presume.
You are required to create a new Gmail account in this format: Firstname.Lastname.MTP@gmail.com. That is the work email. Personal Gmail is not accepted. That address is company property. Do not use it for personal matters.
If you live in the Philippines, you will also need to supply current NBI Clearance. https://clearance.nbi.gov.ph/ No payments will be made to you if you do not have current NBI Clearance.
If you are selected, the next invite is into Basecamp.
Next: 02 Getting Set Up.