Thread: Need a Job?

Okay, this is gonna sound like one of those to good to be true type deals. But truthfully, I wouldn't waste my time telling any of you about this if I didn't think that it could benefit you. I will not make a dime telling you about this job and I'm doing this becasue I know a few of you in here are unemployed.

I saw the other day that Cojiro had a disappointing out come to a job interview at a hotel. Sorry to hear about that man, I had over a year of interviews that I some how managed to come in "2nd place" and wind up with no job, no money and and unpaid bills. Just reading that thread about your interview hit home for me. So, I know how it feels and I know how frustrating it can get, especially with parents and all.

After countless job applications and interviews, I remembered that fellow TPG'er Boneyard72 once worked for a company where he sat at home and answered calls for American Express. I called him up and asked him about it. He reminded me of the companies name that he worked for. The Company is Alpine Access and they are based out of Denver, CO.

What the company does is run a virtual call center for massive corporations like, Sprint-HP, American Express, Abercrombie & Fitch, Home Depot and Microsoft X-Box... Yes really, Microsoft X-box! There are many more companies that Alpine Access has contracts with, these are just a few out of my memory. Some I would stay far away from, while others actually sound like it could be a fun job. I personally work on the Sprint-HP program and have been since March of this year. Overall it's an okay job. I work in tier 2 Technical Support. If you have sprint, and have had major problems with your phone, chances are you've talked to someone like me.

What do I do? I sit AT HOME, on my own computer and answer calls for sprint. The best part needed to be bold written because it is the only legitimate job I have ever found where you can work from home and get paid. Again, this is not a scam


I applied for the company and within a week had a phone interview set up for the HP-Sprint Program. They asked me to pull up a few websites and navigate around them. What they were looking for is how efficiently I could multi-task while giving customer support. They wanted to know how much I knew about cell phones ext... Pretty cut and dry interview. At the end of the interview they offered me the job. 35-40 hours a week, benefits and overtime, As well as 1 month paid training, in which I played video games most of the time...lol (j/k)

Boneyard72 recently started working for Alpine Access again, and this time around was a lucky bastard. So lucky that he doesn't even have to sit on the phones and answer calls. Boneyard is a "flex trainer" of the X-box program. (So yes there is a chance that if your hired, Boneyard will be your trainer... LMAO) They do billing, and tech support for x-box and x-box live. I tried to get into this program after I heard that he got into it. I got an interview and should have got the job, but because Sprint-HP had already transfered the max amount of Agents to the X-box program, I was basically forced to stay at Sprint. However, the x-box program is still hiring people like mad, and I'm not over exaggerating, just ask Boneyard. If Cellphones sound fun, I know Sprint is hiring as well, just not on the scale that x-box is.

Starting pay on most programs is $10.00 hr. (THIS IS NOT A PAY PER CALL JOB, ITS LEGIT AND THEY PAY YOU BY THE HOUR) and truthfully it doesn't get much higher then that. My Team leader makes a few more dollars then I do and thats about it. Unless you try to get into the corporate office, which I have no interest in, as I am just doing this until I find something more suitable to my degree.

I know I know... The pay isn't great.... But considering that I have student loans to pay as well as other miscellaneous bills, I think it is one hell of an opportunity. I don't have to pay for gas and other car expenses commuting to work, don't have to go out and buy lunch, don't have to buy professional cloths. Hell, I don't even have to get dressed. It's 10:13 PM and I'm still sitting here in my boxers and t-shirt. And I can smoke cigs till my hearts desire, because it's my office

The job has it's Pro's and Con's just like every other job. Call centers in general have a extremely high turn over rate. I think the major reason is because of the stress involved. You need to be able to get yelled at. I have had customers say some pretty nasty things to me, but I know it's just part of the job. The most irritating part of the job is that Alpine Access has no sense of Team Play. Yes, they help you out when you need it, but if you get stuck, a lot of the time it feels like your on your own to solve the problem.


Anyways, I wanted to throw this out for you all, cause I know this country is in a shit situation with jobs and the economy. The one personal benefit I may reap out of telling you guys about this is having a few team players come on board. That's what I think this company needs most. People that know how to work as a team. As far as I'm concerned, there is not a better place to share this information then, TPG.

Truth be told: If it wasn't for TPG I would have never heard about this company to begin with, since Boneyard and I met on the TTP BF2 server. So if your jobless, sick of being jobless, at least 18 years old and want the liberty to work in your underpants, by all means apply. You will almost be guaranteed an interview. If for some reason you don't get an interview, let me know and I'll harass HR about your application. I know everyone of the people at TPG is qualified if not over qualified. Again, the x-box program is hiring like mad. They need people so bad, I have to do independent training so I can help them out over the holidays. Sprint, A&F, along with everyother program is always hiring as well. So please, if you want to have a job that's at least "okay" then apply Customer Service, Virtual Call Center Consulting, Work From Home, Alpine Access


If you guys have any questions or anything, Hit me up on x-fire or in this thread. Hit up Boneyard too. Someone needs to bring him down from cloud 9.. Last I heard he is recruiting his trainees into his LOTRO guild... lmao

Lot's of call centers have work at home positions nowdays. Renting office space isn't cheap, so this is a desirable method for a lot of call centers. Search around on Monster and I am sure you will find lots of other companies offering work at home customer service/support. It is very common.

$10/hour is shitty starting pay, but the benefits of working from home probably equate it to $11-11.50 since you don't have to waste gas driving to work every day. Let's not forget about the opportunity cost! Simple management will tell you that if you are spending 1.5 hours/day driving back and forth to work, you could be doing something else for that 1.5 hours/day or 7.5 hours/week... such as running a side business, playing games, doing house work, etc.

I live next door to where I work and the benefits of not having to drive are great. Wake up at 745 and at work by 8. The money I save in gas probably $30 a week so almost $1 an hour more. I walk home and eat which saves a ton of money, $4 breakfast $7 lunch average down to $1 breakfast and $2 lunch thats $8 a day saved which is another $1 an hour. So in this case $10 at home would be closer to $12. Plus you arent risking your life on the road, your insurance rate could drop for less annual miles, and you gain an hour or two depending on how long you would be commuting.

Holy Cow, I just finished taking the assessment (more like the ACT/SAT). And now it is redirecting me to another IE window that just keeps refreshing itself......I don't want to close it out, b/c I don't want to have to answer all those questions again =(

nvm. That was a long ass assessment.

Originally Posted by rock_lobster

Shiii, I pay parking at my current job...that would be saving a huge chunk of change.

definitely there are others that work further away and would save more in time and fuel, other expenses like business dress, less frequent oil changes, for those paying for child care working at home could possibly eliminate that.

Is it full time only or can it be part time?


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Yes, the application process is quite long and can be a bitch. After about a week if you do not hear from them, go into your profile page and hit the "contact us" link on the right. There will be a forum that you can use to ask for an interview. Thats what I did and within 2 days I got a notification telling me to select a time slot for an interview. If all goes well in the interview, they usually will offer you the job on the spot. Followed by instructions on what you'll need in order to start your job. Every program is different, and I don't totally agree with what the requirements are, but it's a small price to pay for a full time job. I had to first take a U.A. which was covered by the company. Then a credit and criminal history check, then some typical paperwork. (You don't need to have the best credit, as I am a college student struggling to pay banks their money.. I can't imagine mine is terribly good.) The only downside is that they make you pay for the credit check. A 1 time non-refundable fee of $40 bucks or something like that. From my understanding it's pretty uncommon to have to pay for your own credit check. But if you can come to grips with paying them money to check your credit, and once it's approved, you're in. If all goes well, you log into an Adobe Connect room and start training on the date they assign your classes. One good thing I forgot to mention about the company is that they give bonuses quarterly,(I think) just for working. I reached the requirement for the bonus last quarter, which was a total amount of hours worked, and received something like $250 added onto my next check. That was a pleasantly nice surprise.


About the flexibility... They claim to be very flexible with work hours. This is only somewhat true. If you sign up for full time, be prepared to tackle full time hours, but know that if you need to go somewhere or do something, it's not that hard to take a extended break or go home early. Today for instance, I was scheduled from 2:30 PM to 11:00 PM. I worked up until about 4:30 and then jumped off to go work on some music. At 7:00 PM I came back on and finished my shift out. This is a typical type of day for me, I take jump offs quite frequently, because I run my own Music Composition business on the side. As far as I know though, they won't let you structure your own hours. (I think that this is something that differs from program to program)


And yes Finally, They do have both part time and full time.