On Taladu, some technologically advanced, alien world, a creditors’ assembly is held, as per usual for insolvent companies wanting to avoid declaring bankruptcy. As that meeting ends, the creditors of an insolvent real estate developer, Wonderlic, make their closing remarks prior to voting, in a courtroom of a palace of justice.
“We might be inclined to accept the proposal on the table, however, there are several conditions for us to agree” the representative of a construction materials company adds. “Our first condition is that, until the proposal expires, all purchases of materials shall be paid for immediately”
“We might be willing to extend repayment terms on the loan you have, and to consolidate all debts onto the preexisting loan. After all, this world is facing a housing crisis, so I have good hope that you will turn around. However, we request that you implement a series of measures” the banker imposes his conditions.
The banker goes on to list conditions related to staffing, which makes the real estate developer squirm. However, most other conditions outside of staffing appear to be less problematic.
“Let me get this straight: you want us to replace our entire sales force as well as management? No one wants to work for a near-bankrupt company!” Billerica, Wonderlic’s CEO, whines while he might be wondering how he could comply with the bank’s conditions.
“Do you have any idea how hard it is to find someone willing to turn a dying company around? On this world, people willing to take the risk would usually prefer to work for start-ups!” another employee of the real estate developer retorts. “We might need to look off-world, with all the legal complications this carries!”
“You can keep using three construction bots we leased to you. However, any further lease of construction bots shall be made on a per-project basis on a fixed rate schedule” the construction bot lessor imposes an additional condition.
These conditions appear to be difficult to work around, and with little seed money, our only hope of survival hinges on whether we’re awarded a contract by the government under the Housing Crisis Plan, Billerica muses, while double-checking, the Housing Crisis Plan’s (HCP) requirements for real estate developers.
“Fine, I accept, I’ll take some off-world help if that’s what it takes to keep the business in operation!” Billerica sighs, feeling like he has no choice but to outsource the hiring of the key people the creditors want replaced.
Namely, the project manager. As he realizes that he might not get better terms for a creditor proposal, Billerica resigns himself to operating the business in a much worse environment than he was used to before the insolvency proceedings began.
The final vote on the creditor proposal soon starts, and, while the company has dozens of creditors, the main three account for over two-thirds of the total debts. The other creditors appear to be willing to accept any repayment terms, believing that better receive a quarter of the sums owed, over a long period, than nothing at all.
“One final reminder that, if the proposal is rejected, Wonderlic goes bankrupt, and, to accept the proposal, a double majority is required” the insolvency judge gives her instructions to the creditors and debtors. “An absolute majority of creditors, and two-thirds of the sums owed, must agree for the proposal to go into effect. Creditors shall vote one at a time”
The insolvency judge has her manifest of proven creditors, and the creditors’ reps go in single file, in alphabetical order. In a booth set up at the witnesses’ stand so that voters can’t see what others voted.
Once all creditors voted, the judge renders the verdict on the creditor proposal:
“The results have come in, and the proposal is accepted” the insolvency judge rules.
Chief among the conditions of the proposal is the need to implement credit checks prior to signing on a tenant. However, I wonder who I could, or the bank, hire to run real estate projects. Looks like everyone and their dogs in this industry is hiring project managers, Billerica muses, while he wonders what his options are to get what he needs. I guess, I have no choice but to use one of these so-called employment agencies and roll the dice.
And not just about any employment agency: one specializing in off-world labor. But so many Taladuans took a dim view of employment agencies hiring off-worlders. Nevertheless, Billerica comes to one such agency billing itself as a last chance agency.
“Welcome, what can we do for you today?” the agency’s receptionist asks him.
“I would like to hire a project manager with working experience of insolvent companies” Billerica states his request, while he starts screaming. “The courts just approved our creditor proposal, and they ordered us to replace our sole project manager!”
“Are you sure about that?” the receptionist asks him, rolling their big, black eyes, wondering whether the request is even feasible. “In what industry do you operate?”
“Construction; getting contracts under the Housing Crisis Plan is the only reason why I opted for a creditor proposal over bankruptcy”
That’s a tall order, the receptionist is left wondering as to who the agency could possibly find. Especially since the Taladuan government provided incentives to real estate developers to focus on affordable housing.
“It might not come cheap, let me check what the going rate is for your need” the receptionist gives him an overview of the potential costs associated with using the agency, depending on the plan, with the most important variable being the salary of the position. “The main complication is going to be the willingness of the new hire to work for a lower pay”
“I don’t care! Just get me whoever you can get! Anyone is better than the person the courts ordered us to fire!” Billerica screams at the receptionist.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“In that case, you may as well do an exclusive deal to the position with us!”
“Fine… I will assume the consequences!” he vents at the receptionist, as he fills out a form populating a contract to retain the employment agency’s services.
Speaking of consequences, I may as well be selling housing to the public, at least for the time being. However, I know next to nothing about project management! I guess, better someone with project management experience in another industry than no experience at all, but local people with project management experience in other industries are generally reluctant to change industries, the Taladuan executive, in his despair, signs an exclusive contract with the employment agency, calling for payment only when the position is filled. However, he does so, feeling it’s one less headache on his mind, and it might save Wonderlic some money in the long run, whatever that meant.
The receptionist then turns to a colleague, operating a teleporter in the agency’s backroom, with a copy of the latest contract signed by a client.
“There, the requirements of the client. Try to locate someone who best fits the client’s needs” the receptionist instructs Xerrid, the teleporter operator, before inputting the requirements into the teleporter’s controls.
“Here we go” Xerrid starts feeding it with data, nervous about what the AI powering it would yield.
Usually, we get people from neighboring systems, but that client might make things trickier than we would like. It might seem straightforward to some, but not to the client, Xerrid awaits the result of the query, and activates the translation module.
When the teleporter finally summons someone its AI deems to meet the most important criteria set forth by the client, the operators can hardly contain their surprise:
“Where… am I?” a sleepy Karine asks the Taladuan in front of her, her vision blurred, and scarcely awake.
“On Taladu” Xerrid answers her. “I’m Xerrid. I didn’t expect the teleporter to fetch someone like you!” he yells, upon realizing that he never met a human before.
“Am I… kidnapped by aliens?” Karine asks Xerrid when her vision becomes less blurry a few seconds later.
Grey skin, big, black eyes, but skinnier body than I? I am not skinny by any means, but I never considered myself fat! But the residents of this world look far too much like these aliens in sci-fi films on Earth! Karine seems to feel like she’s on a movie set.
“Who, or what… are you? You’re certainly not of a species we usually place!” Xerrid asks her.
“I’m Karine; we call ourselves humans. But… place?” Karine’s eyes perk up, upon hearing about placement. “What am I doing here? What are you? I want to return to my world!”
“Not so fast, human! We’re Taladuans” Xerrid answers her, sensing her suspicion. “You’re at an employment agency!”
“I wonder how you operate on your world, but on mine, employment agencies don’t kidnap job-seekers like this!” a puzzled Karine screams in turn. “I refuse to work for a race that kidnaps job-seekers to interview them! Just send me back to my home world!”
If that’s how it’s going to be, I will need to make clear that I am not the candidate for whatever job these… Taladuans kidnapped me to interview for! Karine starts thinking about how to get out of Taladu and return to her home world. I think I should ask a question about their teleporter later.
“Don’t worry: if it turns out that our client doesn’t like you as a candidate, you will be sent back to your world. Alternatively, you will return home if and once your obligations to our client are completed” Xerrid, doubling as a recruiter, tells her before texting the teleporter tech about possible teleporter issues.
“What do I have that your… client can possibly want and can’t be obtained on your world? That sounds a little fishy!” Karine’s face turns red of frustration.
“People here tend to shy away from working for an insolvent company; you know what can go wrong in managing projects that makes companies go insolvent!”
“Why me? Is it a cruel joke?” a red-faced Karine keeps questioning the Taladuan. “My experience of project management in an insolvency context is in the video game industry, albeit second-hand”
“What do you mean, second-hand?” the Taladuan recruiter asks, rolling his eyes.
“Second-hand means I only know it through someone else’s experience, my clients actually”
Poorly defined scope and requirements, poor risk management, poor accountability, lack or delay of crucial resources and, of course, unforeseen events. These, I believe, are common causes of project management issues in a lot of industries, Karine conjures memories of what caused her past insolvency clients in the video game industry to become insolvent with incomplete games.
“If there’s a cruel joke, it’s on our client for thinking project managers can be customized like software!” Xerrid tells her.
“I know nothing of the best practices of project management; as you said, I only know about what can go wrong in managing projects!” Karine keeps fuming. “What makes you think I can turn the client’s fortunes around?”
“Surely you know how important a project manager is!”
“Stop speaking in riddles! What industry does your client operate in?”
“Construction”
“I have no clue about how the construction industry works in your world either! Heck, I know nothing about this world at all! I mean, I was teleported here against my wishes, you made me feel like I’m interviewed, and I start thinking that I’m here only because your teleporter malfunctioned!” Karine retorts, in hopes that she would be able to go back to her world, and that, hopefully, the teleporter is really defective.
Karine is obviously unhappy, but I can’t simply let the human rot here while we need to get the teleporter inspected and, if needed, repaired. There’s so much we don’t know about what Karine called humans, the teleporter operator then texts Billerica about Karine being a poor fit, but at the same time, Karine is stuck on this world for now.
“If you think of using a public teleporter, please be aware that not only they aren’t free, but I strongly recommend against operating one yourself” the teleporter operator warns Karine about her predicament. “Human money is worthless here!”
“One last thing: how could you understand what I say so well?” a puzzled Karine asks him.
“Any Taladuan communications device come equipped with a universal translator”
Unless, somehow, some Taladuan coin collector could be convinced that a complete set of Canadian coins had any value by virtue of being the only human coins on that world, but I have no idea of where to start, Karine starts thinking of ways of earning her way back to Earth.
Meanwhile, Billerica lets Xerrid’s report sink in. When he starts thinking out loud, he starts babbling:
“I hope Karine realizes that knowing what can go wrong in a project is half the battle! It would then make learning and implementing best practices much easier! And the main difference between managing a video game project and a construction one has to do with its tangibility!” Billerica babbles, while his thoughts turn to the position to be filled. His tone then betrays his state of mind going sour. “I don’t expect much, I don’t think it’s worth holding out for another candidate, and the first round of HCP contracts are due to be announced soon!”
But then he starts crying. “I’m in no position to wait much longer! Without a project manager, we might not be able to even sign a HCP contract! I may as well hire Karine, pay the employment agency whenever possible, and be done with this nightmare!”