Bringing down the hammer

Collections is a numbers game - you put up the numbers, and you're a good collector. It really does just come down to the money you bring in. That is the goal, that is our job.

And in an honest assessment of my collection skills - I suck. I have consistently failed to hit my targets, and not by small amounts. For whatever reason, I can't translate the skips and the work into programs.

In November, the pay structure for collections changed radically due to guidelines for debt collectors pay for student loan collections. Given the attrition due to low pay previously, now collectors who didn't hit goal would conceivably just stay on due to the increase in pay.

And it was big - increase from $8/hr to $12/hr. So there is now a series of monthly disciplinary measures if you can't hit your targets. They are a "coaching note", a verbal warning, a written warning, and a Final Written Warning, and then you're fired.

I got my Final Written Warning today. If I don't hit goal by the end of March, I'm fired. (Though eligible for unemployment benefits - I checked on that already.)

There will still be more posts at the end of the month even if I do find myself out the door. I didn't start writing posts about collections until several months in, and there are still multiple stories to be told. But the end of the line may be approaching, for good, bad, or indifferent. The posts for the next month or so may be a reflection of that - what makes a good collector, looking at those who succeed and those who don't, and the reason for it.

And in the end, seeing if I can pull it off, or if maybe discovering being a failure as a collector may not be a bad thing in the long run.