‘Like a duck to water.’
Julio Lazos’ career career in contracting developed naturally when companies started calling him with offers of consultancy work after he left Ericsson in 2003. ‘We have a saying in Mexico’, comments Julio, ‘sometimes a duck swims on water, some others don't even drink it’, which is to say that he took to contracting like a duck to water, and has no plans to take another permanent position.
At the time of writing, Julio is working for Huawei Mexico as project director for the Telmex account, with responsibility for projects such as IPDSLAM, DWDM and CDMA. But in fact he was already working with Huawei through another consulting company when Edgar Guzman from our Mexico Office first got in touch to offer him something with them, so why did he move to First Point in 2009?
‘We are people, we have wishes, we work hard, we need recognition and we need to know that we belong’ admits Julio, who has had dealings with other recruitment agencies, but says First Point is ‘the best I’ve ever run into’. Julio recommended Huawei to switch his contract to FPG because, after that first communication, Edgar kept in touch and they developed a good relationship. His dealings are still mainly with Edgar, but there's always someone willing to help if he’s not available, and Julio describes his relationship with FPG as ‘very good. They are very friendly, professional and caring’. The fact that payments are made quickly and efficiently is also important.
Julio enjoys contracting, and says that, if you’re well known in the industry, there are definitely more ups than downs: ‘the salary is higher and you can stay out of internal politics rather than fighting for promotion all the time’.
It helps that his relationship with First Point works so well: ‘I've never argued with First Point: there’s been no need. They must be working well, because, like most project managers, I'm not the most patient person in the world when I'm dealing with companies other than my customers…’
Interview dated: March 2010
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