I had to do a reference check yesterday. Nothing unusual about that, but the guy I had to contact was the head of global IT for Emirates Airlines, in Dubai.
How the **** do you cold call someone like that?
So I sent him an email in the morning, asking if I could call between 4-5pm Melbourne time, which is 9-10am Dubai time, he replied at 7am Dubai time to say that was fine, so away we go.
Next problem, work mobile doesn't have international calling enabled, Microsoft Teams doesn't let you call a mobile number, so I asked the local IT department and they said to use WhatsApp.
5 minutes before I'm due to call, I check out WhatsApp on the work mobile, you can only call contacts and have to invite people to WhatsApp to call their mobile. FMD.
So I just used my personal mobile to call. NFI what that's going to cost, if I don't like it I'll pass it on to work (after I've left_ and ask for a reimbursement.
Hell of a nice bloke though, totaly anglo name yet had an Arabic accent, I guess 20+ years working there will do that to you.
Every dead body on Mt Everest was once a highly motivated person, so maybe just calm the **** down.