They jump a lot of hoops before they ever say hello.
A long interview process. A long training process. A tiny caseload. And at the end, you still get the final say.
How long the interview process alone takes
Training before someone's an official buddy
The most clients a buddy will ever handle
The most video calls a buddy does in a day
You get their actual profile, not just a name
Before you pick, you see a real background on each candidate: university major, work history, hobbies, and why they do this work, often tied to their own relationship with a grandparent. It reads like a resume, because you deserve to know who you're inviting into your life.
Then you interview them yourself
After you've read their background, you get a real 15-minute video call with your top pick, or a few of them, before deciding. We do the vetting. You do the choosing.
Warmth and empathy aren't really things you can fake through weeks of interviews and training, you can tell. Combine that with a caseload small enough that nobody's stretched thin, and what you're left with is someone who actually has the time, and the character, to show up for you every week.
The interview process
Fluent, confident English is a requirement, not a nice-to-have. From there it's a real, multi-stage process: an in-depth interview, a live trial call, and a full review, before anyone is even accepted into training.
Background checks
Every buddy goes through a full background check, criminal history and identity verification included. It's required for everyone, no exceptions, no matter how strong the interview went.
Real training, not a quick orientation
Training runs weeks to months. It covers Malasakit, our core care philosophy, the Honey Bun Rule for meeting people where they are, how to recognize red flags like a change in mood or confusion, de-escalation, our escalation protocol for anything that feels genuinely wrong, and the financial firewall, buddies are never involved in money or billing, under any circumstance.
Small caseloads, on purpose
A buddy handles at most 4 to 8 clients, with no more than two 30-minute video calls a day. That's a hard cap, not something we're trying to hit, so nobody's ever stretched too thin to actually show up.
It doesn't stop at hiring
Calls are reviewed on an ongoing basis, and client feedback is actively monitored, continuously, not just once when someone's hired. A buddy's standing is based on how they show up every week, not a good interview months ago.
This is who's going to be calling. Not a stranger, not a script.
Get a call back in 15 minutes