What's new

oDesk

neddy

Top Contributor
Anyone here used oDesk for anything?

If you have, I'm just interested as to how you found it.

I've had a couple of websites designed in the past and was fairly satisfied. Price was excellent, and quality was also good.

I also use oDesk for VA's (virtual assistants). Finding a good one is time consuming, but once you have one, they are worth their weight in gold imo. They do things like write content for websites - and a variety of other tasks.

Please let us know your experiences.
.
 

joe

Top Contributor
I've considered using it several times but never followed through.

What sort of hourly wage do you consider reasonable for a decent VA? Very keen to explore this.
 

Chris.C

Top Contributor
I recently tried to hire a web designer through oDesk - had over 40 applicants. Didn't think any of them were worth hiring (I should note that I was only offering $18/hour which might have been on the low side).

That said, I've had some success hiring content writers through oDesk though. Also been ripped off for hundreds, if not thousands of dollars as well (the price of being in business).

Actually this post I wrote on my blog was entirely inspired by an oDesk content writer who I had hired on a part time basis for about a month or so that ripped me off and was submitting fraudulent work:

http://www.internetmarketingstrategies.com.au/610-content-writing-for-seo-warning

As always the failures make for great learning experiences and I realised if you are going to go down the offshoring route, you need to have impeccably high standards when it comes to employing anyone and be willing to go through a multiple stage questioning, interview and trial process and you also need to drop the idea that you can hire someone decent for $2 - $3/hour.

In my experience even when it comes to offshoring - you still get what you pay for.
 

bradderick

Regular Member
I have used odesk a few times before.

I have been very happy with the service. However there are a heap of outsourcing marketplaces. Each has their own strengths and weaknesses. For example elance has a bit better depth in content writers, whereas you may find better coders on odesk.

Freelancer.com and rentacoder have quite a few interesting people as well.

@Chris C Finding good designers can be tricky anywhere. It is not uncommon for me to view more than 100 before hiring one.

A few good tips

1. Always check out their portfolio and prior feedback

2. interview multiple candidates and ask them what sets them apart from the other candidates. This also gives you a chance to test their knowledge in depth and in real time where they won't have the luxury of researching your anwer. This will also give you another way to evaluate their english skills.

3. Get them to do a small task first before you get them to start on a big job. That way, if they are no good, you'll learn that lesson quickly and cheaply. Sometimes I break up a large job and get 3 guys to do 3 different smaller parts. I then choose the best guy to finish off the rest of the job. There are a mountain of poor quality candidates out there, expect that there may be a couple that will sneak past your defences and have a plan for that.
4. Make sure that you set have transparent metrics that they need to achieve. They will then better understand what you want and it also provides a yard stick for you to evaluate their performance
5. Check out whether they are an agency or a contractor. Many agencies will let you hire out their staff and you may not get the one you want.

Hope that helps.
 

neddy

Top Contributor
A few good tips

1. Always check out their portfolio and prior feedback

2. interview multiple candidates and ask them what sets them apart from the other candidates. This also gives you a chance to test their knowledge in depth and in real time where they won't have the luxury of researching your anwer. This will also give you another way to evaluate their english skills.

3. Get them to do a small task first before you get them to start on a big job. That way, if they are no good, you'll learn that lesson quickly and cheaply. Sometimes I break up a large job and get 3 guys to do 3 different smaller parts. I then choose the best guy to finish off the rest of the job. There are a mountain of poor quality candidates out there, expect that there may be a couple that will sneak past your defences and have a plan for that.
4. Make sure that you set have transparent metrics that they need to achieve. They will then better understand what you want and it also provides a yard stick for you to evaluate their performance
5. Check out whether they are an agency or a contractor. Many agencies will let you hire out their staff and you may not get the one you want.

Hope that helps.

Excellent post Bradderick. Trial and error - setting small initial tests etc are all important.

I suppose oDesk and similar places are like software - if you don't use it properly, you won't get the best out of it. :)
.
 

zhenjie

Top Contributor
I've only used oDesk for data entry positions, around $1.50-$2.00 per hour. Great since it tracks activities and so forth for review. Crappy you have to shift through 200 applicants each time you list a job just to find a good one.
 

ScottNugent

Top Contributor
I have just created an oDesk account as a contractor, just to have a look and a play around. Seems interesting, but to be honest I think i'd prefer standalone work.
 

neddy

Top Contributor
I've only used oDesk for data entry positions, around $1.50-$2.00 per hour. Great since it tracks activities and so forth for review. Crappy you have to shift through 200 applicants each time you list a job just to find a good one.

I totally agree with the last statement. Every job posting tends to get heaps of automated applications from people that haven't even read the job description!

So I learnt a good tip from other employers on oDesk. In your job posting, put a sentence like this in the opening paragraph:

Please only reply if you have read full job specification! You must say in your application that "I have looked at the website xxxxxxxx.com.au". If you don't put this, your application will not be read.

This way, you can delete crap easily - and only deal with those that have read your job description properly.
.
 

ScottNugent

Top Contributor
I think that's a great idea for requiring some kind of "secret sentence" style thing in your description; I personally can't believe people would bid and make a "guarantee" of sorts without knowing the job!?
 

James

Top Contributor
Yeah we have has a few projects/ jobs done via these sites, I would not advise it for content but if you want quality, for data entry, design work, websites, tech help quite good =)
 
Last edited:

Oz.

Top Contributor
I totally agree with the last statement. Every job posting tends to get heaps of automated applications from people that haven't even read the job description!

So I learnt a good tip from other employers on oDesk. In your job posting, put a sentence like this in the opening paragraph:



This way, you can delete crap easily - and only deal with those that have read your job description properly.
.
love the secret sentence idea...another "why didn't I think of that before"..thanks for sharing.

had lots of mixed results..some of the better results where from the eastern bloc.
 

neddy

Top Contributor
had lots of mixed results..some of the better results where from the eastern bloc.

Oz, I also had success with a guy from Romania - excellent efforts combined with reliability. Price was reasonable too.

Didn't have much joy with people from Pakistan or Bangladesh. :(

Generally speaking, if you find a good provider on oDesk, keep him / her and don't tell anyone else their name! :p
.
 

Chris.C

Top Contributor
Filipinos are been good for me.

I have had trouble with Indians in the past and have only had one issue with a Fillipino.

I have also had a lot of Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Indians that have done quite poorly in trials and interviews.

Had one Romanian lady who performed quite well in a trial and interview though I didn't hire her.
 

Community sponsors

Domain Parking Manager

AddMe Reputation Management

Digital Marketing Experts

Catch Expired Domains

Web Hosting

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
11,097
Messages
92,041
Members
2,394
Latest member
Spacemo
Top