outsourcing via elance

[findtim]

Just posted another job on elance dot com this afternoon and within 3 hours had 19 bids, all reasonable and with varying quality of background but for the first time in some 70+ jobs i have posted all the bids were VERYYYY close in price and @ $200 higher then the last time i posted a similar job just a few months ago !

its got me wondering if i'm being tracked by what i am willing to pay? as i rarely fight the price down but this time i'm going to have to.

an interesting lesson for me.

i've mentioned this before but in every job listing i ask almost right at the bottom of the brief for a keyword to be placed at the top of there bid eg:

"you must place the word GLASS at the start of your bid so i know you have read my brief or you will be deleted straight away..."

So today after i got my first 15 bids i went through them and deleted the ones that didn't comply. I got an email this afternoon from one of them that said " oh sir, i have had no sleep as i remembered i had not placed GLASS at the top of my proposal....."

this system just weeds out the "auto-bidders" and saves me time and it seems to be working for me.

anyway, i'm now going to go back the the people i didn't choose for the last job and invite them to bid on this one and see if the price changes.

tim

 

[Chris.C]

I implement a very similar strategy when I look for contractors on oDesk.

When you get 50+ applicants it always helps to be able to screen about 80% of them out instantly.

 

[Ash]

When you get 50+ applicants it always helps to be able to screen about 80% of them out instantly.

This reminds me of something I read once about recruitment... the author had written something along the lines of "I like to divide applicants in to two groups - lucky and unlucky; the unlucky ones go straight to the bin..." Probably not the best recruitment strategy.

Sorry for straying off topic

 

[djuqa]

I only ever use Freelancer.com
Being based in Australia it has an advantage over elance.com and other similiar sites.

I never use that "keyword in answer" crap. I always ask relevant questions about their capabilities related to the Project NEEDS to determine prospects, not their ability to post a word..

 

[acheeva]

Outsourcing

I would say 90% self-assess on the basis that that don't read the requirements - whether keyword, detailed or otherwise

The easy exclusion for me is those that give a price without the full job specs

 

[findtim]

I only ever use Freelancer.com
Being based in Australia it has an advantage over elance.com and other similiar sites.

I never use that "keyword in answer" crap. I always ask relevant questions about their capabilities related to the Project NEEDS to determine prospects, not their ability to post a word..

SO if you don't use the "crap" how many sentences do you waste your time reading until you decide they have posted a STANDARD answer ?
tim

 

[djuqa]

SO if you don't use the "crap" how many sentences do you waste your time reading until you decide they have posted a STANDARD answer ?
tim

I contact all of them and see which one provides relevant answers. With 30+ years experience in IT and 8 years in WebDesign I would rarely use anyone that posted a Boilerplate response anyway.