Huge Outsourcing Tip - Saves Me Hours

26 replies
I outsource a lot, and working with contractors is extremely time consuming. But you know what takes more time...

Hiring them.

No idea why I didn't think of this earlier, but for my last round of hiring I actually hired someone to do the hiring.

In this particular case I was looking for a VA who could do customer service, and other basic admin tasks. Typically I'd spend literally up to 10-20 hours sifting through 100 applicants, interviewing them, and having them ultimately waste my time.

This time was different. I gave my recruiter the requirements, and she found me an awesome VA.

The best part... She's hiring 11 people for me for $75.

Just thought I'd pass it along cause it's honestly been a complete oversight until just this past week.
#hours #huge #outsourcing #saves #tip
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  • Profile picture of the author RobertMandrake
    Wow - this sounds incredibly helpful.

    I just posted an ad in the wanted to hire forum... and I have hired many times in odesk and elance, and it is SO TIME CONSUMING, etc. and I often end up with less than desirable results...

    Can you give me any more advice on HOW to do exactly what you just described ?


    Robert
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    • Profile picture of the author packerfan
      Originally Posted by RobertMandrake View Post

      Wow - this sounds incredibly helpful.

      I just posted an ad in the wanted to hire forum... and I have hired many times in odesk and elance, and it is SO TIME CONSUMING, etc. and I often end up with less than desirable results...

      Can you give me any more advice on HOW to do exactly what you just described ?


      Robert

      Sure. I use Odesk mostly. I posted a job for a Recruiter / Staffing manager using a job description that basically states the requirements that I'm looking for. I detailed the kind of jobs they'd be hiring for, and asked them to provide me an overview of the process they would use.

      I did a lot of work hiring this person, I read every related feedback, and focused on people that had a lot of experience hiring.

      Then I set them up with the ability to hire people to my odesk account and let them do the job I hired them to do.

      The person I hired sorted all the candidates that met our agreed upon skills and developed a ranking system based on hours, feedback, relevant experience, etc.

      She then interviewed the top 5, and gave me very detailed feedback on each candidate.

      She made her recommendation, I approved, and now the VA is working for me. She's starting the process on the next 10 positions now.

      Honestly, this will literally save me 20-30 hours/month.
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  • Profile picture of the author RobertMandrake
    THANK YOU so much for that reply
    That is EXTREMELY helpful to me and I plan on implementing this immediately - since this is one of my biggest problems and time wasters that I struggle with

    Thank you again

    Robert
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  • Profile picture of the author jaquille
    Banned
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    • Profile picture of the author packerfan
      Originally Posted by jaquille View Post

      Thank you for this great tip!
      Is this going to work on Elance?
      I don't see why it wouldn't. I don't know if Elance will let you give access to other people to actually do the hiring though. I use mainly Odesk.
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      • Profile picture of the author artistic
        Hi,

        If any one needs hiring service. Me, recruiter on your service
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  • Profile picture of the author bauger
    Thats pretty cool After reading this makes a lot of sense to use this approach to save my time when looking for awesome workers
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  • Profile picture of the author getbizy
    You sure must trust who you hired to do the hiring for you....i believe you should do the hiring yourself not matter how long it takes
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    • Profile picture of the author packerfan
      Originally Posted by getbizy View Post

      You sure must trust who you hired to do the hiring for you....i believe you should do the hiring yourself not matter how long it takes

      If you are ever going to scale anything you are going to have to learn to trust people. I'm not sure how much hiring you've done, but to do it well it takes a ton of time.

      In the next couple of weeks I'll be adding about 11 people to my team. It would have taken me a minimum of 100 hours, probably more to hire all of them.

      Why wouldn't I hire an expert in hiring to do that for me? I can put 10-20 hours into hiring them, and have an extremely valuable asset on my team for a long time to come.

      Now every time I need to hire someone I just send her the specifics, and she takes care of the rest. It's not like I just picked the first person that applied for that job. I did a ton of work with that 1 hire, and she will probably take care of of my next 100 hires...
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  • Profile picture of the author RobertMandrake
    Yea - you know what would be VERY VALUABLE to me -
    Lists of Questions to send to the "hoards" of applicants that always flood in when posting a job on an outsourcing site - that would methodically refine the search... follow up questions, etc.
    I always find that the more questions and follow up I do with each applicant, the more I end up filtering out.
    So, aside from this great tip - of hiring someone to do it all for you...
    I would find it helpful and useful to have a refined list of questions and follow up questions, etc. to refine the search...

    Robert
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  • Profile picture of the author Sandor Verebi
    [QUOTE=packerfan;4555679]...The best part... She's hiring 11 people for me for $75.../QUOTE]

    Hi packerfan,

    Congrats!. Just to make it clear, that $75 is her salary, or those 11 people work for you for that money?

    Best,

    Sandor
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    • Profile picture of the author packerfan
      [quote=Sandor Verebi;4556445]
      Originally Posted by packerfan View Post

      ...The best part... She's hiring 11 people for me for $75.../QUOTE]

      Hi packerfan,

      Congrats!. Just to make it clear, that $75 is her salary, or those 11 people work for you for that money?

      Best,

      Sandor
      I'm paying her $75 to hire the 11 people
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  • Profile picture of the author BabyMama
    This tip is definatly outsourcing to the maxium lol.
    Outsourcing your outsourcing.
    Will give this a go next time I need to hire someone.
    I am pregnant now and looking to hire someone to cover my business for the last few weeks of pregnancy and first few weeks after birth so may very well give this tip a go.

    Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author grandstar
    One thing common about freelancers is that they take any job that comes along even when they know they are not qualified. Thats why the sorting out is required or else you'll get junk.

    I hope she finds really qualified hands.
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    • Profile picture of the author packerfan
      Originally Posted by grandstar View Post

      One thing common about freelancers is that they take any job that comes along even when they know they are not qualified. Thats why the sorting out is required or else you'll get junk.

      I hope she finds really qualified hands.

      I have very specific requirements for their past experience. I require 1,000 odesk hours, and at least 10 jobs related to mine with 5 star feedback.

      She's 1 for 1 so far, and I think finding a good reliable VA is almost impossible, so I'm pleased...
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      • Profile picture of the author Joe Mobley
        I do not restrict the oDesk hours as there are many good oDesker's with only/mostly fixed-price jobs.

        Feedback score - 4.5 to 5.0
        English - 4+ stars.
        Last activity - In the last 60 days.
        I may restrict location.


        Joe Mobley

        Originally Posted by packerfan View Post

        I have very specific requirements for their past experience. I require 1,000 odesk hours, and at least 10 jobs related to mine with 5 star feedback.

        She's 1 for 1 so far, and I think finding a good reliable VA is almost impossible, so I'm pleased...
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        .

        Follow Me on Twitter: @daVinciJoe
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  • Profile picture of the author MarkJones
    I'd have to agree, hiring is one of the biggest time wasters in a business but hiring the wrong person is even worse.

    As long as you give your recruiter specifics on the role you shouldn't have a problem, but you need to be clear on the job role before you get some to do your hiring otherwise you'll just end up hiring someone you have to fire and will have wasted time training them and getting them to do tasks.

    Mark
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    • Profile picture of the author packerfan
      Originally Posted by MarkJones View Post

      I'd have to agree, hiring is one of the biggest time wasters in a business but hiring the wrong person is even worse.

      As long as you give your recruiter specifics on the role you shouldn't have a problem, but you need to be clear on the job role before you get some to do your hiring otherwise you'll just end up hiring someone you have to fire and will have wasted time training them and getting them to do tasks.

      Mark
      This is a great point. I've hired probably 50 contractors myself, and my real job I've hired over 100. It's absolutely critical to be very clear, and make sure you put enough effort into finding your recruiter.
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  • Profile picture of the author jtimes
    Thats a great point! VA or Project Managers are a must to take your business to the next level!

    One of my favorite quotes is "You gotta work on your business, NOT in your business"
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    'One who fears failure limits his activities. Failure is only the opportunity to more intelligently begin again.'

    - Henry Ford

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    • Originally Posted by jtimes View Post

      Thats a great point! VA or Project Managers are a must to take your business to the next level!

      One of my favorite quotes is "You gotta work on your business, NOT in your business"
      Well put, couldn't agree more!
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  • Profile picture of the author RS3RS
    Hiring a good VA is definitely a pain. The last one I hired shafted me, saying she made a list of phone calls and when I followed up later, she never even called them in the first place (just took my money with a grin). However, I'm not letting a bad apple spoil the whole batch, and I have had positive experiences in the past. You've just got to keep a close eye on them and not let them run free on their own too soon
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  • Profile picture of the author celente
    I talk with alot of big contractors that outsource.

    And yes these guys outsource their outsourcing LOL, sounds weird but it really means you whole business is on outsource, and you do not to much at all.

    When I am outsourcing, it is important to be picky. Pick the guys with the highest rating, even if their price is a bit more, you will get what you pay for, higher quality work, i can 99.9% guarentee that.

    I have many websites outsourced, and have made HUGE mistakes, but I am glad they happend, because I have learnt alot about outsourcing. Once you harness the true raw power of it you can succeed beyond your wildest dreams.
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  • Profile picture of the author NetCram
    Thanks I'v been thinking of hiring VA's good to know.
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  • Profile picture of the author absolutelee
    That's a pretty cool idea. Especially for lower level work.
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  • Profile picture of the author jgmark
    Outsourcing is a great time saver... but a lot of the times is only one more thing on the to do list!... those services that do the interviews for you a think they are awesome!

    But... the VA can be great but it will all come down to set up the right process within your business so anybody practically a 12 years old can jump into your business and start working seamlessly.

    Sharing documents, project management tools and constant communication are key.

    I've had great and bad experiences including expensive ones... but they have been all learning... all part of the fun
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    • Profile picture of the author jjmags1219
      There is also another option that allows you to save time and money. You don't have to pay for the recruiter, you just have to hire the VA through the company or agency. Let me know if you need some help.
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