Any tips hiring with Odesk?

10 years ago

I have had only good experiences when hiring from ODesk. I have only had one contractor who would not follow directions, but on the whole, excellent place to hire from.

My only advice is to interview well, ask as many questions as you need to ask to get the person that is the best fir for you.

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Alex Sanderson 10 years ago

Originally Posted by TheTimM

My only advice is to interview well, ask as many questions as you need to ask to get the person that is the best fir for you.

Yes i figured that much. I'm looking at building a quality writing team up. I'm trying to come up with a list of questions i can ask them, what examples of questions would be best to ask them?

Alex
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bmw040

10 years ago

If the person or agency is not performing as per your job posting do not hesitate to let them go and rehire immediately.

I have wasted more time giving second chances.

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MayaMagpie

10 years ago

I have hired people before and my experience has been mainly good. What I learnt was a) be as precise as possible in the job specifications, b) communicate often and c) interview well. I didn't hire anyone for writing, but for some design work I needed, and I ran into communication problems with the first person I hired because his English was not nearly as good as I thought (or he pretended) it was. Make sure the person understands what you want from them.
But other than that, the process is pretty straight-forward and if you take your time with the selection process, you should be fine.
If you are unsure, you can also do a trial project, like a short article for a small amount, and go from there. I had someone do a small project before hiring them for a bigger one and that way, you can see if they communicate well and are dependable.
Good luck!

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Alex Sanderson

10 years ago

Yes i've started a small project first to see how things go. Had a good few responses already and few responses that are completely automated stuff.

I'll see how things go, i usually just hire from the warrior forum, but looking at other options.

Alex

Originally Posted by MayaMagpie

I have hired people before and my experience has been mainly good. What I learnt was a) be as precise as possible in the job specifications, b) communicate often and c) interview well. I didn't hire anyone for writing, but for some design work I needed, and I ran into communication problems with the first person I hired because his English was not nearly as good as I thought (or he pretended) it was. Make sure the person understands what you want from them.
But other than that, the process is pretty straight-forward and if you take your time with the selection process, you should be fine.
If you are unsure, you can also do a trial project, like a short article for a small amount, and go from there. I had someone do a small project before hiring them for a bigger one and that way, you can see if they communicate well and are dependable.
Good luck!

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Alex Sanderson

10 years ago

Anyone have a few example questions to ask writers so i can distinguish who's quality and who's not?

Alex

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jjmags1219 10 years ago

Hi Alex,

The best thing is to check on the previous client's rating and feedback. And on your end, be specific with what you want, your budget and your target turn around time to deliver the project.
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alasdairsim

10 years ago

Pretty much what is said above but make sure you are hiring people that aren't just firing off generic "hello sir" proposals.

I put a question in somewhere in the middle of the advert and ask them to answer it in their proposal - nothing complicated obviously. Name one of The Beatles or something along those lines. Disregard those who don't answer it as they obviously haven't read through the job specification in any depth.

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MayaMagpie 10 years ago

Checking their feedback and ratings is a good indicator of their quality, of course. Then you can ask what kind of education / experience they have and what kind of things they have written before (blogs, articles, ebooks).
In the end, it might not matter so much what you ask but what their response is like. If you type-chat, you can see if someone pays attention to grammar and spelling and if they take you seriously by taking the time to type proper sentences.
That would be a good sign
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Alex Sanderson

10 years ago

Well what i did is put a name in the job description so that the people who read it would actually have to insert it in there application.

Had a few that have misread the description and a few that have actually had the time to read and insert it into there application.

It looks like it's going well so far... touch wood

Alex

Originally Posted by alasdairsim

Pretty much what is said above but make sure you are hiring people that aren't just firing off generic "hello sir" proposals.

I put a question in somewhere in the middle of the advert and ask them to answer it in their proposal - nothing complicated obviously. Name one of The Beatles or something along those lines. Disregard those who don't answer it as they obviously haven't read through the job specification in any depth.

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alasdairsim

10 years ago

Well done. Definitely separates the serious from the 'send off as many proposals as possible' crowd.

If I ever post something on oDesk I find that for every 10 applications around 2 or 3 manage to read the description fully.

Originally Posted by Alex Sanderson

Well what i did is put a name in the job description so that the people who read it would actually have to insert it in there application.

Had a few that have misread the description and a few that have actually had the time to read and insert it into there application.

It looks like it's going well so far... touch wood

Alex

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Alex Sanderson

10 years ago

Yes thats basically what i've noticed so far. Had 10 applicants for the small job and most of them have started with "dear sir" and then gone on to tell me there life story, but have not mentioned anything about the articles, the secret name so to speak.

Hired someone who took them time to actually write a full description about the actual articles.

Onwards and upwards..

Alex

Originally Posted by alasdairsim

Well done. Definitely separates the serious from the 'send off as many proposals as possible' crowd.

If I ever post something on oDesk I find that for every 10 applications around 2 or 3 manage to read the description fully.

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alasdairsim

10 years ago

That's great you managed to find someone serious about the work!

Hope they work out for you!

Originally Posted by Alex Sanderson

Yes thats basically what i've noticed so far. Had 10 applicants for the small job and most of them have started with "dear sir" and then gone on to tell me there life story, but have not mentioned anything about the articles, the secret name so to speak.

Hired someone who took them time to actually write a full description about the actual articles.

Onwards and upwards..

Alex

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agmccall 10 years ago

I have hired from both Odesk and Elance. I personally like elance better.

Whenever I need work done, I will research contractors and put the job out as invite only, meaning I keep the job private and send invites to certain contractors. If this does not produce any decent results then I will put the job out to the public.

And like one of the other posters suggested, ask a question that needs to be answered. Or, make them put something in the subject line, that way you can just delete applicants that do not have that phrase in the subject line because they did not read the post they just responded to yours and everyone elses

al
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MikeLugar

10 years ago

I've used Odesk several times, just recently I had a contractor that did not remotely complete the task he was hired for. This is 1 in probably dozens of times I've used it. Just make sure you can establish trust and that the contractor understands the scope of the project from the beginning.

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bmw040

10 years ago

To avoid spam applicants I place a statement at the bottom of the job post:

"Please start of your application with “Hi Brian”. That way we know you actually read this job posting and are not a spam applicant.

I look forward to reviewing all your applications!

B. M. Wilson"

If I get a "Hello Hiring Manager" or hi "B.M. Wilson" I imediately know they did not read my ad and I deny their application for not following instructions.

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Alex Sanderson

10 years ago

Yes i've noticed a lot of those kind of messages.

Alex

Originally Posted by bmw040

To avoid spam applicants I place a statement at the bottom of the job post:

"Please start of your application with "Hi Brian". That way we know you actually read this job posting and are not a spam applicant.

I look forward to reviewing all your applications!

B. M. Wilson"

If I get a "Hello Hiring Manager" or hi "B.M. Wilson" I imediately know they did not read my ad and I deny their application for not following instructions.

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kash21

10 years ago

Someone with:

5 stars
Portfolio
Good test results
Over 100 hours

That's all you need!

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Any tips hiring with Odesk?

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