oDesk July Newsletter: Finding the Right Provider

The oDesk Perspective

It's easy to find skilled workers on oDesk--post a job, check out providers' profiles, interview. It really is that simple, but a few tricks can help you get more from our global network of nearly 100,000 remote workers.

Feedback: The first thing you'll do is check the provider's feedback and work history, but don't just count stars. Look at what your candidate's impressive 4.5 score really means to you.

• How many people contributed to that rating? Everyone's gotta start somewhere, but the length of their track records should matter.
• Were they short projects or long? A ten-hour job is one thing, but longer assignments reveal the ability to handle complex jobs, manage relationships and deliver consistently, so weigh feedback on that 200-hour project more heavily.
• Are they getting repeat business? Seeing the same buyer IDs come back is a stronger recommendation than the highest written praise.
• What about ongoing projects? If the provider has a lot of continuing jobs, check whether she'll have time to meet your deadlines. But be encouraged when a provider is still engaged in a project after logging 400 hours: She's proven herself indispensable.
• What kind of jobs are listed? Your prospective Java developer lists a full alphabet soup of skills: ActiveX, CSS, J2EE, PHP, the works. If most of his projects have been in PHP and CSS, even dazzling feedback might not qualify him for your six-month J2EE project.

Portfolio: Feedback lets you see whether a provider's work made the buyer happy. The portfolio lets you see whether their work makes you happy.

• Is it good enough? Do you like your prospective writer's "voice"? Do you find that prospective web designer's last site attractive and easily navigable?
• Is it big enough? Does the portfolio contain work of the scope you're hiring for?

Skills: Scores on oDesk skills tests expose work style as well as competency.

• Can he back up his skills? Does the candidate list 100 skills on has taken only 2 tests? Chances are, you need a well rounded resource. If he has taken tests in some subjects but not those that pertain to your job, don't hesitate to ask him to complete other tests. It should take the provider only 30 minutes and it is both a sign of interest in the job as well as a yardstick for you to compare candidates.
• Does she have enough tests? Don't just look at the test scores; make sure the candidate has a good range tests too. Note that we display the score and percentile (score better than X% of test takers), not the percentage (score X% correct).

A provider's profile puts a lot of data at your fingertips, but to extract some of the best information, dig a bit below the surface. It's worth the effort if it leads you to a provider good enough not only for this job, but for the one after that, and the one after that...

New Features

Message Center Hits Beta

Launched in beta this month, the Message Center is an email-like interface for messages from oDesk or oDesk users within the system. It divides messages into three tabs: Account Alerts, for messages with financial implications (hire and payment confirmations, etc.); Updates (non-financial system messages); and Tickets (communications with the support team).

Read more, check it out, and let us know in the forum how you like it!

Rearranging Your Stuff

It's not a new feature, but you may notice that "My Stuff" has disappeared. We've put "My Favorite Providers" into the "Find Providers" tab, and "My Referrals" into "Billing & Payments." We think this is more intuitive, and hope you don't mind!

Support for IE 6 Soon To Be Discontinued

We're planning to discontinue support of Internet Explorer 6 in September. At that time, visitors using IE 6 will get a welcome screen telling them they need to download a latest-generation browser such as IE 7 or Firefox 3. Internet Explorer 6 was replaced almost two years ago, and only a fraction of our visitors use it. Continuing to support it prevents us from taking advantages of the latest technologies to make your user experience better and more secure.

If you are using IE 7, Firefox 2 or higher, or Safari, no problem. If you're using IE 6 (check the 'Help' menu and select 'About Internet Explorer'), please take the time to upgrade to Internet Explorer 7, or better yet, Firefox 3. Trust us--your experience will be better all over the web, not just on oDesk!

Success Stories

User Interviews: Tarun Verma & Sun Softwares

India's Sun Softwares does graphic design and web development. It started with one person in 2003 and now employs 20. Owner and CEO Tarun Verma credits a lot of that growth to oDesk. Sun signed up as an oDesk provider in July 2006, but Verma says his company didn't start using oDesk effectively until the following January. Today, about 60 percent of Sun Softwares' work comes via oDesk buyers.

Q: It's important for a provider to find a client he or she can work well with. Besides looking for a project that fits Sun Softwares' expertise, what do you look for when you see a job post?
A: We try to look for projects that are required to be built from scratch using the latest technology, and we look at the client's comments in the job postings. At times we see some harsh comments in the job post, and we tend to ignore those posts, as there are high chances of project failure due to the client's attitude. Some job posts call only for bug fixing--we ignore them, as it's difficult to take those projects to completion which are already in some kind of mess. We pursue the full projects and the projects with complete specifications. The projects which are posted with complete specifications show that the buyer is really keen and would be very good to work with, as the scope has been clearly defined.

Q: When you interview with a first-time client, how do you make sure you're understanding the project requirements and the buyer's needs?
A: We try to get detailed specifications from the buyer, URLs of example websites, wire diagrams of screens, expected time for completion, expected budget. If the client does not provide the complete details, then we build a prototype to make sure we are trying to do what client wants. It's very important to get the complete picture that is in a customer's mind to make sure the project gets to completion in time.

Q: How would you advise a new buyer who asked you how to find the best providers when several applicants may have good basic feedback scores?
A: My advice would be to look closely at the portfolio links, expertise of providers, other experiences and history on oDesk, rating and comments of buyers. Buyers can choose the best providers by looking for well-laid out profiles, a good history at oDesk, and good ratings and comments from past buyers.

For the full interview, click here.

Provider Spotlight

Get to know these highly rated oDesk providers:

	Yazmeen I Web Content Management, Data Entry, Researcher, Online Advertising Total oDesk Hours: 428 Feedback: 4.1 Comments: "Yazmeen did a fine job completing our task...She was very diligent and willing to learn new processes."
	Galgodage L ASP.NET C# Web application Designer- DotNetNuke Expert Total oDesk Hours: 739 Feedback: 4.6 Comments: "Lakmal is an up and coming DotNetNuke Developer looking forward to seeing great things in the future."
	Marina B PHP/MySQL Developer Provider Company: SOFTREACTOR LLC Total oDesk Hours: 536 Feedback: 5.0 Comments: "Marina is an excellent developer, we look forward to working with her again on future projects."
	Vincent T Web Design and Development & Search Engine Marketer (SEO/SEM) Total oDesk Hours: 0 Feedback: 5 Comments: "He communicated regularly with me and made SURE that I was 110% satisfied with the website design. He was creative and accepted constructive comments in a positive manner."

Vote Result

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