Search for Jobs
Loading
- How do I search for jobs?
- How do I read job search results?
- What's in a job post?
- What's the difference between hourly and fixed price?
- What's payment method verification?
- How can I learn about the buyer?
- I found a job that seems suspicious. How do I report it?
- How can I save a search or get updates in my feed reader?
- I found a job I like. How do I apply?
Providers can search or browse through our jobs by category, payment terms, buyer statistics, keyword and many other criteria. We recommend you run keyword searches to find jobs with specific qualifications.
While the default sort order for results is by posted on date you shouldn't completely rule out older jobs. A job that was posted some time ago may be a perfect match for the experience you have. However, the longer the job has been posted, the less likely you are to receive an interview invitation. Not only do older jobs usually have more competition, the buyer may no longer be actively reviewing new applicants. Regardless of a job's age you need to apply thoughtfully, write your cover carefully and interview professionally.
In any job search, on oDesk or elsewhere, you'll likely be rejected far more often than you'll receive interviews. To increase your application to interview ratio, only apply to jobs for which you are perfectly qualified.
To browse jobs:
- Go to Find Providers & Jobs > Find Jobs.
- Click on a category or subcategory name to view all those jobs.
- Sort your results and look for jobs that seem promising. This is our least detailed search option and the number of results can be overwhelming. A keyword search is generally much more useful for finding more applicable jobs.
To perform a basic keyword search:
- Go to Find Providers & Jobs > Find Jobs.
- Enter a Keyword in the Search Jobs box to the left. In basic mode, the complete job posts from every category are searched.
- [Optional] Check the Search titles and skills only box to limit the search to keywords in jobs' titles and requested skills lists. Most buyers list some of the most important skills needed for the job so this is a good way to further narrow down the number of results.
- Click the Search button.
- Sort your results and look for jobs that seem promising. This is a more detailed search option, but with common keywords the number of results can still be overwhelming. Try additional keywords or searching for something more specific.
The keywords must be an exact match. For example, a search for "Tech Writer" will not return results for jobs that say "Technical Writer".
Keyword searches do not respond to boolean operators. Including more than one word always searches as if there were a boolean "AND".
To perform an advanced search:
- Go to Find Providers & Jobs > Find Jobs. Click the Advanced link in the Search Jobs box at the left.
-
Set your optional search criteria. The default for each setting is to show all open jobs. Set more criteria to narrow your search results.
- Keywords: (like above) Check the Search titles only box to limit the search to keywords in jobs' titles. Some buyers feature their top required skills in their jobs' titles so this is a good way to further narrow down the number of results.
- Category / Subcategory: Choose one or set to all. Definitely check out the category and subcategory associated with your primary skills set. If most of the jobs you like aren't listed in the same subcategory as your profile, perhaps you should edit your profile to categorize it more appropriately.
- Duration: Buyers estimate durations for all hourly jobs. The actual jobs may turn out to be longer or shorter - be sure to discuss this during your interview.
- Workload: Buyers estimate workloads for all hourly jobs in hours per week. The actual workload may turn out to be heavier or lighter - be sure to discuss this during your interview.
- Min / Max: Set a budget rate range for fixed-price jobs. You may apply to your job with a higher or lower price and you should negotiate this during your interview. It is especially important to come to specify whether payment is per deliverable or for the job as a whole.
- Posted Since: Set a timeframe to exclude older jobs (and are therefore less likely to respond to your application).
- Job Status: Choose open, in progress, completed or cancelled. You can only apply to open jobs, but you may want to search other types when researching your prospects and competition.
- Buyer Feedback Score: Specify the minimum you'll accept, but remember that this will exclude new buyers who have not yet earned feedback.
- Number of Paid Jobs: Choose At least 1 paid job to find all buyers with any paid experience. This number includes both hourly and fixed-price jobs.
- Press the Search button to view the list jobs that meet your criteria.
- Sort your results and look for jobs that seem promising. This is our most detailed search option. We suggest you try several search combinations.
To filter or modify your search:
- Use the Filter Results box on the right to quickly change your category and subcategory selections. Remove on a subcategory or category to automatically rerun your search at the next level up.
- Use the Modify Search button to expand the Refine your search box to adjust your other search parameters.
Job search results are presented as a simple list (10 results to a page), including only the most basic overview of the job and the buyer. This includes the title, required skills, payment terms, and the beginning of the description. Hovering over a job post will highlight it for easier reading and make the Apply appear. Click the title to read the full job details.
Additional information about the buyer is available if you hover over the Buyer section. The earnings and verification badge will show you some additional buyer facts, including total paid (may be rounded), verification status, posting versus hiring stats and location. (Learn more about verification status.) The stars will show you the exact overall feedback score and total number of feedbacks received.
Every job post should include enough information for you to decide whether the job will be a good fit for you. This includes information about the buyer, about the job, about what the buyer is looking for and even who else has applied.
Job Statistics
Basic information such as Date Posted, Category, etc. is at the top of every job post. Pay special attention to the Skills list - you'll likely be asked to prove you have all these skills. The Last Buyer Activity lets you know if the buyer's been active on oDesk - very helpful when deciding whether to take a chance on an older job post. The In Progress and Completed portions will be filled in after someone is hired; the job post is linked in both the buyer's and provider's histories.
Preferred Qualifications
[Optional] The buyer may specify preferred qualifications, such as rate, tests passed, English skills, oDesk experience level, etc. You may apply regardless of whether you meet these qualifications. However, if you don't meet all the qualifications, your application will be marked as unqualified. Be sure to address any qualifications you do not meet in your cover letter to communicate to the buyer why they should interview you anyway. But in general, applying to a job when you don't meet the preferred qualifications is less likely to to be successful.
Company
[Optional] We encourage the buyer to share information about their company, including the name, tagline, logo and description. But most buyers still opt to post anonymously. We encourage you to learn more about the buyer during the interview phase.
Buyer Facts
We always tell you where the buyer is located (including their time zone), when they registered, how many jobs they've posted, filled and have open currently, how many team members they have currently, how many hours their team has billed and their overall feedback score.
Job Description
A well-written description is an easy way to spot a good buyer. Just as a buyers prefer candidates who put more effort into their cover letters, you should concentrate your efforts on jobs where the description provides more useful information. The whole point is to find the jobs for which you are an excellent match - that is very difficult to decide without a good description. Keep an eye out for specific questions that the buyer says you must answer or phrases you must include in your cover letter. You need to prove you can follow directions!
Disclosing or requesting contact information is not permitted in oDesk job posts (or your cover letters). If you see this or anything else suspicious (like application fees or offers to pay you directly through PayPal or Western Union instead of through oDesk), please flag the job as inappropriate. Your assistance in keeping our marketplace clean and safe is greatly appreciated!
Buyer's Other Job Openings
Many buyers have more than one job open at once. We give you links to their other openings in case an different position might be a better match - they may also offer information in these posts that could be helpful for your application.
Buyer's Assignment History
Buyers earn a reputation through our double-blind feedback system just like you do. Pay careful attention to the comments and ratings left by your fellow providers.
Buyers must verify their payment methods in order to pay oDesk for their jobs. Why? So that we can offer you a payment guarantee on all hourly jobs! Payment methods verification ensures that the buyer is authorized to use the credit card on file (or approved by oDesk to pay by check).
There are three possible payment method verification statuses:
- Verified: The buyer has added a payment method and completed verification.
- Not Verified: The buyer has not added a payment for us to verify.
- In Progress: The buyer has added a payment method, but has not yet completed verification.
For maximum security, you may wish to apply only to jobs displaying the Verified Payment Method badge. Just understand that a new buyer may not have had a chance to complete the process yet. If the job of a new buyer sounds like a great fit, consider applying and reminding them to verify so you can get to work right away.
Key to the more detailed buyer earnings and verification badges used in job search results:
-
New buyers who have not yet verified their payment methods.
-
New buyers who have already verified their payment methods.
-
Buyers registered at least 60 days who do not currently have verified payment methods.
-
Buyers registered at least 60 days who have already verified their payment methods, but not yet paid on an assignment.
-
Buyers who have paid more than $1 on oDesk assignments.
-
Buyers who have paid more than $1,000 on oDesk assignments.
-
Buyers who have paid more than $10,000 on oDesk assignments.
oDesk cannot pay you if the buyer does not have a verified payment method. But verification can often be completed in less than a day. When applying to a job lacking a verified payment method, please encourage the buyer to complete the process as soon as possible.
oDesk offers buyers two types of of payment terms when they post jobs: hourly and fixed-price. (Read our hourly vs. fixed-price comparison to learn the advantages and disadvantages of each.)
We pioneered the hourly model and it's become the method of choice for most oDesk buyers and providers; therefore, many of our features are only available for hourly assignments (reports, guarantees, automated billing, etc.). But we understand that hourly isn't right for everyone in every situation. You may opt to post a fixed-price job instead. Just remember that only hourly jobs carry our payment guarantee.
For most providers, the choice between hourly and fixed-price comes down to how to you get paid. With hourly, billing is completely automatic (and payment is guaranteed), whereas with fixed-price the buyer must submit every payment manually (oDesk does not offer escrow or arbitration at this time). Read more about payments before you make your decision.
Most buyers choose to post their jobs anonymously - they do not reveal who they are on the job post. But we still try to provide some useful information about who you are applying to.
- Every post contains a Buyer Facts box with all the basic information about the buyer's account, such as when they registered, where they are and their posting and hiring history.
- Once they have a paid job, the Buyer's Assignment History becomes visible (similar to the work history on your own provider profile).
- If there are any, we'll also give you links to the Buyer's Other Job Openings.
- Buyer's may choose to display a small Company profile that can include the company's name, tagline, logo and description. We encourage buyers to include this information, but it is always optional.
- Some buyers will include basic or detailed information about themselves or their company in the job description itself. But contact info in the job post is a violation of oDesk policy, in which case we ask that you please flag the job as inappropriate.
You'll have an opportunity to ask the buyer all the questions you want during your interview. You may even wish to ask a few specific questions in your cover letter.
In your searches you may come across jobs that seems suspicious. Please flag these jobs so Customer Support can review them and take the appropriate action. Just click the Flag as Inappropriate link at the top of the job post, then write an explanation of the issue you see in the ticket. A reference number is automatically added to the ticket so we know which job you are referring to. If you need to report multiple jobs in one ticket, be sure to include the URL for each job. Your identity will not be shared with the buyer you have flagged. Our support team will review the claim and take action as appropriate.
We especially appreciate your assistance in flagging violations of our job posting policy, such as disclosing or requesting contact info and offering payment outside of oDesk (Western Union, PayPal, etc.).
Every search can be saved to your browser's bookmarks or turned into an RSS or Atom feed to receive automatic updates in a feed reader. Web feeds are a great way to subscribe to receive updated content from a website (learn more on Wikipedia). If you have a Google or Yahoo ID or use Firefox, Safari or even Outlook you already have easy access to built-in feed readers.
To save a search to your browser's bookmarks:
- Go to Find Providers & Jobs > Find Jobs.
- Perform a search.
- Save the results page URL using your browser's Bookmark This Page or Save To Favorites menu. You may also copy and paste the URL if you wish to use it elsewhere (add it to a to-do list, send it in an email, etc.)
To save a search as an RSS or Atom feed:
- Go to Find Providers & Jobs > Find Jobs.
-
Perform a search.
- Click the Save this search as RSS or Atom link at the top of the search results. Your computer's default feed reader should automatically pop up to appropriately handle your subscription. Most readers can use either format, but RSS is generally preferred.
- [Optional] You may wish edit your feed URL to make it a referral feed if you plan to display it somewhere public. Users who register for oDesk after following a link from your referral feed could earn you a referral bonus!
We highly recommend all active job seekers save several targeted searches as frequently-refreshing feeds to receive of all the latest job posts. Each feed will return up to 50 results per update, so the more often it refreshes, the less likely you are to miss a new job. In most cases, every 30 minutes is the refresh schedule we recommend.
When you find a job you like, carefully consider whether you're a good match for what the buyer needs. If you believe you are a good match:
- Write a custom cover letter specifically addressing this job and what makes you the perfect candidate. You may want to bookmark the job post in your browser (or flag it in your feed reader) so you don't lose it while you write the cover letter.
- Apply to the job. You'll need to set a rate for your application, paste in the custom cover letter you prepared and accept the oDesk User Agreement.
The number of jobs you can apply to is restricted by your quota. Successful providers focus on submitting high quality applications, not sending out the highest quantity possible.
