Reading Provider Profiles
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- How do I read a provider profile?
- How do I read the work history and feedback?
- How do I read the test results?
- What is an affiliation with a provider company?
- What is an oDesk group?
- How do I save a provider to my list of favorites?
- How do I invite a provider to interview?
- How do I hire a provider?
- I found a provider that seems suspicious. How do I report them?
All providers have profiles to showcase their skills and experience. Each profile contains several tabs, fact boxes and action options.
Overview
Providers are encouraged to write an overview statement. This is their objective; it usually addresses their strengths and why they think you should hire them instead of anyone else. If the statement is long, click the more link to show the complete text with formating. Below the statement are quick-reference boxes highlighting the provider's Top 5 most recent assignments and highest test scores. The bottom of the overview section lists the job category interests the provider has selected.
Resume
Providers have an opportunity to highlight their Skills, Certifications, Employment History, Education and Other Experience. The certifications section is intended to showcase non-oDesk test and scores, such as those from Brainbench or professional organizations. The employment history section highlights work outside of oDesk and may include volunteering, internships or other work experience that isn't technically employment.
Pay especially careful attention to the provider's resume; a good provider will take the time to give you a significant amount of useful and well-written information. The effort providers put into their profiles is a good indicator of their level of professionalism.
Work History & Feedback
All oDesk assignments with at least $1 paid are included for your review. They are sorted by the start date, with the most recent at the top. Hourly and fixed-price assignments are grouped into separate lists. Check the box to Show jobs in progress. The number on the tab indicates how many assignments are shown on that profile. But don't just look for high numbers - a few very long assignments could be much more valuable experience than many short ones. (Learn more about reading providers' work histories.)
Tests
oDesk offers free skill tests providers take to prove their skills and offer buyers an easy way to compare providers 'apples to apples'. Providers can take as many tests as they wish, then choose which ones to show publicly on their profiles. The number on the tab indicates how many tests are shown on that profile. (Learn more about reading oDesk test results.)
Portfolio
Providers are encouraged to add samples of their work for you to review. These samples do not necessarily have to be from oDesk assignments; relevant volunteer work, open-source projects and past employers are all common sources of samples. We encourage providers to describe each project and the skills utilized in its creation as well as uploading a file and linking to the site (if possible). The number on the tab indicates how many samples are shown on that profile.
Fact Boxes
The provider's profile also contains a number of other fact boxes. In the box at the top you'll find the provider's portrait, title, primary role, country, provider company affiliation (if any), Permalink, requested hourly rate and the Interview and Hire buttons.
At the right you'll find work history and feedback statistics followed by their location, self-assessed level of English skills, when they joined oDesk, when they last worked and if they're oDesk Ready. Affiliation with a provider company or group membership, if applicable, is also indicated at the right.
Action Options
You have a few actions available to you on a provider's profile. In the top center (below the provider's title) are the Interview and Hire buttons (only visible to hiring managers). The rest of the actions are at the very top right above the fact boxes (and are available to all users).
- Click Save as favorite to save this profile to your list of favorites. You'll have the opportunity to add a note as well. This is handy if you find providers you like but have not yet posted a job appropriate for them.
- Click Share to send an email to one or more people with a link to the provider's profile and a message you write.
- Click Flag as Inappropriate to report this provider to Customer Support. Be sure to explain what you feel the problem is (for example, violation of our identity policy).
Buyers have access to the profiles of all their jobs' candidates. We suggest that buyers also proactively search, review profiles and then invite promising providers to interview for their jobs.
Each provider profile has a Work History & Feedback tab. It contains all the provider's paid assignments (>$1). You have the option to hide or Show jobs in progress. Each assignment shows the buyer's ID number, date range, title, amount paid and feedback. Feedback is given on a scale of 1 to 5 stars (higher is better). Hover your curser over the magnifying glass to read the full comment and feedback breakdown by category. (Read more about our double-blind feedback system.)
When you see the same Buyer ID on multiple assignments, it means the buyer hired that provider several times. There's no greater compliment than a repeat customer! But don't just look for a long list in provider's work history. Very long ongoing assignments are also a good sign - one long job is usually more valuable than a string of very short ones.
Trying to find providers with past assignments similar to yours? Perform an advanced job search. Set the search to return completed jobs only. Click on the job posts that meet your criteria to find out who was hired and see the feedback. The provider's name will link to their profile.
It is important to consider providers' oDesk work histories, but they only tell part of the story. Review the the entire profiles (especially the resume and portfolio) for a more complete picture of their experience and qualifications.
Click on any of the (public) job titles in the list to view the assignment in a bit more detail. A condensed job facts box will pop up, click the More info about this job link to see the full details. Jobs posted as private are included in the list, but not clickable for more details.
Dollar amounts shown are inclusive of the oDesk fee. In cases where the provider has received bonus payments from a buyer (or a weekly stipend in addition to hours worked), the total includes these additional payments. In these cases, a blended rate is shown to reflect the combination of hourly and bonus/stipend payments. This will be higher than the actual hourly rate. On public jobs, you can click the title to see the exact payment breakdown.
Each provider profile has a Tests tab. It contains all the free oDesk skill tests the provider has chosen to make public. (Read more about our free tests.)
When reviewing the table of a provider's test results, keep in mind that the Score is out of a possible 5.0 and the Percentile indicates where the provider ranks among all test takers. oDesk displays Top 10% and Top 20% badges to help you spot especially strong scores. Providers are encouraged to take as many tests as they'd like, retake them periodically as their skills improve and to hide any tests with less-impressive scores.
In the image above the Technical Writing test has a score of 4.4 out of 5.0 and a percentile of 99%. That means the provider ranks at the very top of all scores on this test. The US English test has a score of 4.9, but a percentile of 97%. While the score is higher, the provider's relative rank is lower; there are more people who scored higher than this provider on that test.
Click on any of the test names in the list to view the test results in a bit more detail, including how many providers have taken the test, where this score ranks and a breakdown of the test results by topic.
Most providers on oDesk work for themselves as independent contractors. But some are affiliated with provider companies (they're often referred to as affiliated contractors). Just as buyer companies range from informal sole-proprietorships to international conglomerates, provider companies come in a range sizes - from just one member to a few hundred.
A company of one can be used as a way to brand the provider profile to more closely match how the person does business outside of oDesk.
A company of six could be a group of providers with complimentary skills who banded together to take on work no single member could do alone.
A company of hundreds may be the oDesk face of a large services firm.
A company of six could be a group of providers with complimentary skills who banded together to take on work no single member could do alone.
A company of hundreds may be the oDesk face of a large services firm.
Buyers often prefer working with provider companies when they need to hire a large number of providers or seek assistance with scoping and managing the work. In some cases, the company will provide project management services if you hire from their team and the providers are often already used to working together. Each provider company is unique. But there are a few key differences you should be aware of when interviewing, hiring and managing a provider with an affiliation.
In general, provider companies (with >1 member):
- Are best for buyers looking to hire pre-established teams. Specialists in many areas will usually be at your disposal. On hourly jobs, you must still hire each specific provider for an assignment in your workteam; at this time there is no option to hire the provider company as a unit. On fixed-price jobs, you have the option to hire just one provider affiliated with the company no matter who does the actual work; the feedback will then only appear on the single provider's profile.
- Are helpful when there's a lot of work to be done requiring skills unfamiliar to you. Their staffing manager can help scope out the work and assign providers with the necessary skills. They may also participate in the day-to-day project management.
- Have staffing managers who control all their providers' candidacies and assignments. So it's usually the staffing manager who writes the cover letter, applies and communicates with you (at least initially) during the interview. You may have the opportunity to continue communicating with this one person as a representative of the entire team. Some buyers find this very convenient, but it's not appropriate for everyone.
- Do not give the providers themselves authority over rates or pay negotiations. Payments go to the provider company's account, not to the person you've hired. The company may have your team member on salary or have some other arrangement. So your team member's earnings are not necessary determined by what you pay on your assignment. The more management services the provider company offers, the larger cut of the pay they usually take. Some buyers find the included extras like project management very helpful, but if you don't need those working with a provider company is less appealing.
You are a non-technical person in need of some fairly complex web-development. You know you need a database, graphics and all the stuff that makes a website work. You interview a few provider companies who offer all the services you need and choose the one whose project-management style you prefer. You make their staffing manager a recruiter in your team to help sort out who needs to be hired for what job. But you retain control over who exactly you're hiring and how much you're paying.
Working with a provider company can be advantageous, but it's not for everyone. A very hands-on manager or one looking for more personal relationships with the workteam will likely prefer to work with individual providers. A few quick questions during the interview process will make it clear whether your candidate is affiliated with a company that suits your style.
You can save provider profiles you like and add private notes to your list of Favorite Providers. Most buyers use this as a reference list of providers they liked but didn't have jobs for at the time. You add providers to this list by clicking the link at the top of their provider profiles. (Learn more about saving provider profiles as favorites.)
Where is your list of favorites? There's a link to My Favorite Providers at the top of all Find Provider search results and on your candidates list.
In order to communicate with a provider you've found, you'll need to invite them to interview for a job you've posted. To do this, press the Interview button on their provider profile. (Learn more about inviting providers to interview.)
Can't invite to interview because you don't have a job posted? Save the provider to your list of favorites, then go post a job. The provider's profile will be waiting in your list when you're ready to take the next step.
In the vast majority of cases, you'll hire for your job in your candidates list.
However, there are times when buyers and providers are already in contact - usually because they've worked together before or know each other personally. For these users we do offer a quick Hire button on the provider's profile. This button hires the provider at their posted profile rate, skipping the interview process entirely. The feature is only available for hourly jobs. It is not the way most hires should be done.
If you are sure you want to hire a provider without an interview:
- Go to Find Providers & Jobs > Find Providers.
- Browse or perform a search.
- When you find a provider you like for your job, press the Hire button on their provider profile.
- Read the quick hire warning notice, then click Continue if you're sure you want to go through with hiring this person without an interview. The quick hire feature is a time-saver to be used only under very specific circumstances. If in doubt, just invite the provider to interview first.
- Complete the hiring form. The form itself is the same as if you'd hired a candidate.
It is rarely a good idea to hire someone without talking to them first. It's important to come to an agreement about the work to be done and the rate. That's what interviews are for. A buyer who repeatedly abuses the quick hire feature may be subject to actions taken against their account.
In your searches you may come across profiles that seem suspicious. Please flag these profiles so Customer Support can review them and take the appropriate action. Just click the Flag as Inappropriate link at the top of the provider's profile, 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 profile you are referring to. If you need to report multiple profiles in one ticket, be sure to include the permalink for each profile. Your identity will not be shared with the user 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 identity policy, such as fake names, logos as portraits and duplicate accounts.
