What's New
“Work is no longer tied to a single location -
it happens anywhere on the Web, anywhere in the world.” – Gary Swart, oDesk CEO
The oDesk iPhone App announced today was built by leveraging oDesk APIs, which are now publicly available in the oDesk API Center. In releasing access to our APIs, we’d like to encourage developers and managers to create custom workspaces that shape existing oDesk tools to fit their own specific needs.
The APIs currently available:
* Authentication – Allows for login/logout functionality to be implemented from outside the oDesk site.
* Provider Search – Facilitates the searching of oDesk provider data.
* Provider Profile – Returns detailed profile information about a provider or list of providers.
* Team – Provides multi-directional interaction capabilities with the oDesk Team and its members.
* Work Diary – This method retrieves all screenshots captured from a user account within a single day.
* Get Snapshot – Retrieves one or more snapshots of activity from a user account in a company’s team at defined points in time.
Visit the oDesk API Center at: http://developers.odesk.com/
Last week, we listed out some of the most useful iPhone apps for business use. We intentionally left one off that list, so we could share it with you in more detail today:
Your oDesk team room is a great place for staying abreast of all the things your teammates are working on, but sometimes you’re not in front of your computer and you’d like to keep up to date with what’s going on back in the virtual office. With the new oDesk iPhone app, now there’s an app for that.
The oDesk iPhone app gives you literal visibility of your online workteam no matter where you are:
- See all providers in your team room grouped by current work status – Working Now, Worked in the Last 24 Hours, Other
- View each team member’s latest work memo, local time, 24-hour work sparkline, and latest snapshot
- Check complete work diaries including memos, full-size snapshots, activity indicator, billing status, timestamp, and active window for any date
The app is designed for both buyers and providers.
Watch Brain Goler, oDesk’s VP of Marketing, give a quick demo of the app in action:
Ready to download? If you have an iPhone (or iPod Touch), follow this link to install the app. Or, search the App Store for “oDesk” to find it.
If you have any suggestions, we’d love to hear them at iphone-app@odesk.com, or in the comments section below. And, if you like what you see, please rate the oDesk iPhone Application it in the App Store!
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If you’re a blogger or member of the press looking for more information, please contact press@odesk.com.
The Message Center is one of the most heavily used screens in all of oDesk. It is used primarily to interview candidates and potential employers, and to communicate with your team.
We’ve gotten a lot of requests for the ability to attach files to oDesk messages. Now you can! Anywhere you send a message to another user, whether from the candidate list, the team room, or replying to a message in your Inbox, you can attach a file. You can attach files to tickets, too. Keep that feedback coming! Occasionally, we listen…
We have launched our first integration with Twitter.
In addition to sharing on Facebook, Buyers can share their job openings on Twitter to get more candidates from their network. Providers can share test results and promote their profile, letting the world know they are ready to work on oDesk.
With the oDesk ‘Share on Twitter’ you’re in full control – you decide what you want to showcase on Twitter, and we will not share your oDesk information without your approval.
Activate Twitter now!
Got feedback? Please let us know what you think in this thread.
Ruby on Rails has grown rapidly in last few years. Our buyers are constantly looking for providers who have the most current knowledge. So, we have partnered with Engine Yard – a Ruby on Rails company to develop a new test for RoR version 2.3. The syllabus covers:
- Core Ruby
- Ruby Conventions
- Application Design
- Rails Architecture
Make sure you brush up your Ruby skills before you take this test. Enjoy!
Profile widgets are finally here! Providers can now embed oDesk widgets to promote their profile and showcase their success on any website.
So what’s in your profile widget?
- The total hours worked
- Photo
- Feedback
- Geographic location
You earned bragging rights. Show off what makes you stand out as a great provider and advertise yourself. Post a widget on your personal website, blog, or your MySpace page.
Get your personalized widgets here.
What exactly is a widget?
A widget is web code that displays up-to-date information from another site (in this case oDesk.)
Our widgets are a quick and easy way for you to embed your provider profile on any other website. Just go to the promote page, choose the style you like, then cut and past the javascript code into the web page. The widget will display a “Hire Me” button for visitors to click on, and will take them directly to your oDesk profile.
Find out more about widgets here and let us know what you think in our forums.
oDesk is proud to announce its first integration with Facebook Connect! oDesk providers and buyers can now tap their social networks for locating candidates for jobs posted on oDesk, promoting your own work skills, and creating a verifiable online work presence. With Facebook Connect on oDesk, you’re in control to promote yourself and your company. You decide what you want to showcase on your Facebook feed – we won’t share your oDesk information without your approval. Activate Facebook Connect on your account now!
What can buyers share?
- Job postings: The key to a successful job is having qualified providers to choose from during the hiring process. Starting today, you can share your job listings on Facebook with your friends and colleagues. Why not use your trusted social network to find even more great providers? Just choose ‘Share on Facebook’ during the job posting process – we’ll then walk you through how to share your listings. But don’t worry, we’ll never share anything without letting you know first.
- Profile updates: Know someone who might want to work for you? Your Facebook profile will reflect your ability to provide professional opportunities by sharing updates to your oDesk profile with your existing Facebook friends.
What can providers share?
- Test results: Did you ace a skill test on oDesk? Do you want people to know that you are the right person to hire? You can already embed your test results on a page outside oDesk, but now you can also share your test results with your existing network of friends and colleagues on Facebook. So go ahead – show off your superb qualifications!
- Profile updates: Know someone who could use your services? Make your Facebook profile promote your professional skills and work history by sharing updates to your oDesk profile with friends and colleagues
Enable Facebook Connect in your account now and start sharing! Got feedback? Please let us know what you think in this thread.
You will notice we’ve updated our global navigation bar!
The new nav bar…
- takes up less vertical space
- has a toned-down color scheme so it’s out of your way when you’re not using it.
- Let’s you jump to your Message trays (Inbox, Account Alerts, etc.) more quickly.
We hope you find these changes helpful. Please let us know your thoughts in this thread.
Four months back, we anounced Groups on oDesk – our way of promoting exceptional talent and helping our buyers find quality providers. Recently, we launched groups with Sun Microsystems and Intuit to enable our providers showcase their Java and Flex skills. Last week, we made another big leap by joining hands with salesforce.com in launching their group on oDesk.
By joining any of thses groups, providers will be able to highlight their skills and buyers will have access to these selected professionals by posting a job in the specific group.
We work hard to provide our buyers and providers an experience that is fulfilling and productive. With Groups, we further strengthen our commitment to provide you an easier way to search and connect with skillful providers.
We would like to invite all buyers and providers to explore these groups.
Intuit Partner Platform Flex Developers Group
Salesforce and Force.com Group
Sun Certified Professionals Group
We have rolled out a brand-new Time Analyze report. We’ve basically taken the two old reports (Work Analyze and Time Analyze), combined them, and thrown in a few new features. For example, providers now have access to individual Time Analyze reports to check out their stats across assignments. And staffing managers get their much-requested combined view of all their affiliated contractors. Try it out this Thursday and tell us what you think below!
Who can see these reports?
Visibility of reports depends on the team privileges you have. Hiring managers can see hours and charges for their teams, Team members can see only the hours, Providers can see their own hours across all their teams. Staffing managers can see hours and charges for their all the assignments they have staffed.
How do I use reports?
On to the Manage & Work > Reports Time Analyze tab.
- Select the role for which you want reports
- Select whether you want your report to be grouped by day, week or month
- Select the time period over which you want reports (jump to providers some useful options like “last payroll period”)
- Select the columns to show and sort the data using the column headings to create the report you want
For example: If you are a staffing manager and you want to see how many hours your affiliated contractors worked by company in the last payroll period,
- Select a “staffing manager” report
- Choose to report by week
- Jump to “last payroll period”
- Remove all columns besides “company”
The resulting report will show one column showing the total number of hours for each company.
Similarly, Buyers can create: estimated charges by week, hours worked in each team, hours worked by a single provider across all teams. Staffing managers can view charges by company, charges by provider, hours by team. Providers can view the hours they have worked by company they worked for, and can also summarize the total number of hours they worked across all teams.
Why does the report say “beta”?
Unfortunately, the current report only shows hours worked in an assignment, and we cannot display memos. We are working to fix this, but for the moment you would need to use “Classic Time Analyze”. We are also actively making other improvements in the area of reporting so please give us your feedback on what you would like to see.
What improvements are planned?
We are planning on adding – filtering, permanent URLs, memos, etc. Let us know what reports would help you!