Using oDesk for Outsourcing Continued

Jason Katzenback — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 03:47:12 +0000

This post is a continuation of Outsourcing Using oDesk

So far my experiance with oDesk has been met with some frustration but it is not the oDesk system that I blame but the people I am hiring. You see, the oDesk system it self has been great (I do have some recommendations to make it better but overall it is great) but the problem is that the people that I have interviewed and even hired have been less than exceptional… not all of them… but the majority.

So far I have tested a few different people and I have just now found someone that I am hopeful with. The biggest problems have been…

1. Not able to dedicate time needed: Even though I put in the job request that I need someone 30+ hours a week, every single one of them (expect for the latest) seems to think that means something entirely different… like maybe 10 hours a week.
2. Do Not Understand How to Communicate: I had to actually chase down two people to see if they were actually going to do the “test” assignment. One of them decided no and the other finally got back to me with something that could have taken 20 minutes (it was a joke).
3. Are Not As Experianced as They Say: This one was a big lesson for me and it made me revamp my test assignments I have been given them. People will lie about what they can do in their resumes and as a result I assumed certain things and did not bother to test on them… BIG MISTAKE!

OK, so this kind of sounds like a slamming of oDesk, but it really is not. In fact I love oDesk and it has been the features available on oDesk that have really helped… especially the time tracker with screen capture. This has allowed me to see if people are even started on the task and the real amount of time it took them. With elance and rent a coder, I was always left to just hope… but oDesk shows me.

What I am not crazy about is…

1. There should be “contact info” front and center on the work team page for each worker. This is not in an obvious spot and is a pain to find.
2. Should have a communication area (a message board) for communicating with outsourcers in the team room. Using email and having to track the communcations is a pain in my opinion. I would rather everything be there like how elance does it.
3. Even though you put criteria for the job, people can still apply that do not meet it. For example, I would want the ability for applicants to have to confirm that they can be available he 30+ hours a week before being able to even apply for a position. If the say they can but can’t then they get a negative point on their profile.
4. When you “interview” some one, it needs to show you clearly on the application board (where all those applying for the job, have their profiles show up) who you have requested an interview for.
5. If you have more then one job open and click on a person to interview, you then have to select a drop down box for which one of the jobs you are interviewing them for. That may sound easy but it is first of all in a terrible spot and easily missed. Plus if I am on the page for a certain job that people are applying for, why in the world when I click “Interview” would it not just automatically know that is what I want to interview them for!

Overall, I like oDesk… but with the above changes I would LOVE it!

I am going to work with this system for another week and then put a checklist together for all of you as to how I am going to use oDesk. This will include…

1. How to post a job
2. How to interview
3. How to create test assignments
4. What to watch for in test assignments
5. How to manage outsourcers after hiring them

So what are your thoughts and what else would you like me to include that I may have overlooked?

Outsource Using oDesk – So Far A Thumbs Up!

Jason Katzenback — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 19:37:20 +0000

About three months ago I was directed to a service called oDesk.com by my friend Jerry West but I have to admit that I paid little attention to it for the simple reason that it looked pretty much like all the other outsourcing systems (Elance, Rent a Coder, etc).

Well last week I finally gave it a shot and tested it out and I have to admit I am impressed.

Now the results are still in the early stages, but this is what I did.

Step1: I created a list of jobs that I feel the average person could complete in 8 hours. I put the list into a detailed step by step process for the person to be able to follow along with.

Step 2: I created a detailed job description that mentioned what I was looking for but at the same time I did not go into specifics. I have found through past experiences that if you get too detailed then it intimidates some people from applying.

Step 3: I waited 24 hours and then started to filter through the applicants. As I came across potential candidates I requested interviews. The interviews can be done via chat, phone or email and the interview was simply to ensure that they could dedicate the time to the job that I required and to also get more samples of work that they may have done (if there was any).

If I was happy with the interview I then sent them an offer of a trial job. What this means is they would be hired and given the initial job but this would be a test that would be used in deciding on the best candidates. I made it very clear that they were competing against others.

The cool thing about oDesk is that you do not have to agree on a price for the entire project… you can choose to pay per hour and then you only pay for the time they are logged into the system. It takes screenshots and shows you exactly what they are doing, so you can see if they are being honest or not.

Step 4: I have now given the tasks to four people and have received three of the four back. The fourth person has until tomorrow morning and I will then cross check the cost per hour, quality and time to come up with my best candidate.

$/hour + Quality + Time to Complete Task

By using this formula I am able to ensure I get the best ROI. The winner may not be the cheapest or fastest but instead they will be the person that has the best balance of all three.

The other cool thing is I am able to keep the project open to new applicants while I am interviewing. This way I can continue testing new people and if I am not satisfied with any of the current four, then I have more to choose from.

Next week I will update you with who I selected, how we arranged to move forward with scheduling hours and what the results are so far.

So far I am loving oDesk… but it is too early to be certain. Click Here to check it out for yourself!

So what are your thoughts of oDesk… have you used or will you try it?

John Cow dot Com » oDesk Review

Using oDesk for Outsourcing Continued

Outsource Using oDesk – So Far A Thumbs Up!